Covid-19 lockdown day 27 – The end in sight unless they move the goalposts again

Another day in the lockdown marathon, as the moon wanes down to its last slither before the new moon moment tonight. The Muslim holiday month of Ramadan approaches. Peace and mercy to you if you observe that holy month of fasting. As if you need still more austerities or abstinence in a month of house arrest. May you find the strength.

The lockdown has been like a marathon, but now the end is in sight. 27 days down and only 8 to go, as the finish line approaches. Of course, last time we neared the end, they simply extended and pushed the finish line out further. So I won’t hold my breath just now. There is a chance that the lockdown will continue as the new norm indefinitely.

From the current position it appears as if a gradual cessation of lockdown will occur, where we move to a partial lockdown phase. Some essential businesses will be resumed, like hardware stores and the like. Still, non-essential businesses as well as pensioners will probably have to stay under lockdown. This implies that the travel and tourism industry will remain closed. There goes my old source of income then. No chance to resume chasing pennies in that sector. My entire town and this part of the world is based on tourism primarily, so there goes the GDP.

Fortunately you can’t lockdown the idyllic climate and pristine beaches. They will always be there. And I will continue appreciating them. I don’t need money to bask in the beauty and sunshine of this tourist resort, so I’m a happy pauper in paradise, compared to the more affluent who are trapped in “Lockdown City” with bills and desires. At this stage I have little to lose, there is little that can be taken from me. If my landlord continues to defer my obligatory monthly rent then I’m safe, but if he starts demanding payment, then I will simply go live in the bush in my tent and still have the natural surroundings of a beautiful nature environment to uplift me.

There is nothing so dangerous as a man with nothing left to lose. Health is one of those priceless luxuries. It’s free and you can make the effort to maintain it, particularly your mental health, and lockdown wears away at that resilience if you’re not trained or alert enough to be the master of your own mind. That’s where the real battle is being waged now. It’s a war for the mind, and the virus is just a ruse or excuse. The relatively wealthy may lose the most now, and being softened by their comfort zone, they may crack under the collapse. For example those that ran guest houses or travel companies of some sort will go bankrupt and fall into the doldrums.

But the poor in capital, like me, are used to living on the edge, living on another type of wealth, namely that of the spirit, of consciousness. This war for the mind is what I was trained for in my youth with ten years as a celibate monk in a yoga ashram. And despite mistakes and falldowns on the path, I have emerged with a degree of resolve against the illusory allures of Maya. My senses are somewhat controlled and I can generate my own state of bliss, for free.

So you can’t take that away from me. As I approach my mid fifties now, Maya has little to offer me. My health is just fine. I have absolutely no fear of this virus, and certainly no fear of death. And as long as I am in my little “goldilocks zone” here on the south Cape coast of Africa, known as the Mediterranean climate, I will be content. So I too have my needs, but they are healthy and natural. Fresh air, wide open spaces, temperate climate, that’s all. And they are all free.

Cash is for those who can’t tap into the real treasures of life in this human form. Those who have not been able to master their senses will be continually doomed to be dictated to by them. The battle for the mind is a personal one and we are the spiritual warriors, the Jedi Knights, the sadhus and babajis who walk on sunshine, with our head in the clouds, immune to gross and subtle attempts at manipulation of our consciousness.

Spend enough time researching consciousness from the authentic literature on the subject and you learn to rise above the fleeting allures of the mundane and you become established in transcendence. All we want as humans is pleasure, happiness, contentment, and freedom from suffering. That’s all. And all of that is available as a state of mind without any need for material tools or trappings to provide it for you.

With the right food, simple and vegetarian, the right herbs, and a regulated lifestyle, free from toxins, one can cultivate perfect health and perfect peace along with blissful satisfaction. In fact the capitalist consumerist civilization that foists so much junk on us is actually the obstacle to satisfaction. So with no money we have less opportunity to indulge in the toxic junk offered as an allure to the real bliss, which is internally accessible.

Therefore I recommend that you cultivate a state of mental resilience now because the new normal will possibly be quite different from life as it was before this revolution. Cultivate the real priorities in life, namely consciousness and the remembrance of the essentials. Be grateful for the real treasures of life, which are free. The magic lies within. You can’t buy it at a store anyway, so there you have, have always had it. If you realize it, then you have already won.

(image pixabay)