Seize this day

Back in those easy pre-pandemic years, things were pretty simple: all we had to worry about was the imminent destruction of the biosphere: climate chaos, wholesale destruction of ecosystems and domination of nature by an insatiable, relentless and generally mindless culture.

In those days, I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the looming crisis and to my mind, incremental changes were simply not enough. What we needed was something fundamental, radical and primal: a brutally frank, highly focused period of self-examination of our behavior, our values, our culture and our relationship with the world.

With that in mind, I wrote the following in January of 2018:

“Perhaps we need a cultural vision quest, a period of intense, sustained attention to the world and our place in it. It’s hard to imagine what would inspire us such an act, but perhaps that time has come.”

So maybe this pandemic is the kind of event I was looking for; a complete, top-to-bottom disruption of business-as-usual and even more importantly, culture-as-usual–millions of people forced out of their conventional routine and into the unfamiliar.

To be sure, this isn’t exactly the kind of vision quest I had in mind. I was looking for something more voluntary, more intentional and conscious. People, I had foolishly hoped, would simply wise up and start reflecting on reality. Surely taking some time off from our so-called “normal” lives would be worth the effort. Let’s all go up on the mountain, fast for a month and have a vision of the future.

But now, like it or not, we’re being forced into a period of self-reflection and suddenly an entire world of possibility is opening up. Things that would have been dismissed out of hand just a few weeks ago are now considered possible, even essential: universal health care, universal basic income, loan forgiveness and a re-localization of commerce to name a few. As author Jeremy Lent has observed, the Overton window of acceptable public discourse has been thrown wide open. “Coronavirus is a political crucible, melting down and reshaping current norms.” Things that were recently unimaginable are now being discussed as perfectly sensible and reasonable. In other words, this pandemic may be precisely the opportunity we need. With the world in flux, maybe we finally can get serious about making fundamental change.

The potential goes far beyond the realm of political and economic readjustment. In fact, now is the time to put everything on the table, especially the big questions about human identity, values and our role in the world. Now is the time to question our culture and its assumptions about human supremacy, imperialism, individualism, growth, reproduction and most especially, our relationship to the natural world. In fact, this would be a good time to re-write the story of Western civilization, capitalism, affluence and consumerism–to re-think the basic assumptions that have brought us to the brink of unimaginable catastrophe.

As it stands, the most probable prognosis for our situation looks something like this: The pandemic will peak, level off and slowly subside. In time, our familiar social and economic activity will return to something resembling “normal.” People will gradually return to work and play, but the virus will continue to disrupt our lives in waves of death and inconvenience. We’ll be forced to retreat now and again, but most of us will breathe a big sigh of relief and try to put the whole thing behind us. But to ignore this experience would be an epic mistake. To miss this opportunity for reflection and fresh activism would be doubly catastrophic.

For the last few years, Greta Thunberg has been telling us that “It’s time to break the rules.” Most people in power have ignored her, but now the virus has barged into our lives, breaking the rules for us. In the process, many of the ideas and institutions that we assumed to be essential have proven to be optional. So let’s keep our minds open and think big. Sure, let’s bend the viral curve down and get people back on track to making a living, but let’s not forget to seize the moment for larger possibilities.

Don’t waste this crisis. The next one is likely to be our last.