Covax not Covid teaches us a lesson.

The ups and downs of life are like signposts, they guide us to new insights and point us toward a better tomorrow.

However, we are so often slow-learners, and so the lessons need to be repeated over and over.

What did we learn from two world wars?

What is Global Warming illuminating for us?

And now, today’s lesson, what new understanding of ourselves is Covid-19 seeking to teach us?

Is it possible that our learning is inhibited, is there some underlying factor that stops us from moving into a new, more enlightened understanding?

This headline from the ABC News is not surprising:

“Wealthy countries 'are buying up far more COVID-19 vaccines than they need..”

We might (hopefully) see this as grossly unfair when we know the reality of suffering that is happening around the world. And we also know that we are not safe from Covid-19 until all are made safe.

The need to hoard, to take more than we need, and to hold on to more than we give has its roots in our primal fears, and as we can see over and over again, it is a fear that most have not yet overcome.

Most charities rely on handouts from those who can give a little to help others, it’s the “crumbs under the table” effect, or what economists refer to as trickle down. But the inspiration behind IGWR is much more powerful, it is a philanthropic perspective that sees our own well-being intimately linked to what we give, what we might call the ‘power of love’.

And, going back to the ABC headline, that’s also the driving perspective behind COVAX.

“In Giving We Receive” is a reality almost as primal as our early fears, it is echoed in the ancient mystical writings and revealed in the very act of creation, we care for our kids.

And, yet the old fear of not having enough still kicks in.

To overcome our fears, we need to be a little bold, we need to act rather than stew in our fear-filled thoughts. And we need to embrace our ‘abundance’, recognise that we actually have more than we need, and if we share what we have then we contribute to a better future for others, and so too for ourselves.

Once we experience this new reality, we become more than what we are, for we can then experience life that is no longer bounded by those primal fears, and we will see ourselves and others differently, with eyes enlightened.

Financial obesity is endemic (maybe more virulent than Covid), and it is perhaps the underlying cause of wars, global warming, and the current pandemic. Certainly, it is the fracturing of humanity, the chasm between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’; however, we are moving toward a new normal and maybe this time we can leave our primal fears behind.