1. Why do not we want to (why cannot we) tolerate longsuffering in this century? Not so long ago, there was a large rush all around the world... We have forgotten even that how to prepare for something. The problem with this was that we never arrived where we were. Because we never know where we are. Because we never let ourselves have enough time to realize where we will be... The moment became unimportant. There will be a new, another moment instead. Only the lack of tolerating unchanging things was bigger than the hunger for changes. "It is unbearable if we have to bear anything!"– we thought. Mankind lived in the illusion of omnipotence. This was a blindfolded road to the abyss. Then the crisis came. Corona virus appeared... I think that mankind learns now a very painful, very awful, but for our long-term survival very important lesson today. We should learn from this. We need to find the path to inner growth in these weeks of coerced silence. Please do not return back to rush even when these weeks will be over. This is the way how we can save the Earth, our home. (If you would like to know more about this, please read my essay here.)
2. Longsuffering as a part of wisdom. Inner peace and wisdom can only be reached with the ability of distancing ourselves from our desires. For that we have to become trained at longsuffering. Now we are gaining the very important skill of longsuffering... Lent of the church calendar became a coerced-Lent... Please do observe that we may only prevent individual tragedies with a community longsuffering. Those local communities which were not ready to follow the new rules of life, had many more infections than those which were able to slow themselves down. This slow-down will be (hopefully) over in a few months. Let us build up during this time ourselves in a different, in a better way! (If you would like to know more about this, please read my essay here.)
3. Longsuffering: God’s exceptional mercy. The driving force of longsuffering is love that "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things" (1Corinthians 13:7). Let me repeat my previous sentence here: we may only prevent individual tragedies with a community longsuffering. We do see now why love is the driving force of longsuffering, do not we? We may only save those who are the fragile members of our community with the longsuffering of the whole community. We did not receive corona virus as a punishment. However, it is our education which proceeds right now. Let us observe that despite the sad tragedies this education comes with much love. Let’s feel the love flowing on us even amidst our current misery and we will be given the grace of inner peace with it, too. With this love and inner peace let us start re-building our communities. (If you would like to know more about this, please read my essay here.)
1. Why do not we want to (why cannot we) tolerate longsuffering in this century?
Not so long ago, there was a large rush all around the world... We have forgotten even that how to prepare for something. The problem with this was that we never arrived where we were. Because we never know where we are. Because we never let ourselves have enough time to realize where we will be... Life became dense. A man met more of his fellows in an hour than his great-grandfather did in his whole life. The moment became unimportant. There will be a new, another moment instead. That is why we never observed anything that made our great-grandparents happy everyday: the dragonflies flying, the birds singing... – it was closely related to the fact that there were no flying dragonflies and singing birds in more and more people’s lives. (What is a dragonfly? A real flying dragon?) Busier life raised our sensitivity threshold. If the incoming input decreased, our discomfort increased. (How many people suffer now from this...) Only the lack of tolerating unchanging things was bigger than the hunger for changes. "It is unbearable if we have to bear anything! We have conquered the Earth! We have got the power, we do what we want! There is democracy: we select our food, our partner, our faith, our socks and our political party." – we thought. Mankind lived in the illusion of omnipotence. This was a blindfolded road to the abyss. Then the crisis came. Corona virus appeared... I think that mankind learns now a very painful, very awful, but for our long-term survival very important lesson today. We should learn from this. We need to find the path to inner growth in these weeks of coerced silence. Please do not return back to rush even when these weeks will be over. There will be recession. Economy will suffer. There will be many problems emerging from this. But there will be a good side as well: finally we will impose a self-control of our behavior. This is the way how we can save the Earth, our home. Please do observe, that there ARE other ways of happiness, than the boundless consumption and rush! First, observe this from pressure. Than observe this from your own choice in a creative way.
2. Longsuffering as a part of wisdom
Instant gratification makes us be at the mercy of our desires. Inner peace and wisdom can only be reached with the ability of distancing ourselves from our desires. For that we have to become trained at longsuffering. Now we are gaining the very important skill of longsuffering... Lent of the church calendar became a coerced-Lent... Please do observe that we may only prevent individual tragedies with a community longsuffering. Those local communities which were not ready to follow the new rules of life, had many more infections than those which were able to slow themselves down. Survival is the ability to leave our former comfort zone fast. We are able to find the optimal decision only with slow thinking instead of our (imprinted, sample-based, visceral) fast thinking response. Let’s not worry: there is always time for slow thinking. Responses of our neurons are formed in a thousandths of a second, i.e. our brain is able to prepare a tremendous number of responses even in case of a quick decision – if we learn to listen to it. The ability to focus attention inside expands the subjective time. The deep currents, having a time unit of a century or a millennium instead of a minute, always move there behind our surroundings’ rush. We never recognize the most important, long-term changes unless we are not able to slow down. Although slowing down is not enough. We have to learn longsuffering too. All complex systems can start their important changes only if they shatter the existing order. But in parallel with this the new order is always getting to be built. Let us build up ourselves in a different, in a better way!
3. Longsuffering: God’s exceptional mercy
Longsuffering is the measure of the inner peace and serenity. Those who practice longsuffering know it very well what is Totality and how much smaller it is what they have to suffer right now. There is an immeasurably great example for that: God Himself. The Old Testament describes longsuffering as one of God’s most important characteristics: "but thou, a forgiving God, gracious, and merciful, longsuffering, and full of compassion" (Nehemias 9:17b). The driving force of longsuffering is love that "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things" (1Corinthians 13:7). Let me repeat my previous sentence here: we may only prevent individual tragedies with a community longsuffering. We do see now why love is the driving force of longsuffering, do not we? We may only save those who are the fragile members of our community with the longsuffering of the whole community. We may only save the Earth, our home with the longsuffering of the whole community. Let’s think deeply: if Our Lord not only tolerates us with our plenty of deceits but He gave His only begotten Son for death to save us. Don’t we think it is time for us to be able to bear more? We received a trial from this now. Please bear the self-constraints and help bear them for those, who may not tolerate this so much. There will be many more trials like this to come. Let us prepare ourselves for this. This is the token of our survival. We did not receive corona virus as a punishment. However, it is our education which proceeds right now. Let us observe that despite the sad tragedies this education comes with much love. Though it is difficult to imagine this right now, but we may have received a much larger misery instead of this. We had not received that. We had received a chance for our education instead. Please use this chance. Let’s feel the love flowing on us even amidst our current misery and we will be given the grace of inner peace with it, too. With this love and inner peace let us start re-building our communities. Our Father in heaven please be merciful to your un-educated children! Let us pray for our communities, as well as for Africa and South America where the disease is just about to start its decimation.
