The Days of Lockdown week 6

 20 April 2020 - Sanity and sanitisation

At no other time in history have people washed their hands as much as they are doing now. Signs of sold-out sanitiser have never been so commonplace. It makes you wonder what the environmental impact of all this handwashing is: how much has our water consumption increased and what’s the effect of all that soap? In any case, the message has sunk in that we need to keep our paws pristine.

Human contact has been deeply sanitised too. Social distancing ensures that nothing ‘untoward’ will occur: no kissing, or even holding hands, let alone sex with someone you’ve just met, or conducting an illicit affair. Our hands are clean, and our behaviour could withstand the scrutiny of the Puritans. “Cleanliness is next to godliness”, we are taught, and we’re doing a great job at the moment.  

One wonders, though, what effect all this sanitisation has on our sanity. The lack of human touch may not only cause depression and weaken our immune system, it can apparently also make us less empathetic. We need to be touched to be touched. The longer the lack of contact continues, the more chance there is that people will start caring less about the ones we’ve been trying to protect with this lockdown. We already see resolve crumbling, people starting to wash their hands of the whole business.

Another side-effect of the lockdown is that life lacks excitement. However, humans have come up with a brilliant scheme to keep the adrenaline flowing. More and more of my sanest friends are falling under the spell of conspiracies. The theories have to become increasingly outlandish to keep the rush going: more fear and outrage are needed to keep the adrenaline-junkies pumped up.

Clean Mind. Source: The Pioneer

In order to keep my own sanity, I have had to clean up my social media accounts. Last week I talked about ‘snoozing’ people, but this week the deluge became so great, I had to stem the tide by unfriending and even blocking some. I have started weaving what I call a ‘web of sanity’ around me, with friends who still retain their critical faculties. So, corona is not just making people sick, it also exposes sick relationships and helps clean them up. ‘Every downside has an upside,’ soccer legend Johan Cruijff used to say.

The fact is, we don’t fare so well in a sterile environment, both mentally and physically. We literally need the microbes on our hands to keep our immune system informed. We need to get our hands dirty, get stuck in with something concrete to do, or we lose our sanity. Hands and minds, the outer and inner world, that’s what it all comes down to now. If we can find a balance, we may be able to clean up our act as a species, and perhaps even cleanse our souls.

  

The Days of Lockdown - week 5

The Days of Lockdown – week 5

12 April 2020 - Snoozing

Today is Easter, the day of the Resurrection. The Lord may have risen, but we have not. We are still in limbo, awaiting judgment. We are neither here nor there, so to speak. We are not fully awake to what’s going on or what’s going to happen. We are snoozing.

After four weeks, we know the drill: wash hands, keep distance, don’t meet up. We don’t have to think about it too much anymore. Slowly we are becoming accustomed to this ‘new normal’. We still follow the news, but not as frantically: we doze off in the middle of another avalanche of numbers, knowing there will be more tomorrow.

We literally hit the snooze button. Working from home, or not working, means we can get out of bed later – something that has improved the quality of life of this night owl immensely, by the way. We can sleep a little longer, though there are reports of people having more nightmares and vivid dreams. When the world stands still, every movement stands out.

Facebook has an option where you can ‘snooze’ someone for 30 days, meaning you don’t see any of their posts unless you go looking for them. I have found myself increasingly making use of this possibility to fend off the madness of those who can’t slumber in the status quo. They post ever more frantic and outlandish conspiracy theories in which lizards from outer space have invented 5G to give us all corona and control us through microchips implanted by über-overlord Bill Gates. These days we discover what helps and what hinders us, who are our kindred spirits and whose ways of thinking seem sheer insanity.  

In this subdued state, this quiet time, we can consider ourselves and the world around us. We may not be able to act, but we can observe and see all that is wrong and right around us. That’s why this time is an opportunity to become truly awake, if we dare to take it. Still, good and bad signs abound in equal numbers, so the jury is still out and in limbo we remain.

Looking back at some astrological forecasts, which I generally tend to take with a pinch of salt, it is almost shocking to see how accurate they were. This year and the next are supposed to constitute radical change. The first half of 2020 would be relatively peaceful – the quiet before the storm, as we are experiencing now in this sleepy state. The second half will be a rude awakening, as we will be faced with the consequences of this interval.

What and who will still be standing? How will positions of power have changed? Will friends still be friends and enemies still be enemies? I think we will look back on this period with nostalgia. Walking along the quiet canals under an incredibly clear blue sky, going for midnight strolls with the stars overhead, meeting friends in the middle of the week, sitting together at 1.5 meters distance. These will be the good old days - at least, for those of us privileged enough to be able to afford social distancing.

So, let’s take this opportunity to snooze, to rest, to slumber, to dream and to imagine. And when things have become clear, we will wake up and see who is ready for the resurrection.