“Will The Recent Protests In The US Be The Major Reason For The Second Wave Of Coronavirus In The Country?” (Quora)
Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Will the recent protests in the US be the major reason for the second wave of coronavirus in the country?“
Indeed, health experts warn of new coronavirus outbreaks due to the recent protests’ crowded conditions.
Whether or not these protests spur a second wave of the coronavirus, what is more striking is that the common direction to avert more COVID-19 infections has been eclipsed by masses of people’s insistence for justice.
It raises the question: What if the protesters’ strong demand for justice would be slightly redirected, becoming a demand to elevate a common umbrella of love upon America’s rich diversity?
The killing of George Floyd surfaced issues of racism in the US with an uproar of protests and riots, and it followed a period of the coronavirus affecting everyone, from the hundreds of thousands of deaths and infections through the millions of people affected by social distancing and stay-at-home orders.
The same way we can ask whether the coronavirus will return in full force as a result of these protests, we can also ask whether the end of these protests will bring about lasting calmness in American society.
If we fail to treat the problem of social division with a common effort to cover it with love, we can then expect much more social unrest heading into the future.
What does covering divisiveness, opposition and conflict in human society with love require?
It first requires recognizing the source of our divisive drives as the egoistic human nature in each and every person that prefers serving its own individuality over serving society.
Becoming aware of our egoistic nature goes hand-in-hand with acknowledging how a well-oiled society is one that has rich diversity coupled with a common aspiration in all of its members to bridge the diversity with love and compassion.
American society is thus in a perfect position to cover its divisive drives with love.
With a new motivation to apply love upon people’s differences, discrepancies then do not weaken society, but on the contrary, strengthen it.
It can be likened to a human body that has many different cells, organs and tissues, yet when all of its parts work for the sake of a common goal of sustaining the body’s health and well-being, then the many different parts function harmoniously.
However, our differences are a very sensitive issue.
Whether they tear us apart or unify us depends on the values that navigate our lives.
If our leading values are based on egoistic qualities that separate us, then we will experience more and more social conflicts.
If, however, our leading value is positive connection above differences, that we wish our diversity to be enveloped by a common atmosphere of love, then we will experience a new sense of peace sweep throughout society.
Therefore, the current protests in the US should ideally act as a springboard toward a more developed human consciousness, which looks beyond physical features and focuses on how to positively connect from heart to heart.
When we connect in such a way, we will see how we are all parts of a single whole that has an abundance of liveliness to serve each and every person, if only we learn to be mutually considerate and compassionate to each other, and seek to cooperate with each other and complement one another.
Taking a step in such a direction would be truly activating our free will as human beings, as we would then start operating above our inborn egoistic qualities.
Our differences are nature-given.
We have no freedom in them.
Our place of free will is where we can act above our differences in order to create a common wrapping of love, renewing the thought of benefiting others more and more by investing in educating and promoting this idea in society.
We have the knowledge and the resources available today to activate a shift in public opinion that could positively influence every member of society: that we would choose unity above division at every moment that one of our divisive drives rears its ugly head.
It might seem like a distant or even unachievable dream, but the more people work on it together, the more it will spread.
If such efforts persist, then at a certain point, the idea of love covering our differences will become established as a new social norm, together with the blossoming of a new harmonious society of happy, confident and well-connected individuals.
Above photo by cyrus gomez on Unsplash.
