Who cares about the cherry blossom when coronavirus is a matter of life and death and the stocks are losing $ trillions in value!
Let’s forget about this hoax-like disease and go about our lives freely, for what must happen will happen anyway!
Are these the only ways we are supposed to react to coronavirus pandemic, which at times looks so surreal in this age of medical and technological advancement?
Does the choice have to be between a cloistered and quarantined existence based on fear or an epicurean lifestyle divorced from all kinds of fear?
There is certainly a third way we can live carefully and fully at the same time, says psychoanalyst Maryam Rukka.
“We have gone into an overdrive for protection. We need a calming effect, and not be overwhelmed by the COVID-19 scare – only then we can find a way out of the phobic thoughts that this episode has rippled across communities,” adds Ms Rukka, who is a regular speaker on psychological dimensions of human personality and their relationship with Nature
Why not think of the cherry blossom which is heading to a peak bloom in Washington’s tidal basin in a few days?
“Absolutely, colors have a great effect, bright colors brighten your thoughts and send currents of life coursing through your mind and body,” Ms Rukka, who also heads the Arkansas-based initiative WOW (Wise Outstanding Wizards), launched by her late sister Dr. Shamshad Haroon.
A Cherry Blossom branch against a full moon Friday (March 25, 2016) evening.
Photo: Zulfiqar Kazmi
The cherry blossoms come in many colors with pink being the dominant.
“Pink is the color of love and life — to me it’s also a color of trust in mother’s love. Just as a child turns to mother when seeking assurance or protection, we all need to have faith in mother Nature.”
Ultimately, we have to find solace in love and compassion and overcome fear through our affinity with Nature,. We have to bring into play love, the most powerful human emotion, says Ms. Rukka.
“When we connect with mother Nature, we connect with our true nature.“
Cherry blossoms in Newark, New Jersey Image: Cjbv/ Wikimedia
Ms. Rukka’s call to bridge the missing link instantly brought to my mind some of my favorite lines from poets Shakespeare, the great reader of human nature, Wordsworth, the worshiper of Nature, and Rumi, the spiritual connector.
Away before me to sweet beds of flowers
Love thoughts lie rich when canopied with flowers
(William Shakespeare, The Twelfth Night)
Earth has not anything to show more fair
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A thing so touching in its majesty
(William Wordsworth, Composed Upon West Minister Bridge)
And then there is Rumi, whirling in his white spiritual robe, and with his timeless touch of calmness exuding the message that with each breath we remember and recite the name of our Creator.
Image: Wikipedia
So, let us take a deep breath, beware of the surroundings but never ever lose sight of what Nature has to offer us. Sounds like a delicate balancing act.
We have already lost sight of the Spring Moon that lit up skies this week. It was as if we lost the Spring Moon blurred in the haze of coronavirus news onslaught.
But the question keeps springing back as it involves thinking about all those around us, and not just about me.
Still, the thought keeps pricking me.
Can we afford to miss the Cherry Blossom time of renewal and spring and turn off our senses to Nature’s colors of love and spiritual connection?
