Dear David,
Hope all is well with you and your family. The virus lock down reminds me a bit of Camus' The Plague, with the exception that people are not dying in large numbers and not in such a gruesome way as plague death. As for myself, I mentioned I was "off-grid" in a recent letter, that refers to being psychologically off-grid, which I believe is positive in times of societal unrest and impending confusion and possible disaster. The first step in going off-grid was to stop watching television in 1987, followed soon after by not reading newspapers or magazines. When the internet came around I decided I could carefully pick and choose news stories to bypass obvious propaganda so I began to read news again via AP/Reuters. I also was able to view more films because when I have the option to choose what I want to watch (unlike television, which is a handful of channels all based on the same propagandist themes) it becomes easier to pick the wheat from the chaff. Having a mind which has had low propaganda contact for the past 3 decades takes one off-grid culturally, and in a risky time such as this virus lock down it probably gives me a rather unusual perspective from which to watch it unfold. Even though a lock down is in place, I believe walking is still allowed, so my normal daily routine of meditation, walking, reading, art study, and eating, will not be affected other than having to search for toilet paper and soap on occasion.
Hope all is well with you and your family. The virus lock down reminds me a bit of Camus' The Plague, with the exception that people are not dying in large numbers and not in such a gruesome way as plague death. As for myself, I mentioned I was "off-grid" in a recent letter, that refers to being psychologically off-grid, which I believe is positive in times of societal unrest and impending confusion and possible disaster. The first step in going off-grid was to stop watching television in 1987, followed soon after by not reading newspapers or magazines. When the internet came around I decided I could carefully pick and choose news stories to bypass obvious propaganda so I began to read news again via AP/Reuters. I also was able to view more films because when I have the option to choose what I want to watch (unlike television, which is a handful of channels all based on the same propagandist themes) it becomes easier to pick the wheat from the chaff. Having a mind which has had low propaganda contact for the past 3 decades takes one off-grid culturally, and in a risky time such as this virus lock down it probably gives me a rather unusual perspective from which to watch it unfold. Even though a lock down is in place, I believe walking is still allowed, so my normal daily routine of meditation, walking, reading, art study, and eating, will not be affected other than having to search for toilet paper and soap on occasion.