A Reflection on Humanity’s Relational Triangle
04-Aug 2019
The Fragility of Our Relationships
We, under the rhythm of a forced global isolation, are unable to predict the moment of declaring victory over the coronavirus. This difficult isolation, tied to a transboundary crisis facing the planet, opens horizons for new reflections and new questions.
These questions center on historical material struggles focused on the human being’s role in his relationships—with himself, with his fellow humans, and with Mother Nature.
The coronavirus crisis places us in a fundamentally different position from previous crises. While it has revealed the fragility and falsehood of the closeness presumed to exist within the triangle of human relationships, it has simultaneously revived a sense of global solidarity among many members of societies.
These individuals now recognize the importance of a shared human destiny in shaping the contours of communal living among people and within this relational triangle.
Watching the Monster from Within
In its magnitude, Coronavirus will not be the last in the record of history’s crises. But what makes it unique is that it is the first time the world—with all its races, peoples, pasts, and presents—watches with anxiety a monster sweeping through it from within.
A single small sneeze at a shop’s door is enough to earn you accusatory looks, as though you were not even entitled to a fair trial. Some might even let you buy your items ahead of them, just to escape from you.
The occurrence of this crisis may be nothing short of a dramatic historical turning point. We now see clearly how many forms of individual selfishness had been imposing themselves as if they were reform projects.
Yet the pandemic, acting as an engineer of human values, departed leaving the truth exposed: the fragility of the social system and its inability to adapt to change. This pushed many of these selfish tendencies to elevate the individual self in pursuit of personal gains at the expense of the rights of the community.
What Comes After the Crisis?
Coronavirus will not be the end of the world, and the debate about its origin, source, and possible future scenarios will be a sterile debate destined to fade with time.
What matters far more is training ourselves to modify and analyze our behaviors within a framework tied to the existential dimension of humanity.
The environment created by the pandemic to enable this intellectual shift may well be the last opportunity for the powerful of this world to understand that borders between countries are merely imaginary lines.
If they believe that protectionism and advanced technology will shield them from becoming victims, then in my view, this belief has come to an end forever.
Preparing for the Battle of the Future
History may repeat itself many times, but the price increases each time. Humanity must therefore seize what may be its last opportunity in the grand cycles of time to fight the monster of selfishness without becoming a monster like it.
With every difficult challenge, there are opportunities for growth. Humanity needs a new set of principles to foresee the coming future—principles that reorganize human relations within its relational triangle.
Preparing such principles is nothing but preparation for the battle of the future. If the present is threatened by a viral danger, then the future’s battle will certainly come from the same domain—nature—or perhaps a human-made one.
It may even come from the realm of artificial intelligence, or from humanity’s relationship with its own human essence. Isolation has revealed to many of us aspects of our inner selves—truths about our past, our present, and our future—that we had not known before this harsh solitude forced many into deep internal struggles.
his article was translated from its original language using an AI-powered service. Minor editorial adjustments may have been made for clarity.