Half of the world’s population is now under some sort of lockdown as a result of this coronavirus pandemic. Unless you’ve been in prison — or still are — most of us are very unaccustomed to spending so much time indoors.
As I looked out my window, I had a thought — yes, it does happen once in a while.
What would life be if the only thing we knew of life would be through that window?
Love is a very powerful emotion, we all need it, we all crave it. But how would you know love exists by simply looking out those panes of glass?
Supposing we all were born and lived in the same room where the only view we had of the world was what we saw through those panes of glass.
We would have no other form of communication with anyone. Yes, we might be able to see people put there, but we wouldn’t have any other form of communication with them.
No communication
There would be no internet in the room. No mobile phones. No other form of communication.
There have been studies done on the long-term effects of solitary confinement. People go nuts. I’m sure there’s a more politically correct way of putting it, but yes, people go nuts.
Being able to look out a window wouldn’t be the same thing.
Being able to look out a window means that you would indeed have a view of the world — but the only view of the world would that from your window.
Ironically, wouldn’t we all have a time for self-reflection?
If you look through a window and see the sun rise and fall, or the sky get lighter or darker, how would you know there was such a thing in the world as love, for example?
Powerful emotion
Love is a very powerful emotion, we all need it, we all crave it. But how would you know love exists by simply looking out those panes of glass?
If you see birds in the sky, the way they flit and move, how would you know there was such a thing as hate? That’s another pretty powerful emotion, one that a lot of people feel towards others. But if your only view is what you see, how could you hate?
If you see water flowing in a river, or tides flowing and the wind whipping up waves, wouldn’t you do your best to ensure that these things continue as before? The same goes for flowers and trees and clean air. Who would not want for the beauty of that not to continue as always?
If you were only able to look through the window and are lucky enough to see people out there, somewhere, interacting, how would you know what religion there were.
Sure, there might be a mosque or a church nearby to give you an idea that they were heading somewhere regularly — or at least some of them were — but what would that mean? And would the difference be important?
Would your view of the world through that window make you a better or worse person?
Thrive in the optimism
Could you, for example, thrive in the optimism of knowing that every morning, the new day will come and the sky will be bright, full of clouds and take wonder in rainbows or how rain falls?
I think what I’m trying to express here is that a lot of the things that hold us back, that don’t make us better people, that elicit negative emotions or feelings, come from within.
And those insecurities thrive when we are together, when we allow them to fester, when we share those negative sentiments.
Racism or many other forms of negative ‘isms’ simply don’t exist if the only thing we see is from our own window in isolation.
Maybe we should look to within more often.
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