What a unique and profound time we are experiencing! It seems that, perhaps for the first time, we find millions and millions of people have collectively become more aware of a greater need than self.
I am reminded of the Psychologist Abraham Maslow – the guy who looked at the hierarchy of human needs that we all studied in business management. His classic hierarchy of needs had Self-Actualization as the highest human need or aspiration. Yet, he was never really comfortable with that (even though industry and commerce fell in love with it). Not long before he died, he wrote that the highest human need was not self-actualization, but rather self-transcendence.
In this time of quarantine and separation, I believe we are living through a unique moment of collective realization of that very observation. In a world so recently filled with people who have been tightly focused on “self”, we are experiencing that we are indeed capable of focusing on the “other”. We find that we are a people who are prepared to suffer even if our personal risk is low. We find we are a people who are prepared to quarantine, to distance ourselves and minimize encounters, not because we may feel personally at risk, but so that we can help lessen the risk for everyone.
We find we are a people who follow the advice of our medical professionals because our neighbours need us to —especially our elderly neighbors, our neighbours who work at hospitals, our neighbours with chronic illnesses, and our neighbours who may not have the ability to adapt because of lack of resources or time.
We are indeed living through a tipping point in our moral, spiritual and social evolution.