The Mandala of the New Religion

It would be too easy to say that the center can no longer hold within the deep crisis of this pandemic. But there is a center and it is holding...and it is not pretty

As of this typing, there are 197,397 deaths from the virus since the counted started earlier this year. As in Camus' "The Plague", we too have all grown numb to the numbers, though I believe that when it crosses over a large enough point, things may get serious for a short while before it gets drowned out and imaginary like it is now. I have been pretty much entrenched in the house for 99% of the time, with the exception of going to the post office and driving around to nowhere so as to not go insane. I don't even bother to turn on the news anymore because it is all the same: a mandala of utter chaos and no sign of a real end to this.

But there is a center within this that refuses to budge. The once dominating organized religions have been on the down slide for decades for reasons that are both obvious and illusive. But as this country is losing moderate toned religions, the extreme versions have been on the rise. I do not say this as a slight to anyone, but simply as a statistic based fact. The United States has had a deep religious bend for some time and that longing for something to believe in and others surrounding them with the same zeal is very much alive and well.

Briefly, religious faith cannot be proven by science, which is why it is called "faith". That being said, many people, including myself, can point to more than one instance where what has happened to us could not be explained by physics or biology. And I love science and physics deeply, so please do not assume I have an extreme bias towards one or the other. When one starts going down into the subatomic level, it is still very much a mystery, to say nothing of the workings of the brain, the weather, and the Universe itself. There was and shall always be more to learn and explore. It seems both religion and science work within the concept of infinity.

The United States leads the world in deaths from the virus for many reasons, but one main cause of infection is the lack of mask wearing. While I have addressed this before as a belief in person freedom, it is time to note that the present political situation has become a cult. I am not new to saying this, as it has been on the news for many weeks and said by many people. 

In brief, a cult is a group of people who, for whatever reason, take everything their leader says as Truth and will make excuses for any faults the leader has in order to not break the foundational belief that ties it all together. Here in this country, there are people who are choosing to follow the leader and refuse to wear a mask and, to make it more interesting, get into literal physical fights with people about wearing them. You must have a great deal of fear inside if you are willing to literally assault someone over beliefs.

This core community of believers have not budged one millimeter since Election Day four years ago. They believe at all costs and those costs have and will include non-believers. The number of dead will hit 200,000 most likely on or before Sunday, which shows that all actions have consequences. Also, there is now a rush of people who survived the virus going to NYC hospitals with severe problems. They are counted among the living but have damage that may last the rest of their lives. You just don't see that when looking at numbers.

If the power structure in this country is allowed to continue on the same course due to the present cult, which represents itself as very angry, very armed, and ready for a bloody revolution, the minority of people shall have done damage beyond numbers because of a false faith. However, this is nothing new within the realm of human history, as it has happened all the time and shall continue to do so. The chant from most people, unspoken but constant, is, "Well, that will never happen to us!" which is exactly what Camus said in the book.

We did not believe a pandemic could happen to us. We did not believe that a cult would form over a political leader and have that entwines with the corporate and financial structure. We still do not believe in the severity it all with almost 200,000 people dead. 

All of this shall be defined by its ending, and I hope and pray I live long enough to see an ending where caring and compassion are greater than blind belief.