We have failed to recognize the failures of our societies, of our own desires and wants, our dreams and hopes – manufactured elsewhere –, and that of the systems that structure our world. Although there have been numerous voices telling us that we are heading off a cliff, we did not heed their warnings, nor did we care. Instead, we ridiculed those brave enough to talk truth to power. But now things will change, they are bound to.
Our economies are failing as politicians and capitalists struggle to keep the lies going, our social relations are crumbling as we have fallen into fear and anxiety, states are proving useless against this new threat, so many are talking about a coming change. And no, the people talking about these changes are not the street preachers shouting and bellowing their demands of redemption before all will be lost. The ones thinking about a change are those around us, although they may not be voicing these thoughts, they linger in their minds every day we spend isolated in our homes. They think of and yearn for a revolution!
But the coming revolution is not the one you may have heard of, the one books, movies or paintings have described or depicted. There will be no violent upheaval against what we have built so far. The masses will not act out in unison against all the power structures we have set up over the centuries. Buildings will not burn, people will not die, and that is how things should be, as history has taught us that a violent revolution is a failed revolution. No, this will be the revolution inside us, the great Event which will change the way we think and feel, the way we will live our lives inside and outside our communities. Bold predictions, I know, but I’m not the only one voicing it out. Scientists, anthropologists, economists, and philosophers are already talking about how this pandemic will be the much needed paradigm shift for humanity.
Maybe we will return to nature and start understanding the part we play in this wonderful natural system the planet is and which we are a part of. No, there will be no need to idealize or raise nature up on a pedestal, nor start praying to it. No priests or institutions will be needed to facilitate our connection with it, just our own conscious understanding of what we are. We will continue to come up with new discoveries to better enhance our comfort, we will continue to desire goods and products that give us an identity, a sense of belonging, but we will constantly be conscious of what the impact of our actions will be.
Maybe we’ll just dial down on our need to overconsume, to buy without sense and be happy with what we have. Maybe we will start forging new connections with people in our community, breaking the isolation of the selfish model that our current society is propagating. Maybe we will shift gear and slow down the pace we are so used to in our day to day lives (be productive, efficient, multitask, do this and that) and start to think more about what role we have in society and if that role is in fact of any use for us or the community we live in. Maybe we will start thinking about all these power structures that dominate, regulate and structure our lives, see if they are indeed what we need as individuals, if they are relevant and useful for the way we organize ourselves into groups.
I don’t know what exactly will happen, nor how it should happen, but that’s the beauty of it. We don’t need to have a plan, we don’t need parties or politicians to show us the way. We just need to unleash the creative forces that lie dormant inside all of us, we just need each other to start building and crafting the new us, the new world. Our actions will speak for us, it will be our propaganda machine and our ideas will have to be as infectious and contagious as this new virus.
P. A.
