COVID-19: Threat and Opportunity by Andrew Parnham

Today, we are facing a threat unlike any we have experienced in our lifetimes – at least not since World War II. But although the coronavirus epidemic is a global phenomenon, perhaps we in the West are affected in very particular ways. In this part of the world, we take our health, wealth and pleasure for granted, and if something goes wrong, we are likely to respond, ‘No problem – we’ll fix it’. But the coronavirus threat is not something we can easily ‘fix’. So much seems to be beyond our control, and that frightens us. It all seems too big, too universal, and individually we feel helpless – and anxious.

But the menace isn’t just physical and material, though that is real enough. COVID-19 threatens our way of life in ways we could never have dreamt of a few weeks ago – a way of life that is founded especially on material wellbeing, expressed for example through commerce, industry or technology.

In my book, Lasting Happiness, I proposed that our Western definition of The Good Life could be summed up with three words: health, wealth and happiness-as-pleasure. They appear so fundamental to our wellbeing that without them, life would hardly seem worthwhile. More than that, we take them for granted, even view them as a right, and assume that they will continue indefinitely. But what would happen if all of them were confiscated, taken away, deleted? What might be the sum of our lives then?

COVID-19 seems to have done exactly that. Our physical health, wealth and sources of pleasure have at a stroke been put on hold, if not actually removed. We have the internet, which provides some help and release, but Zoom conferences are a poor substitute for actual, real-life encounter, employment and extended living.

But perhaps there is more to life than health, wealth and pleasure. In the book I included three other words to guide the reader. Standing over and against the first three, they provide an alternative perspective on what makes life worthwhile – specifically, relationships (personal and communal), meaning and fulfilment. The main argument of the book is that these spheres are central to our wellbeing and flourishing, more even than the other three. And yet they are under huge pressure, as they play second-fiddle to our busy, materially-orientated lives and lifestyles.

Or at least they have until now – our business-as-usual lives before COVID-19. Today, almost overnight, we find ourselves largely without our first three dimensions.

So, where are we to turn? What should our priorities be? In our confusion and bemusement, is there an opportunity?

The Irish friar Richard Hendrick has written a moving poem about our new status quo. Noting that, yes, there is fear, isolation and sickness, he emphasises nonetheless, ‘in Wuhan after so many years of noise, you can hear the birds again …In the streets of Assisi people are singing to each other across the empty squares.’ He goes on:

All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting.

All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way.

All over the world people are waking up to a new reality.

To how big we really are.

To how little control we really have.

To what really matters.

To love.

How big we really are … how little control we really have. That’s a massive challenge to our attitudes and behaviour. It’s a reality-check for our I’m-so-busy-I-don’t-have-time-to-think-about-that-sort-of-thing lives. Our current crisis has seized hold of us, sat us down and said to us, ‘Okay, I’ve got your attention – now let’s think about what really matters.’

With the stripping away of our default comfort zones of health, wealth and pleasure, our responses are crucial. Should we withdraw into our isolation, pursuing alternative ‘comforts’ of addiction and other unhealthy supports, or can we take the opportunity to navigate those other realms of relationships, meaning and fulfilment?

Perhaps there are three dimensions in which to respond. First, the most obvious and painful restriction imposed on us by the pandemic has been physical and material. But, might this straightjacket force us to reconsider our limitations and vulnerabilities? Might we come to see our reliance on purely material ‘solutions’ to our problems as only part of the story? Might we learn to reorder our priorities in other directions?

Which leads us on to the second arena – our psychological, emotional, relational and communal lives. With the physical constraints we are experiencing currently comes the opportunity to reorder these priorities too – to invest in the very areas we have neglected up until now. How might we nurture our relationships, our sense of community and belonging?

And finally, that least tangible but most fundamental sphere – of meaning, purpose, existence. What’s going on? What’s it all about? What is my life – our lives – all for? I have no doubt that such questions are surfacing in many people’s minds. Might the constriction of our present predicament lead us to reconsider the basic, existential matters that we ‘normally’ give little time and thought to?

At the end of my book I refer to the Tree of Life. Just as a tree has three components – roots, shoot and fruit – so too do our lives. The surface, visible part (the fruit) is on show, and it’s where many of us spend most of our time and energy. That’s like physical or material life, the stage on which our immediate, public lives are lived. But below it is our ‘shoot’ or ‘trunk’, our less visible inner lives that nonetheless give support to the externals. But deeper still are our roots, the unseen source and resource that supplies either health or toxicity. What happens in this realm will determine whether we flourish or fail over the next months. What are we drawing on, what is our source of life and hope? What can we provide as a reliable resource for others going through pain and anxiety?

So, may you know inner strength and resourcing over the next weeks, as you, like the tree that draws on water and nourishment, draw on life and hope. 

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Each day, we will post a short article by one of Darton, Longman and Todd’s amazing authors, offering a personal reflection on our current situation in life. Sometimes this will be written with reference to one of their books, and sometimes about how they are living in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus and our current world situation. We hope it will give you a taste of the depth and diversity of DLT’s list – books for heart, mind and soul that aim to meet the needs and interests of all.

Today’s post is by Andrew Parnham, author of Lasting Happiness: In search of deeper meaning and fulfilment. You can buy an eBook copy of the book here, or a physical copy here.