01 February 2021

Church visit with candle

 Lees in het Nederlands

On that chilly morning I took shelter in a church with its doors wide open. That is very common here in Malta. I sat down and inhaled the smell of extinguished incense pots. My thoughts drifted to deep depths in me. Let me share those thoughts with you here.

My thoughts

Humanity is constantly on the move and I too am wandering somewhere. With fighters and followers. In air castles and rubber boats. Between fellow sufferers and opponents. Along with the afraid ones and the heroes. Most of them get lost due to a lack of confidence.

Who still recognizes our way? Who knows our destination? Who knows where we will end up?

What I see and feel right now - March 2021 - is the following. In one year, a majority of all people in the world have given their individual freedom and their right to self-determination in control of the governments, supported by the press. My challenge for now is to be able to continue live in freedom and with an individual and unambiguous right to self-determination.

But that is no longer obvious, because in my view it is no longer a private matter what you choose as an individual in medical ethical issues. Although you are (until now) free to make your own choices, you can no longer keep your choice to yourself. We want to know each other's choice, to check whether we care for each other. We expect reciprocity from each other. Your choice should therefore not remain a private matter. You must share your choice with the others. Think of the donor codicil and the vaccination passport.

This development is creeping into societies all over the world and is rampant. Our fear of death makes us crave control over life. This desire for control has meanwhile led to legitimized enforcement of solidarity. Our individual choice is therefore no longer a free personal choice, but an acceptable choice in the interests of the group.

If we do not learn to accept that nature is stronger than us humans and we continue to believe that life can be made and that complete security is the highest good and that this complete security can also be realized, we as a global society, will become further divided with all the possible consequences that we already know from the past. I see a division into roughly the following two groups.

  • Those who stick to control, who strive for absolute security and who believe in the malleability of our lives and who also want to impose this on others.
  • Those who are able to surrender and gently let go of control while retaining our original individual privacy and self-determination and who do not want to impose it on others.

This dichotomy seem to me to be an effect of an increasing amount of people. Seven billion souls may be unsustainable when it comes to our individual right to privacy. Should we make our solidarity on account of the ever-growing group of people more important than our individual right to privacy?

Earth may have enough physical resources to accommodate even more than the current size of humanity. It's a matter of respect for nature and fair sharing. But perhaps socially speaking we have now crossed the boundaries of what is possible in terms of numbers, which is why we are divided.

Back on my pew

… .. oops, there I am again, back from the deepest recesses of my thoughts. Confusing thoughts and possibly nonsense. Then remember that I only wanted to share my thoughts and not impose my opinion.

I wish my fellow man a dignified and free life with the hope of wisdom and reflection. These moments on a hard pew and in all silence, make me suspect that occasionally lighting a candle in one of the gaudy and therefore beautiful churches here, possibly does more than a vote on March 17 in the Netherlands for a new Government. Or, ………?

Well you know, by that candle I make an little prayer and I ask if there may come a moment when at least my children and grandchildren will be able to turn this tide.

 

© TrefMij March 2021


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