In what way is it entirely predictable that the United States would handle the pandemic worse than any other country in the world?
If you can think paradigmatically, it makes perfect sense. I’ll explain.
The U.S. is the only country in the history of the world to be founded on the rights of the individual. It did so via revolution, and tattooed into the culture a deep, but delusional notion of freedom.
Before you go on, define what freedom means to you. Think about it.
Most Americans say some version of “Getting to do whatever I want, whenever I want.”
Do you know anyone who enjoys that kind of freedom? Someone who is immune to all boundaries, including those of personal hygiene, civil law, and cause and effect?
That notion of freedom has absolutely no referent in our reality whatsoever.
Remarkable how we want it, though, isn’t it?
It’s like wanting a hot pizza you can roll up and put in your pocket, take out and eat whenever you want but never disappears, and has no calories. I.e. It ain’t gonna happen.
So why do we want something we obviously can never have so badly?
There are two reasons. The first is because we didn’t get to enjoy enough freedom as children, when we’re supposed to be largely carefree, resulting in an exaggerated, unconscious thirst as adults. This is called “childhood fixation.”
The second is more complex. There is a frequency of reality that is without boundaries, but it’s not the material world. Each of us has within us a spiritual instinct that longs for union with spirit itself: the domain of the infinite. It’s an intrinsic demand to evolve, grow, and become whole. It’s a long story, but that’s the headline.
There is an infinite, limitless domain you can connect with and come from while you engage in your boundaried life, and it makes those limits far more tolerable. In fact, you find freedom within the walls–real freedom. I covered this in my recent Meditation For Awakening course.
But when these real, and reasonable urges for freedom are misinterpreted by the ego, they express in unrealistic, rebellious ways that ironically make us less free. It’s like when a teenager flexes their independence and gets grounded because of it. That’s what’s happening now.
Enough Americans are asserting their childish notion of freedom against reality to make quite a mess, and guess who’s going to win? The consequences are already coming.
American passports right now won’t get you many places. Even many states you can’t get into without a fourteen-day quarantine (no “freedom”). The stock market has grown, but the earnings reports (read: boundary) at the end of the month promise to be a harsh reality check. Summer was the time to get things under control before the weather favored the virus, and that ship is rapidly sailing, setting us up for a difficult winter.
I guess we’re hoping for a vaccine to make it all go away, which feels a lot like betting all the money on one number in roulette. If our leadership decided they don’t care about the vulnerable population, fine, then say so, but they won’t commit to that. Why? Because it limits their notion of freedom and might bring negative consequences in future elections. Whichever camp you’re in, and there are valid arguments on both sides, can we agree there needs to be a clear and consistent national plan, even if a large group of people doesn’t like it?
Not according to the American paradigm of freedom. We’ll change/commit when we absolutely have to. “Make me!” the consciousness says, and reality is listening. It surely will.
Real freedom is always, and forever, inside boundaries in the human theater. We live in a conditioned world, governed by cause and effect and there is no escape. That’s what Life’s consequences are designed for us to learn.
Each of us has a personal paradigm, a model that dictates how we relate to things like freedom, money, love, business, power, etc. and it’s inevitably flawed. Those flaws break up against the truth of reality and cause us suffering so as to encourage us to change. The longer you hold out, the more painful it becomes, have you noticed?
This is what I’m helping people do in my current live course, Clear Thinking: Paradigmatic Analysis. When you can make conscious your unconscious paradigm, you can create significant change that otherwise is impossible. It’s not too late to join, if you’re interested. Just hit reply and ask me about it or follow the link.
In the meantime, anytime you feel your freedom is infringed, ask yourself what you think freedom is and where you got that idea. One day you may find that you’re already free, because real freedom can’t be taken away.