April 10, 2020
Reflect & Connect
With man-made sanctions galore against Venezuela, Iran, and other “errant” nations, comes now the sobering reminder of the sanctions imposed by Mother Nature, blind to geographical boundaries, threatening even the safety of sailors on the aircraft carrier, “USS Theodore Roosevelt.” Grim prognosis lurks around the corner.
Yet, adversity sometimes comes with a hidden silver lining. Modern friendships are mostly driven and sustained by transactional needs. Despite the over-wired world, it is rare indeed for people to make random calls to say “Howdy” and “Salaam” or to spontaneously invite people for meals just for the heck of it. So many in the professional world are hostages to artificially imposed calendars and rigid schedules and miss the moment to reach out to family and friends.
Corona offers an opportunity to connect with civility and humanity. All it takes now is picking up the telephone and saying “Hello!” With lives becoming enclosed and secluded, involuntary confinement now has forcibly thrust the pressing of the “pause” button.
The impact of an unexpected telephone call has been underestimated. Being mired in portable devices at the expense of human connections can deplete energies and stunt growth. Few have friends they can rely upon or confide in. Reaching out can be rejuvenating and therapeutic as it takes self-absorbed focus off oneself. These are the moments for friends to shine. Aristotle – tutor of Alexander the Great – was spot on when he described man as a social animal.
On the other hand, seclusion, although dreaded, can offer a welcome respite from the robotic treadmill of mundane routine. It affords an uninterrupted space for self-reflection and self-correction. Isolation can boost creativity.
Jawaharlal Nehru wrote some of his best works in prison: “The Discovery of India,” “Glimpses of World History,” and an Autobiography, “Toward Freedom.” And, in prison, Malcolm X was reprieved from criminality by finding Islam.
In 1935, during the fascist era in Italy, Carlo Levi was exiled and banished to a remote, forsaken village in southern Italy. Based upon that experience, he wrote “Christ stopped at Eboli,” later an acclaimed 1979 movie. The tormented Dutch painter Van Gogh, during the 1880’s, did some of his greatest work in solitude, vide the movie, “At Eternity’s Gate” (2018).
Transformational thinking flowers in silence and solitude.
The pain of seclusion, isolation, alienation, solitude, aloneness, and self-imposed detachment from worldly pursuits has produced magical poetry. Legendary poet Munir Niazi, whom I knew well, stands out here. Munir Niazi told me during our last meeting in Lahore, in 2006, that his main apprehension was that “he doesn’t become like everybody else.”
2000 years ago, the Apostle Paul – architect of Christianity – left his Damascus base to venture into Arabia for a few years. Authorities on his life mostly concur that he spent that time in reflection and readjustment.
Through the ages, the Dervish order sought insight, enlightenment, and direction through aloneness in the desert, mountains, and travels through unfamiliar terrain. Even in Europe’s officially atheistic Albania under Enver Hoxha, the Bektashi Dervish order went underground and stayed vibrant.
Going solo has its own virtues. This was the path by choice of great Sufi saints. If mankind finds a moment of epiphany in all this, and finds some humility and humanity, this global crisis may yet prove to be a worthwhile wake-up call.
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