As I am writing these lines, the world seems to be shutting down: schools are being closed, concerts and sports events cancelled, people arriving home from travels abroad are being tested and asked to isolate.

Fear seems to be spreading faster than the virus itself, leading to some almost bizarre reactions such as hoarding toilet paper and excluding people from events on the basis of their appearance. Psychologically speaking, the fear is understandable: this is a new threat, something unknown and of already rather great impact. People are dying of it, and because of media and the interconnectedness of news from all over the world, we hear about the numbers. As a species we aren’t good with the unknown, and when we feel threatened we either freeze or fight or flee. 

And so we – and our governments – are doing what we can to create a sense of safety and to regain a measure of control. As I am writing this there are still relatively few cases of confirmed infected people in Canada, and only one Corvid-19 related death has been reported. We are being asked to take precautions: hand washing, being attentive to symptoms, avoiding contact with strangers and with those who are sick or who have recently traveled. We are asked to self-quarantine if we develop any of the known symptoms or if we have recently returned from a journey abroad. The term social distancing has been chosen to describe the overall suggestion of keeping our distance from one-another.

In Italy and China, with far more confirmed case of infection and far more deaths, the measures are much more severe: full quarantine for whole areas of the respective country with allowing people only in emergencies to leave their homes. Businesses have closed down, most of social life has been halted. 

All these measures are meant to reduce the spread of the virus, to discover who may or may not be infected already, and to buy scientists time to develop a vaccine or a treatment. They are tremendously important because we all need to assure that we do our best to keep all of us, and especially those who are most vulnerable – the sick, the very young and the very old – as safe as possible. 

However, all these measures are aimed at the outer only: at our bodies, our physical health. And yet, focusing only on our physical health can create an imbalance that can have long-lasting effects in other areas of our lives. 

In a lecture given in 1910 Rudolf Steiner spoke about this connection between inner and outer health in the context of illness and epidemics:

“When hygiene is practised on one hand, one must also feel, on the other, the duty to give the human being – whose organism has been changed – something for the soul […] Here we arrive at an important law in human development, which always works such that outer and inner must be kept in balance, and such that we must not only look at one side, but also keep the other in mind.” (1)

One of the ways to take care of the inner life of the soul, could be to place the current pandemic in a broader context. For the past several years we have seen an increase in isolation and – as a colleague of mine named it – “othering”. We have seen a steep increase of hate and distrust towards those who are different. This fear, anger and hate – this “othering” we have experienced for so many years now, may be part of what makes us vulnerable to illness: constant fear and stress have an impact on our physical health. (2)

And now we are dealing, as a species, with an unknown virus. This invasion creates even more fear, anger, and helplessness in each of us, deepening our isolation (literally), further taxing our resilience, and creating a vicious cycle.

So how can that help us to take care of ourselves and others at this time? 

I believe the answer may be right in front of our eyes: as we are increasing the isolation and sterile environment in our physical environments – including our own physical bodies – we need to increase our soul-connections at an equal pace. And this is already starting.

In Italy people who have been in full quarantine in their homes for weeks now have taken to having street concerts at their open windows: whole neighbourhoods open their windows, play their instruments, and sing together. Others have moved their weekly dinners with friends to Skype: they sit down with their pasta and vino and laugh and share and maybe even cry together. Free YouTube videos have sprung up to teach people how to sew, guide them through meditations, or teach them yoga. 

All these activities create social connection and closeness, even while people are keeping their physical distance. This connection is part of the balance to the outer treatments of the virus: it is part of the healing of the soul through a remembering of our inter-connectedness and inter-dependence. 

Another part of this balance is our spiritual connection. This morning I found a poem online: Pandemic by Lynn Ungar (3). It starts with these words: 

“What if you thought of it

as the Jews consider the Sabbath—

the most sacred of times?”

It goes on to suggest that we – as a species – take this moment in time to become still, to stop trying to get ahead, and instead to begin reconnecting. It reminds us of what is important: love, compassion, commitment to one another. And it asks us to reach out – not with our hands, but with our hearts and words and love. This is another way of speaking about the soul-healing that needs to be created in equal measure to the attempts of healing that are happening on the physical plane. 

So, here is my suggestion for Care In The Time Of Corvid-19:

• Every time we hold back our open hands, let us reach out with our open hearts and minds. 

• Every time we isolate ourselves physically from those around us, we take time to connect deep inside us, to our hearts’ true desires — and beyond, to the things that are bigger than we are.

• Every time we distance our bodies from our neighbours or from the people walking in the streets next to us, we consciously try to build a connection through a smile, a kind word, a caring question.

• And every time we are gripped by fear and anger, every time we feel the urge to lash out or to break down in tears and loneliness, we reach out for help from the outside – to the people around us who live with us and still will touch us physically, to the grounding forces of nature, to the cleansing flow of water and good food. 

We are not alone in this. Actually, we are less alone in this than we have been in a long time: most of the planet is in this with us. We just need to remember to love, care, and support each other. This may proof as vital to our well-being and our very survival as keeping our distance physically, washing our hands, and avoiding visits to areas and people who are infected. 

Let’s aim for physical distancing and social connecting. With modern technology, it has never been easier to do this. The real challenge will be to continue this social connecting when the physical distancing is no longer necessary. 

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(1)  R. Steiner, Manifestations of Karma lectures, 25 May 1910, Hamburg – translated by T.M. Cox, 2020

(2)  University of Minnesota, https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/impact-fear-and-anxiety, Mar. 15, 2020

(3)   Pandemic, Lynn Ungar: http://www.lynnungar.com/poems/pandemic/, Mar. 15, 2020