Isolation During The Coronavirus: The Art of Going Within

New Beginnings

Never in my lifetime has there been a global shutdown of the magnitude wrought by the Coronavirus. I can certainly see why many refer to these as “end times” of famines, plagues and disasters. Of course, it’s not the end, it’s just the end of an era, and a kind of mentally driven, physically-based paradigm called separation: separation from the earth, separation from one another, separation from the source of life itself. In reality we have never been, nor could we ever be, separate from the source of Life or from the earth. But in the conceptual design of the world we’ve constructed we have collectively dived very deeply into the experiences which reflect back to us our perceived, believed separation. I’d say we’re nearing the bottom of the barrel, wouldn’t you? Fortunately, endings and beginnings always go together. In fact, endings and beginning are one. It’s the circle of Life. Literally.

I think you would agree that the reality of the Coronavirus itself, versus the reality of the world’s emotional and behavioral response to the outbreak, are two different things. The facts are pretty straightforward: there is a virus called Coronavirus. According to mainstream sources it is highly contagious. Like other viruses it can be fatal and is more threatening to some populations than others. The other details of the virus are, as far as I can tell, mostly speculative. We don’t really know all the facts and we certainly don’t know what will happen next as the infected population increases. But the emotional and energetic atmosphere in our country and around the world isn’t actually about the Coronavirus itself, it’s about the interpretation of what the virus means—it’s about the virus of our minds.

We find ourselves collectively at the center of a pandemic which has been in our world for much, much longer than the Coronavirus has and which, thanks to the outbreak, we have the opportunity to see and identify in a deep and potentially transformative way: we are globally in the midst of the mysterious “threat” of uncertainty, with a golden opportunity to awaken to the nature of mind itself provided we have the tools to use this moment as a mirror for our inner reality. This post and several to follow are all written in order to supply the perspective and the tools necessary for you to realize a fundamental paradigm shift in reality, away from fear, speculation and uncertainty and toward peace, presence and full acceptance of Life as it is.

The Opportunity

This is a very rich time. Times of massive and sweeping disruption carry with them the seeds of new consciousness. When the wind blows with force and power it has the ability to carry spores and seeds across vast distances, delivering them wherever the intelligence of our Universal Mind decides. Seeds of potential growth can be carried hundreds, even thousands of miles if they catch the right current, and we are indeed in the midst of a cyclone of change, therefore our growth potential has never been greater. The tremendous opportunity we each have at this time is to shift out of a paradigm of body-based, personality-based identification which is ultimately concerned with self-protection and survival, and toward a paradigm of consciousness itself: an understanding, appreciation and application of our fundamental interconnectedness as consciousness.

Presently, our greatest potential to grow as a species is now in the form of new ideas, new ways of being, new values and priorities, and new energy—all expressions of new consciousness. We’re in this together folks, and as I begin this first post in a series, I wish to begin by making a deep, heartfelt and earnest invitation to those of you who have the wisdom and awareness of composure, objectivity, calm, patience and compassion, who are dedicated to living a life connected to Spirit, with awareness of our fundamental wholeness and unity, to really and truly take this opportunity to share yourself and all your gifts of presence and mindfulness. 

The winds of change are blowing, but whether they will carry seeds of new consciousness depends upon your willingness to let yourself be found, known and heard. It’s not about grandiosity or even knowing the answers, it’s about the time you’ve already spent in the alchemical heat of self-cultivation. What other moment do you think you’ve been preparing yourself for? The gift you can give to those who have not yet gone through the seasons of a journey as you have, will be the gift of new awareness and the invitation to live in a paradigm of life where no fear or doubt exists. The gift you will be giving yourself is to allow some aspect of the journey you’ve walked until now—the journey of your own birth and self-preparation within your inner abode, connected with Spirit—to finally come full-circle, and to realize your own sense of self-completion in the process. Now, you’re practice is to be for those who do not yet trust in their own being.

For many of us the world’s shutdown, which even includes imposed lockdowns by some governments, is quite a frightening reality. Yes, there are many practical fears which can arise, but the deeper fear is often about aloneness, isolation, and quarantine from one another. Human touch and other contact is minimized or gone for many. Gathering together in groups isn’t wise at the moment. The social connection and support we’re accustomed to is no longer available in the usual ways. By all accounts, many of us are facing a genuine and foreboding sense of aloneness for the first time. 

If you have not already practiced and become comfortable with the art of going within, this experience of being with yourself without any escape can be frightening. Your mind may be running through all of the doomsday scenarios, going over mental checklists of ways to keep yourself physically safe, running ten steps down the line as you play the ‘what if’ game, and before you know it you’re in a kind of prison of you’re own making. Of course, you’re mind would never call it that, it says you’re just taking care of yourself, but the mental, emotional and energetic investment you may be making tells another story: it says “I’m terrified of the unknown.” And that’s ok. I’m simply pointing out that the reality of mind and the reality of this moment are two very different things. Find out for yourself. Be literal. What’s actually happening this very second in your body, in your room, outdoors? What’s the quality of your breathing? What’s the temperature on your skin? 

Perhaps you’ve never had to actually be with yourself before. Or, if you have, then perhaps not to this degree, and probably never imposed upon you. It’s a new experience and we’re in it together. You’re willingness to learn how to feel whole, healthy and peaceful in the company of your own mind when there are no distractions and no one else around is a core part of the very reason Life is unfolding the way it is for all of us on the planet at this time: collectively we’ve gotten lost in the mirage of doing and having, bound up and led astray by the stories of the mind and we’ve completely forgotten how to be. I’m not talking about how to rest or relax, I’m talking about being. Even the term may feel a bit confusing to you. “Aren’t I busy being all the time?”, you might ask. “Isn’t being just a part of life, a given?” Well, no, it’s not.

The mind’s concept of being and the practice or art of actually being are two, unrelated things. Can you fill yourself off of the concept of food? Or, next time you have to go to the toilet, just see if a concept can substitute for your experience. You won’t make many friends this way, but it will only take one time and you’ll never conflate a concept for reality again. But, even these examples aren’t necessarily about being present. After all, you’re mind can still be wandering no matter what you do, and you with it! I’m really talking about cultivating the quality of true presence, stillness and neutral observation of yourself when all of you is showing up and committed to your experience right this second, whatever it is, without anywhere else to be. Just here. Facing what’s actually happening without any story involved. It might make you feel a little squirmy just thinking about it.

From a survivalist and evolutionary point of view you would think that the fear or resistance to being fully and totally here would be because something dramatic and threatening awaits you. In fact, the opposite is true: the mind’s fear of being totally here and nowhere else is because no drama exists in any given moment. It’s total boredom to the mind: “nothing’s happening! I’ve got nothing to do! I already know all this stuff, I want something new!” You see, at a deeper level boredom is a gateway. Truly. It’s not just an enticing statement. No individual, and I mean no one, can realize genuine and lasting peace, or realize their intrinsic nature as freedom itself (what we often call awareness in spiritual language) unless they pass through the gateway of boredom. And what are the most basic conditions of boredom? Aloneness and isolation, without distraction. The art of going within is the art of moving beyond boredom and the need for distraction.

The Gateway of Boredom

In our world do you know why the entertainment industry is worth trillions of dollars? It’s one, simple reason: the nature of mind itself is entertainment. Entertainment is essentially the reality of endless options. That’s a basic description of entertainment. That’s also a definition of mind: to entertain with fictional stories and drama, creating backstories (called a past) and plots (called a future). The nature of entertainment is the nature of the mind, which simply chases itself around and sympathizes with each character in a drama which, individually, represent one of the mind’s voices. You know those voices, we all have them: the voice of the critic, the voice of good self-esteem, the voice of worthlessness, the voice of self-sabotage, the voice of sex, the voice of sugar, the voice of the one who rewards, the voice of the one who punishes, the voice of your mother, the voice of your father, the voice of your education and so forth. It’s virtually endless. You’ve got a voice for everything. So do I. We use the same voices, in fact.  

Ever notice that you can relate at least a little to every character you see in a show or movie? Even Shakespeare wouldn’t have an audience if it weren’t for the fact that every_single_character represents something within us. That’s because every character is actually the same character in disguise, it’s the same mind wearing different outfits (i.e., speaking in different voices). It’s basically a rotating game of a single dynamic of victim and perpetrator, innocent and guilty, good and evil, hero and villain, comedy and tragedy, etc. It’s a one trick pony. Just watch and see. The entire drama of mind, including the drama experienced collectively now as a result of the Coronavirus, plays out in each of us the exact same way. There’s nothing new under the sun. Isn’t it time to embrace a new paradigm? Aren’t we bored yet with continuously creating our world out of the same, old, stale stories of yesterday?  

In order for Life to return you to a state of curiosity and presence, in other words to help you incarnate fully into a realm you don’t actually know anything about (which is why you’re here—to experience something new) other than the stories your mind has told you beginning with what others told you, you need to be put into quarantine—it’s already happening! You need to undergo a period of purposeful and focused detox from being entertained. Yes, you have internet, and HBO, and Amazon Prime, but this is a heart-felt invitation to use your time for what it’s been given for. I’m not saying don’t watch a program, I’m saying explore within yourself, take the time to begin a new set of practices, a new set of thoughts and emotions, or even go beyond your emotions altogether and just watch the play of your mind without participating or holding preferences for its different stories at all.

I’m speaking about discovering newness in the things you take for granted because, according to your mind, most of your life is old hat, just part of your daily routine. The mind filters out what it thinks it already knows. It therefore only experiences a very narrow bandwidth of Life which it takes interest in because those are the places where it can get its dramatic fix. It’s a junky always seeking a high. When you make the choice to actually participate in being (conscious presence), to withdraw your interest in the stories of your mind, you begin to cast the light of newness and revelation upon all that you normally overlook and ignore.

The Art of Going Within

It may begin gradually, often little by little, but soon enough you’ll notice momentum building in your desire to focus your awareness in new ways. Have you ever truly experienced the weight and coldness of the metal spoon in your hand and how it feels to you when you use it to eat your morning cereal? Do you enjoy it? Have you been eating with utensils you don’t even like the feel of, but never noticed? How does it feel against your teeth? Would a wooden spoon feel better? Try it out. When was the last time you just inhaled the fragrance of your shampoo and realized what a marvel it is that the faculty of smell exists at all, and that your shampoo is a revelation you never paid attention to before now? We live in a world with shampoo—what a wild idea! What would life look like to you if you held the awareness that this is simply one among countless other realms of experience? Can you begin to not just see new things, but become aware that something called seeing is happening? What a marvel it is that sight is something to be experienced! What is it that’s seeing through you?? Can you become deeply curious about that question? It’s a big one… The list is endless. Instead of amplifying the entertainment, what would happen if, by slowing down and redirecting your attention, you amplified your sensitivity to all that is always already taking place within and around you? 

As you navigate this new reality of external quietude ushered in by the Coronavirus, it is essential that you become flexible and willing to enter into a new space within yourself. Don’t hold this at bay just waiting for life to return to normal. It won’t. It’s never going back to the way it was, not really anyway. Don’t let yourself get away with trying to remain tethered to your old patterns. Cast the curtains of your awareness open and welcome in the new light. This moment is not an accident, it is by design, and it is designed to teach you the art of going within. 

The nineteenth century German philosopher Freidrich Nietzsche observed (and I’m paraphrasing) that “if one enters into oneself through the wrong means he will injure himself so badly that no physician may fix him.” Nietzsche is indicating the need to take the right path into the soul, or presence, or your true self. To enter into your own company, the company of your being, carrying criticisms, judgements, beliefs and negative emotions doesn’t make any sense (if that’s how it’s working for you then you’re listening to your mind which is still telling you stories about what it means to be) and is simply self-injurious by pretending that the lies you’re mind has already told you about yourself (the endless voices of ‘not-enough-ness’ and self-criticism, often marked with frustration) are true. In the realm of being, it can be quite a damaging thing to think you’ve found the truth of yourself, yet the truth tells you you’re a lousy, rotten, human being. If that’s what you’re encountering, rest assured, it’s a lie. 

Don’t drive the wedge deeper, instead enter into your own company in a healing way, a life-giving way by setting the intention to experience the truth of yourself and consciously taking that approach. Do so without expectation. The truth of yourself will not look, sound or feel like a person, which is what we often expect it to be. It might simply be a quality of existing… This is a truly vital step as you pass through the gateway of boredom. If you enter into boredom with consciousness it will unfurl itself to reveal a magnificent and vast reality unlike anything the mind has ever imagined. If you enter into it with resistance, agitation and expectation you will simply exacerbate the same energies. When you practice entering with pure curiosity and the desire to discover something new, you will open a secret passageway within your consciousness, a sort of inner door to something unlike anything of this world. To fully be is the most powerful and meaningful thing you will ever do. Are you willing to travel with me through the portal of boredom and into the realm of being? 

This time that Life has given our planet collectively is designed to provide those of us who are willing, the opportunity to pass beyond the veil of boredom and to merge back into Life on the other side. The deep peace many beings experience as they pass from their physical bodies is because, in that instant, there are no distractions left, no more room for stories. They become for the first time fully available to what is happening. No more options and alternatives. No more “whats if’s”. No more tomorrow’s. In other words, no more mind. Yet for an instant they become most alive.

Will you choose the only option which will ever matter and practice the art of going within during this precious time of the world’s standstill? Start small, just sitting for five minutes at a time. Walk slowly, step-by-step, there’s nowhere to go. Eat with intention and presence, your food becomes your body, love it. Be aware of your breath, it is holding you here at all times, a generous and unconditional benefactor. See for yourself what’s real and what’s a story in your mind. You can’t get it wrong, you can only choose not to try. 

With Compassion and Encouragement,

David Y.  

NOTE: Please refer to this section of the page, below my name, for more information on the series of blogposts related to the Coronavirus. I will be posting new writing every 3-5 days which will extend the topic of this blogpost. Thank you.

Photo Credit: Natalia Figueredo, “Woman Sitting Near Open Window” on Unspash.com