POST-PANDEMIC EXISTENTIAL HOPE
Recently I received a question about what my hopes are after the COVID-19 pandemic. Below is a part of my answer, encapsulating my post-pandemic existential hope.
The current COVID-19 pandemic clearly shows us the reality of our existential proximity. That is, we are inevitably interconnected and contribute in the constitution of each other`s existence. To deny the fact of human interdependenc, to say that as humans we are islands unto ourselves and that our actions have no cumulative implications for other people and non-human communities of life, is to live in "bad faith".
Bad faith consists of strategies we develop to hinder and hamper our capacities for and possibilities of freedom and responsibilities in the world. For instance, to hide behind the screen of determinism or theological fatalism (humans are pre-programmed and that our "fate" is sealed by an omnipotent and omniscient metaphysical entity), or that the importance of an ecological attitude is not important to recognize, is to lapse into bad faith. It is to avoid the burden of being an indeterminate, ambiguous and responsible agent, perpetually moving toward a not-yet future. It is to succumb, to use a Heideggerian term, to the “Das Man”. Das Man (“The They”) can be understood as the force of conventional thinking inherited from the past as it influences (but need not entirely determine) the responsible subject, which that agent must resist in order to respond to the call of authenticity.
In one of the Muslim existentialist philosopher Muhammad Iqbal`s poems, he fleshes out his ideal world, which is coined Marghdeen, thus: “The city of Marghdeen is a magnificent place with tall buildings. Its people are beautiful, selfless and simple; they speak a language that sounds melodious to the ears. They are not after material goods; rather they are the guardians of knowledge and derive wealth from their sound judgement. The sole purpose of knowledge and skill in that world is to help improve life. Currency is unknown, and temperaments are not governed by machines that blacken the sky with their smoke. Farmers are hardworking and contented – there are no landlords to plunder their harvest, and the tillers of the land enjoy the entire fruit of their labor. Learning and wisdom do not flourish on deceit and hence there is neither army, nor law keepers are needed, because there is no crime in Marghdeen. The marketplace is free from lies and the heartrending cries of the beggars.”
This might sound like utopia. However, the underlying spirit of Iqbal`s ideal world can be encapsulated in what we can call ecological civilizations. That is, an ethical life emphasizing respect and care for other people and the broader community of life by recognizing their intrinsic worth and freedom to pursue an open future, in which justice is fidelity to the bonds of relationship. This call toward authenticity is immensely significant in a troubled age such as our own, where we might otherwise fall into despair at how we, as species with significant power of freedom and thus power of genuine evil and love, treat one another and the more than human world. Ecological civilizations that are just and free, creative, compassionate, participatory, ecologically wise, hospitable, humane to animals and existentially satisfying, are the building blocks of humanity`s best and perhaps only hope for a sustainable existence; a future which we can gladly embrace rather than flee in despair and bad faith.
