When caught in a pandemic, we wisely seek to boost our immunity.

Simultaneously, we need to boost something just as important: our humanity. Crises can trigger our instinct for self-preservation, which is desirable and even essential. But that instinct can easily go too far whereby it deadens us to our humanity.

Here’s how that might happen. We may start worrying so much about our own safety that we become paranoid of others and refuse to help them even when we safely can. Worse still, as we keep seeing sights of immense human misery on TV and social media, we may become increasingly desensitized to others’ suffering, thereby losing the empathy that characterizes our humanity. Worst of all, the dark opportunistic side within us may seek to profit from others’ misery – as happens when people hoard vital necessities to sell at obscenely high rates. Even if we feel that we will never do something so terrible, such behavior is a natural result of the loss of one’s humanity. And we all are at the risk of such a loss, even if invisibly and incrementally.

How can we protect our humanity, or better still, boost our humanity? By internalizing spiritual wisdom. Such insight helps us see the essential commonality of all living beings: we all share similar joys and sorrows (Bhagavad-gita 06.32). The more we realize and remember that others are just like us, the more we recognize that their pains are similar to what we would have suffered, if we had been in their situations. Just as we would want someone to help us in those situations, we feel driven to help them.  

Energized by this boosted sense of humanity, we won’t cynically rationalize that we can’t help everyone in distress; we will resourcefully help others, be it by offering whatever things we can or even just a helping hand, a shoulder to cry on, or a gentle word of consolation or encouragement.

Think it over:

While we boost our immunity, let’s not forget to boost our humanity too.

One-sentence summary:

  • How can crisis situations impact our humanity negatively?
  • How can spiritual knowledge boost our humanity?
  • What can you do to humanely reach out to someone in distress?

***

06.32: He is a perfect yogi who, by comparison to his own self, sees the true equality of all beings, in both their happiness and their distress, O Arjuna!

To know more about this verse, please click on the image
Explanation of article:
Podcast: