A Reflection on the Essay "Coronation" by Charles Eisenstein
I’ve been spending time underwater as we’ve had the bluest water here where I live in Aus. The quiet of the vast ocean allows the mind peace & I’ve been reflecting on the drastic global change we’ve experienced since Covid19 swept the Earth.
I’m curious to know what this pandemic stirred up in you? What are you reflecting on since forced into separation? Are you sitting with the discomforts & meeting the shadows? Exploring the roots of triggers & taking time to consciously heal parts of self that used to go ignored? Are you active in your community? Have you engaged in new behaviour that may never have occurred without the onset of a planetary pandemic?
The virus is disrupting our biological systems & also our social, political, & ecological systems. The suffering of many resulting in compassionate aid & relief action. Accidental localisation of food & goods, regeneration of natural places, care for elderly & high risk...
Is this pandemic offering a rebirth? Is this pause allowing us the reset so many environmental & social justice advocates have been pushing for? Are we in our separation working through the fear, the discomfort of isolation, our anxieties, & realising what actually matters to us. No longer pulled by the illusions of a sick society or consumption-driven culture, & instead left with what stirs our individual heart & what calls each of our unique souls?
I find myself revisiting a lot of the philosophical questions I explored when my mother died. What is life? Do we have purpose here on this Earth? Are we a phenomenal scientific anomaly? I felt satisfied to serve something greater than myself, the environment,standing up for Earth. I reflect on how I live my life, & the systems I work hard to change. And here this virus has given us a reset. I admit I was a bit shocked into observance. Especially as disposable plastics increased drastically in the name of saving lives. Yet our narratives & systems are interrupted & we have an incredible opportunity to change how everything is done, so we should feel empowered to take this time to support the systems we believe in, that serve the world we dream of living in.
I speak a lot about sovereignty. How choosing to avoid plastics is an empowering exercise in reclaiming our agency as human beings, as Earthlings avoiding the plastic packed crap smeared with psychologically appealing marketing, rising above what is advertised to ‘consumers,’ rising into agency to make things, buy locally, do things differently than business as usual offers.
I’ve been reading & sharing some of the writing of @charles_eisenstein a bright mind & thought leader whom I respect immensely. His latest essay, “Coronation” speaks of the virus of fear, fear of Covid or of totalitarian control. This virus is causing us to reflect on our systems of separation, control, togetherness. We are grappling with philosophical questions such as how much control gives us freedom? People who used to be cared for by fringe activists are being prioritised. Are we willing to sacrifice freedoms for our health? How do we define “health”? Is not isolation harmful to our mental health & our necessarily diverse microbiome? Am I surviving on my own or am I extending what I have to my community?
We fear the normalised control that governments dangle in the name of health & protection. We face the real possibility of new norms of separation as we already recoil in fear of touch. So we must each actively work on this fear. We must invest in self care to nurture our bodies that are rippling with anxieties & stress. Because we have a golden once in a planet’s lifetime opportunity here. To take advantage of this break in normal, to as Charles says “to turn onto a path of reunion, of holism, of the restoring of lost connections, of the repair of community and the rejoining of the web of life.”
“For a long time we, as a collective, have stood helpless in the face of an ever-sickening society. Whether it is declining health, decaying infrastructure, depression, suicide, addiction, ecological degradation, or concentration of wealth, the symptoms of civilizational malaise in the developed world are plain to see, but we have been stuck in the systems and patterns that cause them. Now, Covid has gifted us a reset.
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The coronation marks the emergence of the unconscious into consciousness, the crystallization of chaos into order, the transcendence of compulsion into choice.”
I welcome you to read his essay. I welcome you to draw & write what you wish & dream for our world. Reflect on what you wish & dream for your self. Make a vision board, find people working on the things you care about, support & join them, make a list of 3 things: 1 you can do today, 1 you can do this month of May, 1 you can do this year that will bring your closer to the dream of life you desire. We each are a part of these systems that have brought us into a sick culture that pollutes, mines, oppresses, promotes greed & corruption. We each have the power, the agency, the right to change these. We are not separate. We are together. We have always been together. Our biology depends on this diversity & togetherness. When this crisis subsides, we can return to normal. Or we can identify aspects of our life that are better let go of. Charles says “Covid-19 is like a rehab intervention that breaks the addictive hold of normality.” Our comfortable way of life has been disrupted, he asks us to “get serious about taking care of each other. Let’s remember how precious we all are and how precious life is. Let’s take inventory of our civilization, strip it down to its studs, and see if we can build one more beautiful.”