The El Dorado of ‘New Normal’

The trending word as the world comes to terms with the pandemic is the notion of ‘new normal’. It seems that we are going to live a normal life by managing around it. This is such a farce! Living in this way and this period has been abnormal if not catastrophic with lives being lost, livelihoods being paused, corporates being destroyed and governments in disarray. After all this as we resume into the new normal seems to be a convenient way of pushing things under the carpet. Managing the same life in the same way after this shock cannot be the way forward.

A large premium is placed around adapting and everybody has been talking about how we will overcome this crisis. What the pandemic has left behind can be evaluated by answering these questions around change and not just about new normal.

• What is the fundamental things the governments have changed around environment, healthcare etc.?
• What have corporates done differently in their work areas and policies?
• And more importantly what have individuals changed in their lifestyle to respect nature?

This article is not about the governments and the corporates as I think already there enough 'pundits' on that. It is about us as individuals and what we can do. The below quote really shook me up as to what we as consumers are doing to this world. 

So what are the things each one of us can do to change the 'abnormal reality' that we have been confronted with?

The Spiritual anchors

In spirituality the journey of the human being is from identification with the gross aspects to the subtler aspects to finally Brahman which is beyond gunas (features). The Atman thus manifests through the vasanas (tendencies referred at as karana sarira) and the equipments of Body-Mind- Intellect (referred to as sthula and suksma sarira) thus perceiving, feeling and thinking in the world of objects, emotions and thoughts.(1)

This journey requires us to drop the identification with each of the equipment. But for that one has to start disassociating with the actions and pleasures that we obtain through the body, the mind and intellect. We will have to reconnect them with more subtle things and finally to the Atman. As a world we have started appreciating things which are gross and venerating achievements in those spaces as measurability is difficult in the subtle areas.

I have written about Core Personal Projects as defined by Little(1996)(2) in my last article. I have the following Core Personal Projects which may also be what each one of us can do. Some of them will be quite against the grain.

Body and food

The body is referred to as annamaya kosa (1) meaning a 'modification of food' which acts as a sheath of the Self, and emerges from food, sustains on food and finally goes back to food. It also includes the pranas or the physiological processes like respiration, circulation etc.) There are 2 things that have creeped into food- variety and novelty.

1. Have you noticed that vegetables which we were seasonal in our parents time are now available around the year? Vegetables which are not from that region are available quite regularly? What does this lead to? The soil is misused to enable the cultivation beyond the normal period or region.
2. We have glorified cooking and food to such an extent that the more exotic and the more novel it is the better we can present in our social circles. In these times the number of friends who seem to have invested their energies towards this and therefore moved it from a sustenance aspect to an identity factor. Any social occasion is filled with food as it represents love for the guest. The excess consumption due to this is so evident to all.

This quest for variety and novelty is not a recent phenomenon. Historically,

In the Middle Ages, sugar was a rare luxury in Europe. It was imported from the Middle East at prohibitive prices and used sparingly as a secret ingredient in delicacies and snake-oil medicines. After large sugar plantations were established in America, ever-increasing amounts of sugar began to reach Europe. The price of sugar dropped and Europe developed an insatiable sweet tooth. Entrepreneurs met this need by producing huge quantities of sweets: cakes, cookies, chocolate, candy, and sweetened beverages such as cocoa, coffee and tea. The annual sugar intake of the average Englishman rose from near zero in the early seventeenth century to around eight kilograms in the early nineteenth century.(3)

My first core personal project is to make food a sustenance item in my life. The more local and seasonal we can make it and not make ‘the meal’ the central theme around living or social interactions or expressions of love, it will shift back to becoming basic. Food in this is also indicative of the different material objects which we surround our lives with. Hence the impact of this personal project can be huge.

Mind and relations

The mind is the manomaya kosa (1) i.e. modifications of thoughts covering the Self. This is present in the realm of the known and is the seat of emotions and is a 'river of thoughts'. This keeps us in a constant state of flux. We seek to revel in this by our relations, friends and other social endeavours.

What is the first thing that comes to our mind about having a get-together? It is drinks. Unfortunately it has become a social statement and not about enjoying a drink.

Alcohol in many elite contexts is not about exercising individual choice. Alcohol has almost become an ideology, with a messianism of its own kind. Most of my non-drinking friends who have returned from abroad agree that it was far easier to navigate sociability in the United States, than it is in a city like Delhi, where drinking has more or less become a marker of progressivism, or non-drinking of reaction. Amongst young people it is often presented not as a choice, but a compulsion of membership. And finally, there is something odd about converting alcohol into an ideology. (4)

Another aspect of the social interactions, atleast in the more formal ones, is the element of gifting. Gifting affects the mind in subtle ways. The character ‘Sheldon Cooper’ in The Big Bang Theory beautifully describes it as “You haven’t given me a gift. You’ve given me an obligation!”(5). In the past, you used to buy luxuries or replenish ONLY around occasions and hence the practice was welcome as it helped in the sustenance. Unfortunately, in this age of consumerism, the gifts are mostly redundant as we would have already bought many items, just like that online! How many of us have had a situation where we already had the item that was gifted to us?

Consumerism has worked very hard, with the help of popular psychology (‘Just do it’) to convince people that indulgence is good for you, whereas frugality is self-oppression.(3)

My core project 2 is making social get togethers about doing something together and not about how many bottles were downed! As far as gifting goes, donating for a cause on behalf of the host makes the world a better place. The impressions that are left in us of expanding the self beyond our near-and-dear really strengthens our relations.

Intellect and experience

The intellect is the vijnanamaya kosa (1) or the modification of thoughts, and acts as the explorer of the unknown. Thus, this acts as the river banks holding the river together and diverting or exploring the various paths.

The stimulation for the intellect is now a lot around travel nowadays. The intelligentsia are in the race to travel to the maximum number of countries. The rationale of this is that it broadens the mind and widens perspectives. However it is only about foreign travel and only travel with all amenities (or luxuries). This actually protects us from the new place instead of immersing us. The irony is that the same group may not be willing to get transferred to another city (only if it is phoren!). Does one know the heritage spot within a 500 km radius and what is the favourite local cuisine? Most probably not, but stepping into the realms beyond the sea is considered to be fashionable and hence a compulsory one.

In order for liberal freedoms to flourish, society requires more self-restraint and judgment, not less.(6)

My personal project will be that vacations are more about spending time immersing in the location or place and without the luxuries that the travel affords. It is going to be about living life in that city with whatever facilities are available there and thereby not leaving a large carbon footprint in the process.

A ‘New Order’ and not a ‘New Normal’

We will need to rethink the way we live our lives and create a completely different order or 'balance'. And maybe the above are a few of the areas that we can adopt and explore. These become a lot more acceptable once we understand and accept the purpose - creating a new energised 'natural order'. And maybe in the last couple of centuries, we have lost our way.

When growth becomes a supreme good, unrestricted by any other ethical considerations, it can easily lead to catastrophe. Some religions, such as Christianity and Nazism, have killed millions out of burning hatred. Capitalism has killed millions out of cold indifference coupled with greed. (3)

And Thomas Friedman expresses this sentiment succinctly in his latest opinion in the pandemic period which will compel us to reflect.

Alas there is no herd immunity to greed.(6)

References:

1. Chinmaya International Foundation; Advanced Vedanta Course Material; 2006
2. Brian R. Little; Free Traits, Personal Projects and Idio-Tapes: Three Tiers for Personality Psychology, Psychological Inquiry, Vol. 7, No. 4 (1996),
3. Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, 2014
4. https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/drink-for-thought-india-lockdown-alcohol-addiction-6397378/
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7xw-oDjwXQ
6. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/30/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-globalization.html

(The opinions expressed here reflect the personal views of the author.)