- Written by: Kamran Mofid
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‘Western societies tend to see nature and humanity as separate.
But are there other ways of relating to the natural world?’
'Heaven is my father and earth is my mother,
and I, a small child, find myself placed intimately between them.
What fills the universe I regard as my body;
what directs the universe I regard as my nature.
All people are my brothers and sisters; all things are my companions.’- Zhang Zai (1020–1077)
Photo:BBC Ideas
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 399
Over the past two years, all over the world, countries after countries have shut down their societies in last-ditch efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
All across the globe, people have suffered enormously, and have endured a huge amount of pain and hurt. Many passed away. We all have suffered, one way or another. All in all, this has been nothing short of a human trgedy.
But the pertinent question now is: What have we learned since the tragedy of COVID-19 and the imposition of lockdowns?
To Answer this question I thought is best possible if we note, once again, a selection of related postings from our GCGI Archive, which are noted below.
‘A bouquet of flowers at The National Covid Memorial Wall in London, on the second National Day of Reflection.’- Photo: Via The BBC
Love, Compassion, Empathy, Cooperation, Trust and Mother Nature Triumph on Second Anniversary of the Covid Lockdown
Coronavirus has given us one, and I sincerely hope, a lasting precious gift: a renewed closeness to what is called, the web of life
We are the Ones
We Have Been Waiting For
'Be Beautiful, Be Yourself'
What is the essence of a good life?
Life is too short not to live it simpler
The healing power of ‘Dawn’ at this time of coronavirus crisis
Trusting each other is the heart and soul of pandemic management and survival
The Number One Message of Lockdown
Weaving the Tapestry of Love on Valentine’s Day in the Time of COVID
The Road to Bliss: My Joyous Journey in the Company of Poets
Christmas in the time of COVID: Let Love and Kindness be Your Everlasting Gifts
Coronavirus and Easter: Message Remains the Same
Rethinking What Really Matters in the Era of Pandemic
The Pandemic and the forgotten Love Story
Finding sanctuary in poetry during lockdown
COVID-19, isolation, reflection, fear, hope, beauty and wisdom: “Feathers of Fire”
My Poem of the month (February): Let Hope and Healing Begin to Brighten the Covid Darkness
Healing the world as if the web of life mattered: In Praise of Ancient Wisdom
Nature and Me’: Realigning and Reconnecting with Mother Nature’s Wisdom- A Five Part Guide
Ten Love Letters to the Earth: “Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet”
‘Hope is a thing with feathers’
I am doing Nothing, how about you?
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic Warrior for Our Times and the Healing Powers of the Four Es
Detaching Nature from Economics is ‘Burning the Library of Life’
Poetry is the Education that Nourishes the Heart and Nurtures the Soul
Land As Our Teacher: Rhythms of Nature Ushering in a Better World
It’s Now or Never: Do You Want to Know what Normal was before Wishing it Back?
GCGI is our journey of hope and the sweet fruit of a labour of love. It is free to access, and it is ad-free too. We spend hundreds of hours, volunteering our labour and time, spreading the word about what is good and what matters most. If you think that's a worthy mission, as we do—one with powerful leverage to make the world a better place—then, please consider offering your moral and spiritual support by joining our circle of friends, spreading the word about the GCGI and forwarding the website to all those who maybe interested.
Larkspurs, signifying happiness and love.-Photo: Petal Republic
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 523
N.B. Many researchers and analysts have noted that, generalised trust, the belief that most other people can be trusted, is thought to positively influence individuals and society in a multitude of ways. High trust is associated with better physical and mental health, increased cooperation, well-being, and satisfaction with life.*
Trust in other people is so important because many aspects of fighting a pandemic – such as social distancing, wearing masks, washing hands, etc – require collective action in the interest of the greater good.-Photo:CORDIS-EU
‘Trust in other people is so important because many aspects of fighting a pandemic require collective action. The only way to break a chain of infection is if everyone takes part, for example by following the rules around social distancing. Individuals are much more likely to change their behaviour if they trust others to do so as well. After all, if you expect others to break the rules, why should you be the sucker still sitting at home?’
'We’ve found one factor that predicts which countries best survive Covid.'
By Thomas Hale Via The Guardian
'Trust between people – not in government or institutions – is key to limiting damage in a pandemic, our research shows.'
‘In 2019, the Global Health Security Index published a report ranking countries on their preparedness for pandemics. The US scored highest, followed by the UK. Two years later, both countries rank among those with the greatest loss of life from Covid. How could this be?
A large part of the answer is trust. Countries that looked good on paper in 2019, such as the US, UK, Spain and Slovenia, found they lacked this intangible but critical layer of defence. And this figure from our research over the past two years at the Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker shows it in stark terms. On the left (see below) you can see that a higher global health security score in 2019 is not correlated with fewer deaths during the pandemic, at least among the countries whose health systems have a minimum threshold of capacity.
Photo: Blavatnik School of Government/University of Oxford/The Guardian
But on the right, we see that a far better predictor of how many people would die – or survive – during the pandemic is the level of interpersonal trust in a society. This doesn’t mean trust in governments or institutions: both have received lots of coverage during the past two years, and yet appear to have little effect. Rather it’s a measure of how much people think they can trust another citizen who they don’t already know.
At every stage in this pandemic, this kind of trust has been a vital resource. After two years we can now see clearly how important it was, raising the question of how we might build it up to deal with both the ongoing threat posed by Covid, and the next pandemic.
Results from the past two years show that the extraordinary measures we were asked to follow to “flatten the curve” really can work to reduce or even eliminate infections, particularly when they are deployed during the beginning of a wave. But dig in a little further, and we see that these restrictions work better – and often don’t have to be as harsh or long – in high-trust countries…’-continue to read
* read more on generalised trust HERE
In All We Do, Trust is of the Essence
Trust is so Vital to Who we are and How we Live our Lives
A pick from our archive
Photo:shutterstock.com
Why Love, Trust, Respect and Gratitude Trumps Economics
Crisis in Trust and Perpetual Global Crisis
In Praise of Magna Carta: What happened to Trust and Democracy in Britain?
Kindness to Heal the World- Kindness to Make the World Great Again
Build a Better World: The Healing Power of Doing Good
How to Restore Trust in VW again?
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- I pray to our Mother Earth, I pray to the Birds and I pray for a New Day, the Happy Norouz