En-light-ment

Dear Reader,

There is so much going on at the moment and it does take time to process all of this.
It has been difficult trying to make some sense with so much new information coming out every day.

With that in mind, I wanted as always to use some of this information under one theme, maybe in an effort to put things in order and in perspective and highlight what I see as essential, present and important.

I have already written about some of the possible lessons that can be learned from the corona virus and its consequences.
As new information is surfacing ever day is important for me at least to understand any new lessons and adjust our responses to them.

In Greece we are currently starting to get out of the lockdown and allowed some more freedoms than before. It did not make sense to keep going in lockdown state as the new infections and deaths are really low at the moment.
In my sense sooner or later we are all going to get infected and develop antibodies that constitute our natural bodily protection until an effective vaccine is found similar to the normal flu situation.

The main theme that travels through my mind these days is that of the 'truth'. It feels that there is an exaggeration of announced measures from governments and quite disproportional to the degree of threat from the virus. The death rates compared to the infected people with or without symptoms (tested and not tested) are not as high as it was initially expected. Facts that make me suspiciously question they eagerness with which governments are willing to take these restrictive measures. Cameras at schools, removal of family relatives from home, prolonged social distancing from friends and loved ones seem  extreme measures comparing to harshness of the situation so far.

I understand that there are a lot of unknown parameters so far including the infection rates, the behaviour of the virus etc but it is really surprising to me that governments have not reacted like that before in other 'life threatening' situations such as normal flu and populations starving every day. Moreover, instead of waiting to see the advancements of the virus and science, they are very quick to examine strict measures.
It also sounds that so far our survival instincts are selective and country based as each country takes its own measures based on their perception and estimation of the reality of the virus.

This is exactly my main point: that we live our lives based on the truth that we know of ourselves and we believe for others. For example, if we are told by an authority that every chinese person is a threat to us as they can infect us, then we might believe this as reality and start constructing our lives around this believed 'truth'. So, we will avoid chinese people at all costs, we will use masks, gloves and anything we can to protect ourselves from them, even wish for them to leave our countries in order to remain healthy.
We would do not recognise them anymore as people that can be treated, neighbours, friends etc, but as possible infectious bomb that we have to separate ourselves from. 

To follow someone's rules, means that there is belief that those rules are based on the honesty and transparency of intentions. As children we obey punishment from parents as a way to learn the 'good' way of behaving over the 'bad' one. 'Good and 'bad' in this instance are defined by what the parents believe as good or bad which in turn might have learned from their parents and so on. This is the ultimate power of parents, that under the role of a 'caring authority' can shape the behaviour of their children through punishment and reward (conditioning).

It is clear that at some level we all play 'hide and seek' lying to one another. We are constantly trying to negotiate our truth with the truth of others revealing a game of mistrust.
What is really hurting me in what we live right now is that it appears more and more probable that we are being lied to, the same way that we have been lying when we have not followed the quarantine rules.

There is always a reason why someone lies. While it is clear that people have been lying when disobeying the quarantine rules taking a risk doing an activity they enjoy, it is not so clear and highly suspicious why governments have been lying in declaring false reasons of death in favour of the virus. If the virus is the threat, why are they declaring that it killed more people than it really did? Why we become so sterilised weakening our immune system that really protects us? that It does not make sense.

Every lie told creates a gap in the glue of any relationship, trust.

The last few weeks a big part of greek society has been following the trial of two young men who raped and killed in a very violent way a young girl. 
The girl's trust was broken as she did consent to meet them, but not to be raped and killed.
It is really shocking and hurtful for anyone who has a bit of empathy to realise that someone else, for whatever reason, may assume that 'it is ok' to become the authority of what is going to happen to another's life. 
I am really wondering who could possible taught those two young men that 'it is ok' to make another human being and particularly a woman, suffer and take her life.
Not only they misused her trust but, also they did not have the courage to tell the truth in the court and the real truth will never be known as the girl is not alive anymore to tell it. 
The silenced the truth and only some of its traces can be found. 

This is only one 'small' example of what human nature is capable of.
For thousands of years we have been killing one another in the name of countries, religions, justice, democracy, human rights, profit and so on.
Oh yes, we  did use to believe those truths, that the killings were justified but were they? It is completely different to kill from self defence than to to kill for other reasons.
Remember all laws are man made, hence changeable, and mainly reflecting of where the evolution of human spirit is really at. Not too long ago, it was law enforced the existence of slaves!

My interest is to follow the presence of the light in every dark corner.
There can be no real appreciation of light, if we have not experienced darkness and, yet, choosing darkness is another thing.

Each one of us is part of the same ever expanding thing, existence, and we have all been given the capacity to reach our own truth within it.
We need to search for it deep within. We need to question ourselves, 'does that feel right to me or is it something that I am being told and I consent to it blindly, because I do not know anything else?'. Standing up for one's truth requires courage and integrity similar to the need of our bodies for water in order to be sustained.
So where does one find their truth, strength and integrity? 
To what does one devote one's life?
Sadly, what happened with the two young men was that their inner compass of love, respect and compassion was not working and another programme possibly learned by their parents had overruled it.

Regardless of what our parents had taught us, what the governments tell us, what the expected norms are, we always have the option to change things and be true to ourselves.
God, Universe, Light want us to be free and peaceful only if we choose it to be so every single day. 
Trusting the 'wrong lord' will have devastating consequences for us and others, similar to what happened with the young men.

The choice is always ours...

With love,
Panos