Whether we like it or not, we live online. Staying home has taken on global proportions after more than a year of the pandemic. It is now more evident than ever that we are linked to each other in an interdependent way, that we constantly influence each other through various online communication tools and platforms. How can we make the best out of this new reality? We will obtain the ultimate benefit by putting on accurate “glasses” to examine the nature of our new relationships.
The prolonged closure of workplaces and businesses as a result of the extended COVID-19 crisis has transformed employment and lifestyle for millions of Americans and people around the world who now work, study, communicate and socialize virtually. Online living is expected to remain a long lasting part of our lifestyle even after the health crisis ends. A recent Pew Research study revealed that of the 71% of the people surveyed who work full time from home, 54% would want to keep doing so even after the pandemic is under control if they are offered such an option.
Since what we call “normal” life may never fully return, we would do well to learn to live in the new environment in a proper and meaningful way. Imagine invisible threads that connect all the hearts, all the minds, all the desires, all the thoughts—connecting between everything and everyone. This network of connections has two possible states: an initial natural state, and a more advanced state that we must reach through proactive choice and recognition.
In the first situation, individuals within the network feel only their own interests, and try to use others to fulfill their desires. Such a self-focused approach fills the network atmosphere with a negative and destructive sense of competition, control, divisiveness and hatred. Basically, no one sleeps quietly; everyone suffers in one way or another.
In the more advanced situation, individuals begin to feel that they are parts of one collective with a common goal and that they are completely dependent on each other. The relationship between members of the collective is based on reciprocity, completion, giving, and love. The definition of success in the second scenario is communal, where everyone strives to do the best for others.
These two situations are completely opposite from each other. The world that is felt in the first state is a difficult world, while the world that is felt in the second state is a beautiful one. Who is it that determines where I will live? I do, by my attitude toward others!
If I relate to everyone through an egoistic view of self-gratification, I live as usual in a world where our relationships deteriorate day by day. But if I succeed in developing an attitude above my personal egoism, to include the concerns of others who are not me, an upside-down world will open up to me, a higher and more positive world will be revealed. The reason that I cannot feel it now is because I have not yet developed the attributes required to grasp it. This is somewhat similar to the way radio broadcasts work: what determines which station I will listen to is the internal frequency to which my receiver is tuned.
The network that we live within is one and the same, the connections between everyone already exist whether we feel them or not. If I manage to develop a new nature of “love your neighbor as yourself” and I treat others with love and consideration, I will begin to feel that in this network of relationships there is an eternal and complete power line which fills me with goodness.
This power source directs us perfectly and clears our understanding to reveal that life has a very lofty purpose unable to be hindered by anyone or anything. If this shift in attitude is put in practice in our human relationships, it will illuminate our virtual environment and we will realize that every moment of our lives will become an opportunity to connect with the force of love that fills all of creation at the touch of a finger.
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