The Pandemic – a Palliative or a Panacea?

A war of what?

Our forefathers stepped outside their homes to win a war. Now, seven decades later we are fighting a new war – the war against COVID-19 and we have to STAY AT HOME to win!

I am quite intrigued whenever someone compares the current situation to a war. Other than the fact that both the situations have brought about immense distress to the lower strata of society for no fault of theirs, I do not see any other similarity.

This comparison indicates a sense of us versus ‘them’. It is about overcoming the external challenges and finally proving to be victorious over nature. The externalisation of the situation makes it more worrying. For me I would look at this as a healing of us - humans. Humans are an integral part of nature and the ecological world. In the current situation our attempts to solve the problem has to involve the fact that we are nature. Hence this journey to recovery is as much about us coming into a state of equilibrium with the world around us, as it is about overcoming the health challenge.

 New normal?

And with this narrative of conquest prevalent in the situation, it leaves me with the feeling that nothing fundamental will change after all this. Will this pandemic change the way of living and alter the course? Will it just lead to better facilities to ensure such a spread does not happen or will it build us to ensure that nothing like this ever occurs in the future? Did the 2008 financial crisis just change how bankers are rewarded or did it change the fundamentals of how the economy is grown?

"Danger ahead! Lets go back!"

Unfortunately, research says that once it normalizes we will just move on. In the Immunity to Change, there is a reference to a medical study where when at-risk heart patients were told that they would die if they did not change their habits, only 1 in 7 did!(1) The others I assumed wanted to live! But change was not so easy.

Change is only constant?

So is it going to be the old ways of working and living inspite of the extent of impact of this crisis? So how do people change? How do people grow? Critical incidents and the various experiences like these definitely make an impact. However how does these events shape people? How do people start off on their journey to change?

There have been broadly 2 schools of thought under which there have been various theories of development. One centres around identifying the weaknesses and enabling the person to overcome the same. Another school of thought, much propagated by Marcus Buckingham(2) around just leveraging the strengths and ignoring the weakness to realise your potential.

However I believe that people are as they are. The above schools of thought seem to want to bucket people into what they can or cannot do. As per me, there is nothing inadequate about individuals and each of us are capable! So then how do people transform? How do they start behaving or doing things differently or better?

I wish to propound my theory that humans are capable of anything and hence it is a question of will.

Change in living or life?

The Indian scriptures - the Upanishads and the Vedas - have some insights. The entire journey in Indian spirituality is about Realisation of your true Self. There is a journey that individual go through to go beyond their body, mind and intellect to understand the Real Self. How does a person shed his perception of self and grow into a more holistic human being?

This is referred to as a process of sublimation where with one’s higher understanding, the lower values are rejected(3). As the individual aspires to a higher (different) purpose, his weaknesses or obstacles drop off. They are not overcome or improved. To remove impurities in cotton, the procedure of carding is used, where the entire mass is combed and beaten so that the required portions of cotton is retained, while the impurities settle down. Hence there is no attempt to change the individual, but anchoring the person to a different (aspirational) goal, enables one to leverage oneself holistically.

Interestingly there is a theory that purports this same concept of development. Little (1996) proposed to expand the traits aspect (level 1) of personality theory by incorporating the concept of free traits (4). He says that we are all born with certain personality traits but that we can and do act out of character in the pursuit of what he calls “core personal projects.” In other words, he believes introverts can act like extroverts when focused on work they think is important, people they love or anything else they hold dear.

What now?

I therefore feel that this is a much more empowering way to look at individual development growth. Can we enable people to look at a larger purpose or projects which are very personal and therefore enable him or her to realise his potential without going into the pains of changing the individual?

Therefore, my invitation to all is to share in the comments 2 things that you will change, not in your lifestyle or behaviour. That is not going to sustain once the external threat or circumstance goes away. But do share your new 2 personal projects or goals which will bring about the change that this world requires.

A very powerful poem going viral captures it well(5).

And people stayed at home

And read books

And listened

And they rested

And did exercises

And made art and played

And learned new ways of being

And stopped and listened

More deeply

Someone meditated, someone prayed

Someone met their shadow

And people began to think differently

And people healed.

And in the absence of people who

Lived in ignorant ways

Dangerous, meaningless and heartless,

The earth also began to heal

And when the danger ended and

People found themselves

They grieved for the dead

And made new choices

And dreamed of new visions

And created new ways of living

And completely healed the earth

Just as they were healed.

 G B Shaw had said

 “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

I would want to change this and say that progress depends on the reasonable man today!

 References:

1.   Robert Keegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey; Immunity to Change; HBS, 2009,

2.   Donald O. Clifton and Marcus Buckingham; Now, Discover Your Strengths; 2001

3.   Chinmaya International Foundation; Foundation Vedanta Course Material; 2009

4.   Brian R. Little; Free Traits, Personal Projects and Idio-Tapes: Three Tiers for Personality Psychology, Psychological Inquiry, Vol. 7, No. 4 (1996),

5.   Catherine M. O’Meara; https://the-daily-round.com/2020/03/16/in-the-time-of-pandemic/

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