Forty Days

Forty Days.  

That’s what it means, the word quarantine.  

Like Jesus in the desert, like Moses waiting on the mountain, like Buddha sitting under the bhodi tree.  

Forty Days.  

Some of us have been doing this shit a few weeks already and face another month (or more) of this.  

Of this.  

This.  

What is this?  

For some, this is literal hell.  

I think about the nurses and doctors on the front lines in places like Italy & New York describing war-like conditions that pit an abundance of sick and dying patients against a shortage of staff and equipment.  

I think about all the folks in nursing homes unable to see their families lost in despair and confusion. 

I think of the millions of poor and homeless people around the world who have no place to shelter much less wash their hands.   

I think about the ones that are meeting that moment of taking their last breath alone  hooked up to machines, afraid and unprepared.  

And then there are all the people who have their immediate health and safety covered (for now) who face debilitating economic loss and mental health issues related to fear, anxiety, isolation and lack of physical contact.  

For some, it’s mostly just inconvenient.  Not being able to go everywhere they would like to, missing family and friends, canceling vacations, weddings and other events.  

And still for others, this quarantine feels like heaven. Like a blessing.  Time to rest, to sleep in, to plant gardens, to go on long walks in nature.  

You might recognize yourself in more than one of these categories on any given day or hour.  We are all experiencing this differently. Our circumstances are very different. And yet most of us (Sweden notwithstanding) have been given the same thing: forty days.  

Quarantina.

The word comes from Italy. Which I find sad and ironic given the amount of cases and death and horror that this virus has brought there. “The practice of quarantine, as we know it, began during the 14th century in an effort to protect coastal cities from plague epidemics. Ships arriving in Venice from infected ports were required to sit at anchor for 40 days before landing. This practice, called quarantine, was derived from the Italian words quaranta giorni which mean 40 days.” (Wikipedia)

Underneath modern history lies the ancient.  Thanks to stories from many religious traditions including Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism, the proverbial “forty days” has come to be a symbol of the quintessential inward journey.  A deep dive of being with oneself.  And I guess that’s what I find relevant for all of us right now regardless of our circumstance and experience.  

How are we being with ourselves?

It’s not about what we are doing with this time.  It’s not about how much and what we get done right now.  I think that is becoming clear.  It’s about being present.  In each moment.  Really being with ourselves.  Being with the unpredictable and uncontrollable dance of the world around us – the thing that changes.  And being with the witness inside, the autonomous loving awareness within our Self – the thing that never changes. 

Throughout the forty days, the stories tell us, we will be tested.  Over and over again. It is through these great tests that we gain and affirm our spiritual strength.  Some people call that faith.  The funny thing about becoming spiritually strong is that it requires our surrender. It requires that we cease fighting that which is always changing, the world around us and orient ourselves to that which stays, that which has been with us our whole lives.  We surrender at first to our own soul.  And that is what plants the seed of faith. 

There’s good news folks.  These stories always culminate with the protagonist emerging with revelation and a gift.  Let’s hope and pray the same will be true for us.  It will be if we honor what we’ve been given.  A sacred pause.  A moment of reckoning.  An invitation back in towards the Soul.  A reevaluation of how to be with ourselves and our loved ones.  Space and time to remember and re-orient to the place inside of us that is always safe, at peace and in love.

All of my <3

Chrissy