One of the changes in this new situation is simply that things are now unknown.
We're living, maybe, most of us, in an environment that was relatively predictable.
Of course, we never really know what's going to happen, but there are certain parameters
that we expect things to happen within.
We have an idea of how everyday life functions.
And maybe that's one of the most dangerous traps that we can fall into, this idea that
the day is going to be relatively predictable.
Maybe that's one of the worst things.
Although it can certainly be very comforting that to feel like "OK, I can live within these
parameters and nothing will surprise me outside them", but in a way it's almost separating
ourselves from reality somehow.
Because in reality, anything could happen on any day.
We just live within sort of a bubble of security where we can get reasonably confident protection
from a lot of those surprises.
And a lot of those surprises are pretty bad, you know.
There's a lot more bad surprises than there are good surprises, arguably.
So it's good to have this bubble of protection against, you know, chaotic destructive things
happening at any moment.
But on the other hand, that bubble of protection almost can lead us to be separated from raw
reality, and that we're living inside this protective sphere of safety, of predictability.
So that instead of facing the raw chaos, the raw uncertainty of nature, we're facing the
inside of our protective bubble, and so our interaction with life, with the universe,
is within this bubble.
So for so much of practical life, this is good, because it helps us to get more done.
If we're not constantly dealing with chaos at every moment, we can have a sense of peace
and order and security and work well within that and get things done.
But if it's taken too far, we become separated from reality.
So, of course, what we have now is a breaking of this protective bubble.
The bubble of safety now appears to have almost evaporated.
Not entirely.
I mean, we're not facing pure chaos.
But there's been some chaos let into the protected area, into the secure zone of our everyday
lives.
Now we're seeing these gaps in the protection, gaps in the wall, where chaos is coming in,
and we really have had this sudden forced reconfiguration of our everyday lives.
And it's unknown.
It's chaos.
It's uncertainty.
And it's so understandable to be uncomfortable with this and to react like "Oh, I really
want my safety back.
I really want things to become predictable again, so that I can live in peace and order."
But it seems like when that's not possible, when there is going to be an element of chaos
that we have to simply accept and deal with, maybe we need to accept the uncertainty.
Maybe we have to lean into the unknown, embrace the unknown, and somehow change mindset.
I'm working on somehow changing my mindset to be more accepting of chaos, disorder, change,
uncertainty, the unknown, and accepting that this really is the way the universe is.
This security bubble is something that's very fragile, and something that's maintained through
human society, technology, cooperation, through the system that we have.
But there's nothing absolute about it.
And when we see gaps in our safety system, we have to then face something that's closer
to raw chaos.
Now, we're nowhere near full chaos.
There's still so much safety and security relative to pure chaos.
But just letting a bit in.
Maybe somehow we have to find a way to adjust and find a way to live and face the universe
even when it seems to be not cooperating, when it's being more dangerous and unpredictable
than we're used to.
Now, as to how to make this mindset, maybe first step is to accept, just to try to accept
that this is the way it is.
Even before knowing how to deal with it, simply accepting that we will have to deal with it
one way or another.
The chaos level has increased, uncertainty level has increased, and this is the situation
we're in.
One way or another, we will find a way to deal with it.