Note from Dr Vassilis Christodoulou

The Day After is… Now!

We keep hearing and reading about the “day after”… Of course, everyone is referring to the day after the corona virus. Some have high hopes for the “day after”. Personally, I prefer to hold my breath.

Of course the pandemic has made us all confront not only an external invisible enemy, to use a current term, which is the virus, but also an internal enemy: the spiritual Hydra, everyone’s personal demons. These demons may uplift some of us and may shatter others! It depends on what we do: seek out personal development through internal invisible warfare or project out there the “Laistrygonians and Cyclops, wild Poseidon” as in the poem “Ithaca” by Constantine Cavafy.

People tend to forget, but people also tend to be taken aback by events. This is not the first time in history that life is disrupted. Sometimes events that take place in our personal lives and become “small dramas” acquire social and at times global dimensions. Today it’s the pandemic, yesterday it was world wars. Local wars still go on! Hunger and impoverishment are still sweeping the world! Overexploitation of the planet continues unabated!

It seems that we need to endure yet more pain in order for humankind to understand in an experiential manner that Joy is not simply instant individual pleasure. Joy is festivity! It is the hedonic sharing with the Other, the fellow human, with nature and the whole world!

Until then, colleagues, the ups and downs of life will be the dynamic of Change!

Dr Vassilis Christodoulou