A question has preoccupied my mind in the past few days.
Going through this pandemic and being under a lockdown in recent months have come with untold hardship on everyone – sacrifice, huge price and all. I cannot help but think of the vast number of lives, friends and loved ones who have passed on. For those of us who are lucky to be alive, we have been able to buy time and hardship at the cost of our freedom under lockdown.
In an irony of life, we all in the same vein still have to be grateful for the gift(s) of life, for our frontliners, our Scientists and our leaders across the globe who have toiled, and continue to toil night and day strategising on how best to slow down the rampage of COVID 19, and saving lives.
May the precious souls of those who have fallen on the battlefield rest in perfect peace.. Amen.. ????
To the question – Are we immune from COVID-19 or not? Pause and think.
I believe this is not only a question for our scientists. I am not a Scientist, I am a mere thinker. I have often asked myself this question, again and again. Suppose I am not immune..
“Can I open the door of my will to ease in my immunity?” ????
Under the lockdown, many of us have experienced stress on account of one thing or the other. So if I may ask – how has our immunity been faring under the lockdown situation? And how should we begin to prepare ourselves for the easing of the ‘lockdown?
No doubt our defences break down when we are down and stressed. Our health professionals have repeatedly educated us on this. What does this mean in very practical terms at this time?
These propositions open the door for what has preoccupied my thoughts in the past few days as I again pose the same question:
‘Can I “will” my immunity into being?’
Permit me here to share my thoughts.
So, what is immunity? And how best can we help ourselves during this next phase of our fight?
My immunity, to my mind, is a fortress which I may be able to choose to erect, at will, against a foreign aggressor and their aggression such as a virus or bacteria. No wonder doctors refuse sometimes to prescribe antibiotics in some appropriate situations and conditions such as common cold. Some see immunity as just a natural or acquired resistance against a disease or infection.
Got the picture?
COVID-19 is an aggressor and an aggression to our health and life existence. We need our immunities in the right place.
I also personally see immunity as my ability to enjoy the position of being in possession of the right level and the right amount of defence against a foreign intruder. COVID- 19 is a foreign intruder in the human body. And as a virus, virtually unseen with the naked eyes, it remains also an unseen intruder with the capabilities to fight both physically and non physically – and that is exactly what we all face right now globally.
As humans we have always taken special innate pride and satisfaction in our G- d
given healthy and relatively peaceful habitat – our own space so to say to enjoy at will. We have become so accustomed to our peaceful enjoyment of our G-d given internal and external spaces.
But no, not now.
We are currently under siege; under an invasion from an unseen enemy.
When our internal spaces are invaded, we lose sleep; our emotional stability is threatened and our mental health sometimes suffers too. All these occasion much stress. An intrusion upon our external space (physical freedom) comes also with vast degree of discomfort.
So far during this pandemic, I believe we have collectively staged a good fight; as we should also prayerfully and hopefully continue.
Let us constantly remember that the fight for our internal space is the harder one to fight and win, more so because much of that fight is “behind closed doors”, “unseen by the human eyes” and also much less understood. This is unlike the physical fight for our physical spaces.
We are winning.. little by little.. step by step.. inch by inch. But caution! Not too fast.
It is the survival of the fittest. Fitness not as of in physical might but through wise strategic moves. And “when”.. not if, “we get tired”, let us learn to withdraw, take the the much needed rest, replenish and then to continue
We are in a winning battle.
Little by little, we will win. And only with G-d on our side – “NOT BY POWER NOR BY MIGHT”
Therefore… in rounding up this missive of mine, wherein lies the human immunity in all these?
I would like to offer the suggestion that Immunity lies somewhere in-between, on the battlefields where both the internal and the physical meet and part.
Stress and the emotions continue to maintain their territorial grounds as the easing of the lockdown continues all over the world. Let us on our individual parts continue to take care to maintain our grounds through the erection and proper maintenance of our internal fortresses – through regular prayerful silences; taking time out to commune with the Greater Being, G-d Almighty, who alone can speak peace and calm into the inward parts of the human being.
Only when that is done, can all other things, such as obeying all the regular lifestyles of eating healthy, intake of adequate fresh clean water, taking fresh air, exercising, social and physical distancing, obeying all the rules of hygiene plus regular adequate sleep, begin to fall on the good soil of a healthy mind and soul, all together bearing good fruits.
Being determined also to put our efforts into reinforcing our internal fortresses should serve as a continued source of the much required stamina and a basal immunity to successfully sustain the current battles against the current global COVID-19 pandemic and defeat this enemy.
I believe we will win the war.
Until next time
I remain
Yours truly
Annie