A tiny little novel virus that created a disease called COVID-19 has set the body of humanity on its heels — not gradually, over time, but in a matter of weeks. The fear of its uncontrolled spread has upended all normalcy, not just locally, but worldwide. If ever there was an instance proving the power of something small in the face of something seemingly indomitable, this certainly takes the cake.

The world it has upended was a world both created and driven by man’s desire to dominate the earth, if not moons and planets beyond. The world as we knew it prior to COVID-19 was governed by such sweeping concepts as globalization, democratization, and consumerism. These concepts created a rarely questioned mindset that drove people, schools, businesses, and governments to value productivity and expansion at all costs and as a result, to act and think in an automatic, “time to make the donuts” kind of way.

Tom Cruise, in the movie Jerry Maguire, summed up the experience of many caught in this web: “I am out here for you. You don’t know what it’s like to be ME out here for YOU. It is an up-at-dawn, pride-swallowing siege that I will never fully tell you about, ok?” Now some might say that the world has always been like this, but has it? Sure there are always large forces at work that condition the nature and direction of human thought, but never before had there been such a homogenous, widely pushed agenda as there was in the world we labored under just a few weeks ago. The Roman Empire made a similar effort, but it was hampered by the need for person-person conversion. The internet has put global domination within reach.

I’m sure there will be those who criticize and condemn for me asking the question, but I cannot help but ask: what kind of world do we, as individuals within the vast body of humanity, wish to inhabit? The tenets of globalization/democratization/consumerism appeared to be sacred cows pre-COVID-19, but they, like other constructs of days gone by, are just structures envisioned by man, who, as I said is hellbent on domination.

What if we were to look at our role in the world in different terms? What if we were here to provide dominion, a link to what is above us, rather than domination, where we fancy ourselves at the top of the chain? What if we aspired to be stewards and guardians, not head honchos and top dogs? What kind of world would just that one teeny-weeny, itsy bitsy change create?

My guess is that we would see a very different way to live and get things done. Leaders and followers would conduct themselves quite differently, resources would be handled in an entirely different manner, and the world would become a much more hospitable, nurturing, and fulfilling place. We would have more space to think, more room to care, and a greater balance in all things.

A virus like This novel Coronavirus a part of the web of life. We would not likely survive in our present form in a world without viruses. For example, our mitochondria — those little organelles that generate most of the chemical energy needed to power the cell’s biochemical reactions which in turn, literally “light” up the human part of us and give our our souls bodies and minds to work through — are regulated extrinsically, in part, by viruses.

Our world is out of balance and the expression of COVID-19 is a symptom, not the cause. The current construct which governs medicine will dictate that we vaccinate it back into the shadowy unknown from whence if came, but that suppressive/dominative approach will invariably create other imbalances that will come back to haunt us. Such thinking is likely to be considered blasphemous, but nobler thoughts have been labeled the same if not worse, so I’m not too worried.

At any rate, this COVID-19 “black swan” event is propitious for those who seek a better world, a finer way of living. That said, nothing will change if we don’t allow our thoughts to evolve, our consciousness to shift, and our sense of possibility and personal responsibility to raise to a whole new level.

Now is the time to make all things new! Perhaps that is the true meaning of the so-called novel virus behind Coronavirus disease, COVID-19. You may call me naïve for thinking that a small change of mind and heart could usher in a new world, but just a few weeks ago it was almost unthinkable that a tiny living/non-living(?) organism could transform the lives of 8 billion people.