May 1, 2020
This is a hard time for everyone. Fear of the unknown. Fear of losing the futures we planned, and the parts of the world we felt cocooned by. Swimming in uncertainty and loss of many kinds…
Nature has a way of finding balance. We have been exploiting it and suppressing it in our entitled climb to thankless domination. And now it’s pushing back.
And in this flux, shaken from normality and unsustainable momentum, we are being given a chance to change things.
Maybe this is our chance to find what’s truly important to us, and be reassured that what we find will change ourselves and society for the better.
We have been eroding the support underneath us to grow our economy, higher and faster. We have become complacent to convenience. We complain about trivial things, barely acknowledging our privilege in history and the work behind us that has made our lives so easy and filled with seemingly infinite things at our disposal. But maybe we don’t need all of these things. Maybe we can evaluate what actually is essential. Maybe we can stop taking our world for granted and start owning our responsibility to steward it.
Maybe as we slow down with the slowing world, we can look inwardly and find what gives us internal purpose, instead of being caught in a flurry of constant external stimulation. How can we feed our souls in isolation?
A couple days ago, I feared social distancing could eradicate what little sense of community we have left, especially if more activities take place on online platforms. But maybe this is the point where we start cherishing community more, because we are threatened with losing it, deprived of touch, gatherings, and the language of physical connection.
I’ve observed how important art is. People have been turning to films, books, music and other art to find solace and connection. I am an artist. But since it has become my career, I have felt uncomfortable talking about it with people far removed from it, having internalized society’s devaluation of the arts, feeling it’s not “worthwhile” enough for the planet. But I can’t be more grateful this is what I do. Creating and turning inwardly has been feeding me during this time. (But of course so has connecting to friends and family, through uncertainty and isolation, but above all, through giving and receiving love. I’m so thankful we have the internet to be able to do this so easily.)
The changing circumstances - losing our jobs, crumbling industries, economic plunges - are are all outside of our control. But what we can control is what we prioritize and the lens through which we emerge from this.
-Claire Shenstone-Harris
For information about Claire, you can check out her website.