Discover the power of your inner voice and unlock the secret garden within. Explore a transformative journey beyond the ordinary, where beauty, harmony, and infinite possibilities await sensitive souls ready to embrace their true nature.
The Spirit Speaks When the Heart Listens
There was a time in my life when anxiety was a constant companion. For years, I struggled with severe depression that left me hollow, lost, and trapped in a fog of uncertainty. My confidence had crumbled, and the simplest decisions felt like insurmountable mountains. Life became a colorless grind of tight-chested despair and anxious nights, marked by an ever-present knot in my stomach. It was as though I was suspended in darkness – what some call the “dark night of the soul.”
Yet, at the darkest point in my entire life, a faint light began to flicker. It didn’t feel like a dramatic epiphany or a life-altering event. Instead, it was a subtle, persistent whisper from within – a voice that offered both guidance and solace. At first, I didn’t understand what it was. This inner voice, as I came to call it, gently pointed out behavioral patterns I had never noticed. It brought to my attention how my own negative, defeatist self-talk had programmed my life to revolve around repetitive, aimless patterns that brought me nothing but heartache and pain.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, I had opened a door to a legendary inner source – the voice of the heart. This source is known by many names, depending on whom you ask. It has been called “The Holy Spirit,” “the messenger of God,” “the voice of the Spirit,” and “the muse,” among others. Naming it, in my opinion, is not important; what matters is its function in our lives.
It took me years to understand that function. Initially, I treated the voice with a healthy dose of skepticism and downright suspicion. I didn’t understand its source, and that uncertainty fueled my imagination. I thought it could be a demonic voice or, worse, the voice of madness. These projections were undoubtedly shaped by residual religious beliefs and accepted societal norms. They did not reflect the true nature of the voice or the quality of the advice it gave me. Nevertheless, my relationship with it was ambivalent, to say the least. I fought and distrusted it, not because its advice was unsound but because it revealed things about myself I didn’t want to see. It pointed out flaws in my logic and behavior that I was not ready to accept.
Despite my resistance, the truths in the voice’s insights were undeniable. The real litmus test for me, however, was its application in practical life scenarios. The opportunity presented itself while I was working as a senior scientist at the University of Helsinki.
I was trying to identify and clone an unknown gene that seemed to have a crucial function in a type of brain cells called astrocytes. At the time, nothing was known about this gene; it had neither been sequenced nor characterized. For six months, I tried every protocol and method available, yet came up empty-handed every time. Frustrated and nearing the end of my options, I turned to my inner voice – not because I had faith that it would solve the problem. To be honest, I felt that it was one thing to ask for spiritual or psychological guidance but a completely different thing to tackle scientific challenges, but I had nothing to lose.
The guidance I received was astonishingly simple: switch from adult tissues to embryonic tissues as the source of the gene pool. At the time, I didn’t know that this gene was more active during embryonic development. It was a blind leap of faith, but within two weeks of making the switch, I successfully cloned and sequenced the gene. My inner voice had not only guided me toward a practical solution but had also illuminated a deeper truth: the gene’s heightened activity in embryonic tissues pointed to its role in early development—something I hadn’t considered. And this is the true story of how I discovered and cloned the Astroprincin gene and protein.
This discovery was a turning point. The voice I once dismissed as unreliable proved to be more accurate than my rational mind. Slowly, I began seeking its guidance whenever I felt stuck. But the guidance wasn’t always easy to hear, as it ultimately placed the responsibility for whatever happened in my life at my own doorstep. It consistently reminded me that I was the creator of my reality – not its victim. For years, I resisted this idea, clinging to the belief that life’s hardships were the fault of others or circumstances beyond my control. Yet, as I listened, I began to see how much power lay in reclaiming responsibility for my life. This shift in perspective was both liberating and challenging, forcing me to confront truths I had been raised never to consider.
Last year, I published a book that I consider a collaborative effort between this inner voice and myself. It was written with two distinct voices. In the first part, I narrate my life’s story as it was shaped by my perceptions and struggles. In the second part, I gave space to my inner voice to offer its higher perspective on the events of my life. The book reveals how much of my past suffering stemmed from identifying with a false sense of self – a self shaped by societal conditioning and personal misunderstandings about the purpose of life.
The book, which is considered “channeled,” is a testimony to the power of the inner voice and its ability to produce tangible, intelligible results in the physical world. Of course, my book is not a unique phenomenon. Many influential works have been created through what their authors described as channeled or intuitive guidance. Jane Roberts’ Seth material, Esther Hicks’ Abraham teachings, and Neale Donald Walsch’s Conversations with God are just a few examples of this phenomenon. These works resonate with people because they tap into something universal—a source of wisdom that exists within all of us.
Reflecting on what we can achieve by accessing our inner voices, I started to wonder why this is not a common practice among us. I believe it’s because society conditions us to dismiss it. We’re born with an innate connection to this inner wisdom, but we’re taught to ignore it in favor of external validation and rationality. It’s as if we’re all born with perfect vision in a society that insists we’re blind.
The good news is that this connection is never truly lost. It simply requires intentionality to rekindle.
Today, I see my inner voice as my most valuable asset – a source of guidance that complements, rather than replaces, rational thought. It’s helped me overcome depression, navigate challenges, and achieve breakthroughs I never thought possible. This resource can inspire poetry, tell stories, solve daily problems, direct us when we feel lost, heal relationships, and even lead to scientific discoveries.
This is why I feel compelled to share what I’ve learned. Imagine what could happen if more people – and more organizations – tapped into this extraordinary resource. What breakthroughs might we achieve? What relationships might we heal?
I’m now working to create workshops and talks to help individuals and teams access their inner voices. Whether you’re an artist seeking inspiration, a leader facing tough decisions, or simply someone feeling stuck, this resource can transform your life.
If this resonates with you – whether as an individual or on behalf of an organization – I invite you to reach out. Together, we can explore how to access this wellspring of wisdom and apply it in ways that are practical, empowering, and life-changing.
Let’s uncover the potential within.
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Check out my book here, and my Goal Setting and Achievement course here.
Mindset Matters: How Your Beliefs Shape Your World
The scientific method relies on observation, measurement, and analysis to formulate conclusions. Each addition to the scientific body of knowledge builds upon what was previously understood. This progressive accumulation of information is what fuels the growth and expansion of our understanding. Likewise, the workings of consciousness follow a similar pattern.
From the moment of birth, our consciousness begins to accumulate information. The data we gather is contingent on the existing information within our environment. Each individual amasses a distinct set of information, molding their unique worldview, and subsequently, impacting their life experiences. Thus, it is reasonable to assert that our lives are fundamentally shaped by information.
This statement is not particularly new. We are already well aware that our bodies are subject to the influence of information encoded within our DNA. In recent years, through the field of Epigenetics, we have also discovered that various factors, including our environment, emotions, and even our experiences, can exert an influence through which DNA is activated or suppressed. Clearly, there exists a dynamic interplay between physical and non-physical information sets. One of these sets lies beyond our control; we cannot alter the genes we inherit. Conversely, we wield significant influence over the information we gather. If this collection of information can indeed determine which genes are expressed and which remain dormant, it underscores the importance of our awareness and conscious choices in the information we accumulate.
In my experience, accomplishing this is often easier said than done, but it’s far from impossible. The information we’ve accumulated over the years has created certain patterns that govern every facet of our lives. Our habits, routines, triggers, responses, reactions, disposition, and moods are all embedded within neural circuits that often activate with minimal conscious input from us. These circuits guide our focus and attention, determining which information we notice and which we overlook. They have a tendency to seek out data that reinforces the assumptions upon which they’re built, while disregarding any contradictory information, especially that which challenges our fundamental beliefs.
To grasp the influence of our focus on perception, we need not look beyond the renowned “Gorilla Experiment.” In this study, an individual dressed as a gorilla enters a room where people are engaged in passing a ball to one another. Participants, who were instructed to count the ball passes, entirely overlooked the gorilla’s presence. Their intense concentration on the ball obscured the blatantly obvious and wholly unexpected appearance of the person donned in the gorilla suit. This omission happened despite these instructions were provided mere minutes earlier. Now, contemplate the strength of your focus and its influence on your perception when it is directed by instructions ingrained since childhood. How likely do you think it is for us to notice something new, particularly if it contradicts the beliefs we’ve cultivated over a lifetime?
We often hold the conviction that what we witness is factual and indisputable because, in our minds, only observable events are deemed real, as the saying goes, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” For those participants who failed to notice the gorilla, its presence in the room remains a made-up story. However, this experiment barely scratches the surface of how our perception, and subsequently our entire worldview, hinges on the focal point of our attention. To my knowledge, we have yet to delve deeper into scrutinizing the impact of our beliefs on our perception. Given the substantial diversity in our belief systems, we should anticipate a similar range of variations in our perceptions.
Despite the absence of scientific inquiry into this matter, which, as I mentioned in my previous post, would hold significant implications for scientific reasoning, there exists a wealth of anecdotal evidence. We understand that eyewitness testimonies of an accident, for instance, are often unreliable as they seldom align with one another. We typically attribute this phenomenon to the fallibility of human memory, as it’s challenging for us to entertain the notion that these individuals may have genuinely perceived the situation differently. Similarly, albeit in less dramatic circumstances, couples rarely agree on their recollection of past events. This is chiefly because each person views the world from their distinct vantage point, shaped by the information they have amassed throughout their lives.
Additionally, an entire industry revolves around the deliberate alteration of the information we’ve accumulated throughout our lives: the self-help and personal development sector. While these endeavors do not unfold within the confines of rigorous scientific settings and remain inherently individual and subjective, there exists a sufficient body of evidence to sway skeptics. The widespread consensus on the pivotal role of mindset in achieving success should serve as ample indication for anyone willing to explore the subject. Nevertheless, those who remain unconvinced of the validity of such assertions are unlikely to perceive the evidence supporting them.
This article is intended for individuals who are open-minded enough to acknowledge that widespread acceptance does not necessarily equate to truth. When a multitude of people have achieved success by altering their mindsets, it should prompt us to question why it’s challenging to believe that reshaping our ideas is essential if we aspire to perceive a different world. We can take a moment to reflect and question our ideas, whether they pertain to personal or global aspects that we would like to change. All of us possess blind spots that selectively filter out particular information. The key question is: What are we currently filtering out that, if focused upon, could reshape our perception? Devoting some time to pondering this question may serve as the foundation for significant transformation. Moreover, I hope that posing this question acts as a catalyst for discussions that can help us, collectively, expand our perception.
To read more about the role of information in our lives, get your copy of Quantum Being today!
From particle to wave: the secret that connects our daily lives to our quantum reality
Albert Einstein dropped a bombshell on the world when he discovered that mass and energy are actually the same thing! Every mass can be converted into an immense amount of energy. This knowledge is more than a century old and is an established scientific fact. Today, it is common to split atoms and harness the energy generated to power our modern cities.
Despite this established fact, we tend to consider ourselves as mere mass, often forgetting that we are also made up of energy. The amount of energy locked within an average human being weighing 70 kg is mind-blowing. If that mass were to be converted into energy, it would equal hundreds of thousands of times the energy released by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Simply mind-blowing.
Interestingly, we disregard our energetic reality because we tend to believe that what happens at the atomic level has nothing to do with what happens at our level. It is convenient for us to believe that there is a breakdown of physical laws between the micro and macro environments, and that whatever applies to atoms and subatomic particles does not apply to us. Accepting that it could apply to us would require a paradigm shift that seems too challenging for most of us to contemplate.
In line with this convenient attitude, which somehow implies that we live in a universe different from the one in which the atoms composing our bodies exist, we believe that the quantum reality experienced by subatomic particles does not apply to us. It is a known fact that electrons and other particles have a dual nature—they are both particles and waves simultaneously. However, humans and other macro-organisms are typically considered only as masses without any dual nature in terms of energy or wave functionality.
Personally, I don’t believe that the laws of the universe that apply to the components of my body don’t apply to me, but I understand the reasons behind this convenient attitude. Firstly, scientists have not been able to record any observations that confirm our quantum nature. Secondly, accepting that we could have a quantum nature would undermine the principle upon which our scientific knowledge rests: namely, that our universe is material in nature.
Let’s begin with observations. When an electron travels as a wave and encounters a screen with two holes, it is known to pass through both holes simultaneously. However, when the same electron travels as a particle, it will go through only one of the holes. As a wave, the electron is not restricted to a single option; it inherently possesses the ability to explore all available options simultaneously. On the other hand, as a particle, it lacks that freedom.
Humans, when encountering a fork in the road, have never been observed to travel both routes simultaneously. This led scientists to believe that humans do not have a quantum nature. However, I see this differently. With our body mass and weight, we have acted exactly as expected from particles, limited in choice. But why would that exclude the possibility that another aspect of ourselves has the ability to explore both options simultaneously, just as an electron wave does?
The reason scientists have rejected this possibility is due to its implications. Accepting such a notion would suggest that there is an underlying depth to our existence, extending beyond what initially meets the eye and transcending the confines of our physical bodies alone. This would raise questions about the certainty that the universe is solely the material world we perceive. Questions such as “If I have always taken all options presented to me, where are these versions of myself that have accepted what I have rejected or rejected what I have accepted?” would emerge.
Such a question raises doubts about the principle of materiality upon which our scientific knowledge is based. It also brings into focus the role of consciousness in life. Currently, scientists consider consciousness as a byproduct of biological life, implying that it arises from material existence.
I believe that maintaining an open mind, capable of considering all possibilities and following the evidence, will enable us to answer such challenging questions. We already know that when we measure an electron wave, it collapses into an electron particle. Scientists posit that the act of measurement causes the collapse of all other potentialities the wave could have had, leaving only one particle to be observed. However, in my book “Quantum Being,” I propose a different interpretation for the same observation.
I argue that the information known about the electron is what causes its collapse into a particle. Information, in my opinion, leads to projected materialization. As humans, we possess a wealth of information that distinguishes each one of us. This abundance of materialized information makes it almost impossible for us to be aware of our quantum nature. However, we can adopt the mindset of Quantum Beings by understanding the role of information in our lives. This understanding can provide us with advantages in manifesting the life we desire to experience.
In my upcoming series of articles, I will explore how information is materialized in our world and offer strategies for effectively dealing with it. If you are interested in delving deeper into your quantum nature, I invite you to read my book ‘Quantum Being.’ In the book, I have outlined several strategies that you can use to live a happier, more empowered life based on your understanding of your quantum nature.
The Matrix and the nature of reality
The movie “The Matrix” occupies a cult status among its fans. It was dubbed the best movie ever made, and I totally agree with that statement. I was captivated and hooked after I saw it for the first time because it planted in me the seed of an idea that was hard to brush off. The idea was that the reality humans experience is merely a simulation. This idea is so counter-intuitive that it should have been easy to dismiss as pure fiction. Nonetheless, it had such a romantic and utopian allure because it questioned the nature of our reality.
In the movie, humans are living in a simulated reality controlled by machines. They are incubated in containers that keep them in a state of deep sleep. Unaware of their conditions, humans believe that they are living, working, socializing, and making families. This belief is simply due to the projections of a simulation program running in their heads. This is a very intriguing plot, and it is no surprise that such a plot appeals to science fiction fans. What is surprising though is that some prominent scientists call the Matrix a documentary, not a fiction.
The mystery of the Matrix’s appeal among scientists and the public alike can be understood if we know that it has popularized an ancient idea that has been around for millennia.
However, this idea has been kept a protected secret available only to top elites and members of secret societies. But in one sweep the movie brought it into pop culture in a dramatization that captivated everyone’s imagination. This idea states that your mind, which you use every day and in every decision making, is neither yours nor under your control.
On the face of it, this sounds preposterous and absurd. However, we should not let its absurdity becomes a barrier between us and examining its premise. The movie was so well received and liked exactly because this idea stirred something in us. It prompted us to question the validity of our taken-for-granted-perception and kindled a quest for truth. And there is nothing more intriguing than a tantalizing puzzle that carries an implicit promise to overturn reality. I was one of those intrigued by that promise and I decided to follow my heart-driven quest as far as it leads me.
My quest led me to find out that the idea of the Matrix is almost identical to a Mesoamerican myth. The shamans of Mesoamerica believe that our minds are cosmic parasites inoculated inside us by energetic beings. Their sole purpose is to harvest our emotional energy for food. The similarities between this myth and the movie are uncanny. The only obvious difference is that the energetic beings were replaced by the machines in the movie. This was most probably done to give the movie a theme relevant to our modern times. But the core elements remained the same. What I also found is that this story is not exclusive to the shamanic folklore.
All monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) carry a similar narrative. It is the story of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise. In this version of the story, the symbols took different imageries. Obviously, Adam and Eve represented mankind. The controlling agent was another ethereal being, Satan that was symbolized by the serpent. The mind was aptly symbolized by the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge pictured as an apple. Eating the fruit of that tree meant gaining this “forbidden” knowledge, a metaphor for acquiring an alien mind. This story did not end in us being food; however, our fate was not much better than in the shamanic story. We ended up losing the state of grace and banished out of paradise. We also became influenced, or maybe even controlled, by this being. According to some versions of this story, Satan moves through us like blood moves through veins.
Further afield from religion and folklore, I found out that ancient philosophers alluded to the human condition in similar terms. Plato in his book “Republic” presented the allegory of the cave.
In it, humans were prisoners chained all their lives to a wall of a cave watching shadows projected in front of them. The flickering shadows are coming from objects passing in front of a fire behind the prisoners. The prisoners, oblivious of the objects and the fire behind them, believe these shadows to be their reality.
It’s interesting to see that the idea of humans hoodwinked to misjudge a projection for reality is ancient and appears in diverse cultures but still not common knowledge today. This can only be explained by the proposition made in the movie that the dominion of that mind is very strong over our society that to go against it you risk incurring a penalty. Regardless of the penalty, it’s obvious that this mind has a detrimental effect on our humanity and wellbeing. However, we should not rely on mythology and philosophy alone to reach such a significant conclusion. We need to find some supporting evidence in the sciences too.
As it turned out, there is ample support for the fact that the human mind can be programmed and manipulated. This is the basis of many industries like advertising, or branches of knowledge like positive psychology. The use of repetition and subtle cues can convince the mind of something that it might not believe in otherwise. And this is not a notion exclusive to psychology; neuroscience has also furnished us with some beautiful examples of how memories can be erased, changed, or inserted.
This knowledge is now mainstream that it would be hard to find an educated person who would question that the mind is very similar to a computer; it can be programmed and reprogrammed. What is not mainstream, however, is the idea that you are not in control of the program running your mind. And it is easy to understand why this is a hard-to-accept fact. We identify strongly with the content of our minds. We believe that we are who our egos tell us we are. We cherish our opinions and passionately defend them against any seeming threat. We might even be willing to die for them. To question the content of our minds seems equal to questioning the existence of who we believe we are.
But in search of truth, I’m not afraid to question my beliefs. I felt that some essential questions had to be asked. If my mind has been programmed, who has programmed it? How much control did I have over the content of my programs? And where is my true mind in all of this? These are questions pertaining to self-knowledge. And this quest has been a journey of self-knowledge and discovery. Going through it got me closer to unlocking the messages of the Matrix. And I am sharing what I have learned with you because I believe it can change our lives.
One of the concepts that took me a really long time to understand was the concept of the “heart”. All enlightened people advised us to follow our hearts, but no one told us what does this exactly mean. Some end up confusing the “heart” with their emotions, which we know from experience can fog our judgment. So, that cannot be it. It was only recently that I understood what the “heart” refers to. It is a different way of perceiving and processing information. Understanding the difference between how the heart works, versus the mind, is crucial to answering the questions I posed earlier.
The heart has a different way of seeing the world than that of the mind. From the heart’s point of view, all children are born with an innate knowledge of their essence. They are born knowing who they are, why they are born at that time and space, and in that particular environment. They know their purpose for coming to that life, the challenges they are going to face, and what they would like to get out of this existence. This knowledge is not similar to what an adult knows as knowledge; it is not language-based, it is not coming from learning and it definitely isn’t located in the head. That’s why the ancients called it the “heart” to distinguish it from the knowledge that is head-based. As adults, the closest thing to this knowledge that we know of is Intuition. However, this knowledge is much more than intuition; it is a direct knowledge of the spirit that inhabits the newly born’s body.
From the moment a child is born, everyone in the child’s environment becomes a teacher. What they teach is their worldview. They basically transmit the programs running in their heads to the newly born.
Little by little as the information accumulates inside the brain of the child, it starts to render the world according to this information. It is building the world bit by bit until the child sees it as everyone else sees it. Similar to computer programs that take a series of zeros and ones to render into graphics, the brain takes complex ideas and translates the energy of the world into a tangible reality. Although no two people see the world exactly the same way, and although there are so many variations in worldviews, the program that is transmitted from one person to another is so homogenous that we end up largely agreeing on its basic contents.
This program running in the world as a whole is what the movie dubbed the “Matrix”. The program running in your head, a.k.a. your mind, is a personalized version of it. Here comes the first and crucial difference between the heart’s and the mind’s points of view. In the mind’s worldview, the world is out there independent from us; the information we know about it comes from our observation of it. The heart sees it reversely; the world is projected outside of us based on the information we believe is true of it. This is exactly the same main message of the Matrix; the world is a set of downloaded programs projected in your mind.
And the mind does not give us only a worldview. Every child is also taught who she is based on her cultural, societal, educational, ideological, geographical, sexual, and racial background. This information overrides what the child is born knowing, thus the heart’s knowledge gets buried under layers of societal conditioning. By the time we learn to think for ourselves, around age 7, we become indoctrinated members of our society. The voice of our hearts, at this point, becomes faint and hard to hear and our lives are run by the programs we have been given. All subsequent learning, opinions, decisions, and thoughts are built on top of the foundation of these programs. That’s why it is said that the mind you are using is not yours; it belongs to your circumstances, to your conditioning. The true self, for the vast majority of people, remains hidden, inaccessible, and alienated.
I don’t think that this mind has been given to us by evil powers, as some of the stories would want us to believe. This is a disempowering and self-defeating proposition. What I truly believe in that the conditioning that we go through is something we chose as a challenge to guide our evolutionary path. Our challenge, if we accept it, is to realize that without unlearning our conditioning we will never know our true selves or our true purpose. Our highest potential lays in this knowledge, hence the advice of the ancient to follow the path of the heart. It is the most rewarding journey you can ever make because every item on it is personalized for you. It will bring your uniqueness and authenticity to the world in a way that no one else can match.
So, what are you waiting for? The world is waiting for you.
Heartfulness in the time of a pandemic
A little bit more than a year ago I left a comfortable and well-paying corporate job in Amsterdam and moved to the south of Spain. My idea was to reflect on life, understand myself, and find my true calling. I gave myself a sabbatical year, hoping that by the end of the year I would have figured out the answers to many of my questions. Although this move carried considerable financial risk, I felt supported by the woman I considered the love of my life. I was taking a leap of faith, for sure, but at least we were leaping together. It turned out, however, that my faith in the relationship was misplaced. It seems that we came together only to catalyze the move, but not to continue the journey hereafter. I found myself suddenly alone in a country where I don’t speak the language, know no one and have no job. A situation that I have never experienced before in my life. I am not going to deny that there was a moment in which I panicked and doubted the sanity of the decision I made. There were two things that I had to do quickly. First, I needed to evaluate whether the purpose for which I moved here was still valid. Second, I needed to create a social network to not feel alone and isolated.
After reflection, I concluded that the purpose was still valid; I moved because I was fed up with living a rational life that does not nourish my heart. That had not changed. So, regardless of the circumstances, I decided to stay committed to my current course. That decision paid back handsomely when I was able to, finally, find the content of my heart and learn to hear and trust its voice. Living with the guidance of your heart is what I call “heartfulness”. It is a way of life that is in contrast to the rational way of living. Instead of feeling like an island isolated from everything and everyone, heartfulness taught me that I am part of a whole. What I call myself, others and the world is a gestalt. My consciousness is only focused on one fragment of that totality that I identify with as myself. Reaching this point of understanding and living by it has changed my life. It has, definitely, helped me cope with the bizarre circumstances we all found ourselves trapped in as the coronavirus spreads from one country to the next.
Spain declared emergency measures to contain the spread of the virus. There is a total lockdown, severe restriction on movement, and a ban on gatherings. This happened just as I began to enjoy a normal and balanced social life again. Almost overnight, I was not the only one panicking over social isolation. Effectively, my solo living started to feel like solitary confinement. However, there was a major difference this time; I was able to see what is going on from my heart’s point of view. What my heart sees is that far worse and wider than the spread of the coronavirus, was the spread of fear. The virus has infected an estimated 330,000 cases worldwide (at the time of writing), while fear has gotten into, at least, 6.5 billion out of the 7.7 billion living today. With fear came paranoia and hysteria that are oscillating to a fever pitch. Almost every news outlet and media channel is feeding this hysteria. Everywhere you look, more fear and gloom are injected into the spinning wheel of your mind. And we all know what this wheel can spin. Left unchecked in a vicious circle, it can easily lead to insanity. This is also what I felt talking to different people; their minds are spinning negative scenarios one after another. Anxiety and paranoia are building up fast, and being confined in the cubic space of one’s home is not helping.
I am lucky because I have the views of my heart supporting me in these strange times. I feel that the fear which has presented itself as such a ferocious monster is here to make us examine the life we are living. Fear is the most disempowering emotion in the universe. It subjects whoever feels it to the force and tyranny of whatever is feared, notwithstanding the real power of the person, object or idea that is feared. The mind can easily create a monster out of an invisible particle and transform a normal day into an apocalypse. Fear is so powerfully negative because it subtracts a lot from the energy available to you and gives it away to what you fear. You are, literally, breathing life into what you fear. Subsequently, that can subjugate you using your own energy. This is the simple arithmetic of disempowerment.
Disempowerment is so common in our lives that we hardly give it any attention. We easily buy into the statements of fear mongers without realizing how this affects our options in life. But the intensity of the fear we are facing this time will push many of us to examine our attitude towards it. Fear is merely an emotion that is, most of the time, generated by an imagined scenario. The billions of people who are afraid are not sick or dying, but they fear to be sick and dying. This is the mind spinning its wheels to control the individual. This will not happen if you are living with awareness and listening to the voice of your heart. My heart, for example, sees that this fear has two levels. Collectively, the fear which is gripping the world is a reflection of the fear humanity has been harboring inside each one of us. It is a byproduct of the rational view of life which sees us as isolated from the totality of it; that we are only here to exploit or being exploited. This is the time to step back from that view which we have been feeding for millennia. It is time to rethink our relationship to each other, to our environment, and also to our institutions. We have always been operating under the banner of “survival of the fittest”, focusing on our needs at the expense of others’. This is the mentality that breeds fear. The same fear, which by the virtue of us feeding it our energy, is now paralyzing the world.
Individually, we all have our unique fears to face. But the most obvious of these fears is the fear of death. The current crisis is giving us a unique opportunity to reflect on our relationship with life and death. Rational thinking which dictates that we are separate from others has also been telling us that we are more important than others. We feel that our lives are more important than the lives of others, especially of those who are different from us. We feel that as long as we are well fed and protected, it does not matter if others are fed and protected or not. In the grand scheme of things, the coronavirus has not killed as many as poverty and hunger do every single day. All over the world, billions were allocated to combat the spread of the virus. But we never feel obliged to allocate similar funds to combat ailments of the poor and the disadvantaged. The wound of that separation and segregation is deep within the body of humanity. However, today we are all facing the same fate. A fate that does not distinguish between rich or poor, white or black, Muslim or Hindu. The virus is collecting us in one basket, urging us to rethink our way of life and giving us ample time to do so. My personal feeling is that the extent of the scar this virus is going to leave on the body of humanity depends on our individual and collective choices. If we start to spread love instead of fear, connect instead of isolate and collaborate instead of compete, we will soon emerge from this crisis into a brighter future. If we decided to stay anchored to our old materialistic and isolationist mentality, then I pray for humanity.