In August of 2018 I wrote a piece for a book called “The Meaning of Life.” On January 29, 2020 the book was published by Jules Smith, just one day before the first US case of coronavirus was confirmed and ten days before the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency.
Since then I’ve been watching the whole thing go down on the telly and while driving through the stillness of my hometown and moving through the post office and grocery store with the mentality of a hazmat worker.
Now the isolation is getting to everyone, is even beginning to bother me, one who thrives on big patches of solitude.
In a Vermont small town paper, I read a right-on article by therapist Kate Donnally, LICSW. In brief, now off limits are all the places folks liked to gather to distract themselves from themselves. And until further notice, there’s nothing to do but endure and learn positively from the battery of emotions and realizations that seclusion gives rise to.
Stewing in my own overdone juices and looking at what coronavirus has changed globally, I wonder how we’ll re-emerge in our cities and towns once we’re cut loose, if/how it has affected the meaning we give to our lives, if/how it has changed how we see all of life in general.
More specifically I wonder if, like me, any of the ninety-nine others who contributed to “The Meaning of Life” book would have changed a fair amount of what they wrote. Perhaps Jules will produce a post-pandemic view of life.
And that brings me to ponder what coronavirus has not changed, the hardwired qualities of the human spirit being the best thing I’ve come up with thus far. But the days are young in this new world.
Links:
“The Meaning Of Life”:
The Essence of a Thing 
Spooky how this was released 1 day before the first COVID-19 case. A post-pandemic view of life would be a very interesting project.
It’s VERY spooky, I mean, what are the odds?! Similar to people leaving comments these days, really. So it is that I thank you for leaving one, but above all, for the opportunity to contribute to your book.
Re: post-pandemic, I sense the sparks flying!
Post-pandemic? Same as pre… Vive la revolution.
Well true, actually – what I consider to be the meaning of life is indeed the same and so is my #1 goal. Rather, it’s the current fragility of our world and us in it that is darkening my mind and stirring a change within that disturbs me but is not yet fully defined.
So if Vive la revolution refers in this case to a positive change in humankind’s treatment of Earth and the beginning of its turnaround toward health, I’m all for it!
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Congratulations on the publication of The Meaning of Life! However much the way we live will have been changed by the coronavirus, I doubt if the meaning of life is different; although our reflecti9ons on it might be.
I’m visiting your blog for the first time in several years–sorry to have lost touch and so glad you’re still writing. What brought me back was that I was just re-reading a six-year-old post of mine and found a thoughtful comment from you that I had neglected to respond to. I hope you are thriving and keeping safe. J
Most excellent to see you, Josna – truly, the way life goes for me, time is nothing, it could have been just yesterday we were participating in the A-Z Challenge together!
Your thoughts on the coronavirus ring true. The new mechanics of living are straightforward but vexatious; and the meaning of life as I define it has not changed; but my perception of coronavirus fallout is edgy, dark, and working changes I sense will take time to manifest.
Otherwise, I’m keeping healthy : )