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What an Amazing Life: COVID-19
Nature’s Intelligence – A Simple Truth
Life is tenacious; it clings for all it’s worth. Think of the tiny plant that grows
between the cracks in the concrete, or the mouse that fights the cat with
determination to get away.
Nature is also profligate; it will produce life from whatever it can. Every object,
animate and inanimate, tries to hold together its form, whether it’s a rock’s
molecules or an animal’s life force.
But along with life comes death. Everything is impermanent. Nothing lasts.
Nature determines the viability of itself through this process: birth, death,
birth, death, and so on, eternally.
A Compassionate Universe
The good news is that, at a certain point in the dying process, the organism
realizes that its struggle is futile. Then the system stops fighting, and there’s a
peaceful calm that can settle upon the one who’s dying. We see this in the
mouse caught by the cat. After vainly trying to escape, it seems to accept its
fate and becomes almost peaceful. The endorphins have kicked in, for both
mouse and human.
Humans want to live, animals want to live and viruses want to live. All species
strive to survive. Nature keeps in balance by continuing to have forces that
create life—like sperm and eggs—as well as forces that end life, such as
cancers, viruses and simply old age.
“Trying to hang on to things causes all the pain.”
The Source of Suffering
When the Buddha was a young prince, it was prophesied that if he saw a sick
person, an aged person, a corpse and a holy man he would leave the palace to
venture out into the world to become enlightened. In other words he’d

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understand that life is a struggle, that everything is impermanent, that trying
to hang on to things is suffering, that if there was a way to be free of this, as a
holy man, he was going to find it.
And he did. But what did he find out? Well he found out that life is a struggle,
that it is impermanent, that trying to hang on to things causes all the pain. And
in the process he became a holy man.
How does this speak to us today? Most of us are busy acquiring possessions,
establishing careers, having families or relationships, and consuming. We
consume food, entertainment, bigger houses, more adventures and new and
exciting relationships, either romantic or online. We stay active from morning
till night and try to make sure no emptiness creeps in.
The Heart of Every True Spiritual Teaching
But there is a different kind of emptiness in Buddhism. It is called sunyata and
it is considered entirely and tremendously positive. With sunyata, we feel
spacious, clear, calm, rested, and blissful. Moreover, once we learn how to
contact, generate, and sustain this delightful emptiness, it can become
permanent. In other words sunyata doesn’t have to die. It may not always be
in the foreground, because we need to function in the world, yet it can always
be our background.
This is the heart of every true spiritual teaching. Some may call it finding God
or Awakening, but whatever we call this experience, it can be deathless. The
reason it is deathless is because it is not an object, does not depend on an
object and it does not arise from an object. Therefore it doesn’t die.

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A Timely Wake-up Call
Perhaps this time of COVID-19 is a wake-up call. We’re spending time in social
isolation instead of running around seeking objects, which we’re going to have
to give up anyway, eventually. This gives us an opportunity to rethink how we
live and orientate in our world.
This outbreak can help us reflect more deeply and realistically about the
interconnectedness of life on the planet. It can teach us how overpopulation
makes things spread rapidly; how with one species like us overpowering, the
systems can crash; how environmental integrity, social responsibility, and
economic fairness make for a more sustainable and healthy way of living. It can
also teach us how time alone reflecting and meditating, or exploring with
friends, can be the foundation for a worthwhile life.