A NON-DUALISTIC freedom is vital to combat Covid-19.

Watching the morning news, I was puzzled to see a ceremony at the White House in the United States where people have gathered for President’s briefing without social distancing and what made it worse was many of the attendees were not wearing a mask.

The occasion, which involved the participation of the President of the United States Donald Trump, was a typical reflection of his attitude to the Covid-19 pandemic. The US is the nation most affected by Covid-19 followed by India and Brazil. It is no coincidence that these three nations are currently governed by right-wing nationalists where certain notions of freedom concur.

Currently, president Trump is being treated for Covid-19 and some of his officials and senators from the republican party have also been diagnosed with having the virus.

The question is, in spite of all that warning given by the distinguish scientific community and medical professionals, why has the US failed in containing Covid-19? Is there a far deeper cause that the elites are ignorant about?

What we currently witness happening in the US brings about the very question of the notions of freedom and science that the prominent nation holds dear to. Yet it is unable to rein in this deadly virus. The lack of social distancing and failure to comply to simple instructions like wearing a mask shows that American notions of freedom is problematic. It is based on rugged individualism rooted in dualistic thinking with little affinity for the common good. The notion of common good accepts the richness of truth and wisdom that comes from pluralistic sources.

The wave of Covid-19 that has engulfed the world should bring about a rethinking of the very notion of freedom and science that has basically taken on a limited individualistic, humanistic and psychological dimension.

Freedom without a sense of deeper reality of life where there is a core dimension of soul that is contemplative, meek, that accepts that one does not know everything, is a dimension of freedom that is very much lost in the secular scientific as well as in the purely religious world. The egoistic concept of freedom that believes that it knows all is much prevalent in its discourse.

For example, the failure of the president to acknowledge the mistakes in containing the virus shows an egoistic dimension of freedom – that he knows it all. Such an egoistic freedom has also created rivalries and war around the world. Instead of working with China to contain the virus, the United States has taken an “exceptionalist” moral ground in condemning China for the spread of the virus.

By the same token, there is blind adherence among secular scientists to mere naturalistic science without understanding there is a reality beyond which could be called the vision and purpose of creation. The essence of it could only be attained through spiritual union with God, universe and nature. The lack of appreciation for realities beyond the sciences has made the secular scientist a reductionist without a soul.

The framing of the Covid 19-crisis within the dualistic understanding between science and politics or science and religion has not helped in containing the virus. Such dualistic thinking can be seen among American commentators who merely take a scientific approach with regard to Covid-19.

The Covid-19 remedy is not just about vaccines, social distancing or wearing a mask. It requires acknowledging that there is a need for a whole spectrum of purposeful spiritual human consciousness that is imbedded in solidarity to combat the disease. Spirituality and science have to work hand in hand where spiritual consciousness and solidarity give meaning to medical evidence.

Therefore, it is time the notion of freedom and science is seen from the larger dimension of spirituality, instead it being an ego-centric freedom that is dualistic. A new revolutionary consciousness of freedom that discards dualism of black-and-white thinking in the ideological spectrum of freedom and science is vital in combating Covid-19. – October 4, 2020.

* Ronald Benjamin is secretary of the Association for Community and Dialogue.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.