Homo Quarentenam Or Human Quarantine

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Any event on a local, and even more so on an international scale, leads to changes in the consciousness of a person, nation or all of humanity. For example, the World before World War II and after it is two different worlds, with different values, relations between countries and people, views on the role of science and technology, differing in the level of anxiety and tension in society. Events such as global cataclysms, wars, inventions, mass migrations and epidemics - all this changes the psychological appearance of mankind.

The first thing I think about, being in current events, is reminiscent of trauma. I mean that there is a certain event that appears unexpectedly, it cannot be fully influenced or even more so canceled. This event is painful enough to change the usual way of life. Trauma wreaks havoc on everyone, activating our psychological defenses (denial, projection, withdrawal, etc.). The way a person experiences, defends, and ultimately accepts and processes the trauma, makes him who he is. It is not the event that matters, but what we do with it and how we perceive it.

So, observing myself and others, I want to describe the Quarantine Man, or Homo quarenteanam, in various spheres of his life and psychology. Despite some irony, which is obviously my personal defense, I treat him with warmth, as I recognize myself in many ways.

1. Homo quarenteanam and safety. There is always a part of the population that denies the existence of danger and does not experience anxiety, thanks to the protective mechanism of denial. These are the people who actively sabotage the quarantine, exposing themselves and others to danger and causing a flurry of aggression, at least on social networks. However, we for the most part still want security. Another question, who should provide it to us? A state playing the role of a 'reasonable parent'? Are we ourselves? Higher power? The answers and solutions to these questions can tell a lot about human nature.

2. Homo quarenteanam and freedom. This is still more ambiguous. On the one hand, freedom is one of the key values of the Western world. On the other hand, the current situation confronts us with a choice between personal freedom and security. Isn't this very sabotage of the self-isolation regime an attempt to regain freedom, to do it in its own way, in spite of others? I think (although these may only be delusions), in the near future, issues of freedom will be reviewed, since sometimes personal freedom is contrary to public safety.

3. Homo quarenteanam and love. The word `` love '' I use here not only in the sense of erotic love, but also in relation to your loved ones, family and significant people. Homo quarenteanam can be both hurt by the fact that he is now face to face with his loved ones, and feel satisfaction from it. Now they talk a lot about upcoming family quarrels and divorces, as well as about those who are isolated from loved ones. One way or another, this is the time of a serious revision in relationships or in the ways of building your sex life (do not forget about polyamorous people, or those who do not live together). I think that a love relationship is something that can both support in present conditions and be the cause of suffering. In any case, this crisis highlights what is good and painful in our love.

4. Homo quarenteanam and work. Work has become a value. Even the one that used to bring only irritation and boredom. In addition, for the most part, the work migrated into the house, erasing some of the boundaries. At the same time, the threat of a crisis reduced the intensity of the narcissistic pleasure that the job or position provided. Now this is primarily a way to make money. We can say that the work has taken its rightful place.

5. Homo quarenteanam and others. Any contagious disease causes fear. We are afraid not only of the disease itself, but also of those who suffer it. Now these are people. It's okay to feel a little paranoid when walking through a crowded place (nowadays, this is any point where more than three people intersect). The problem is that such anxiety can take the form of hatred and vindictiveness towards the “culprits” or “carriers of the infection.” This is one of the tasks of Homo quarenteanam - to learn to see in another not an infected person, but a person.

6. Homo quarenteanam and bargaining with fate. Part of us is bargaining to one degree or another. Belief in help from others, favorable weather conditions or general wisdom, something that will make it end faster. Or an appeal to frankly magical thinking, rituals, folk medicine and water with soda. Everyone struggles with anxiety and impotence as best they can. In conclusion, I would like to say that everything we are doing now is an attempt to cope. Someone continues to deny, someone is looking for the guilty, and someone rushes along the path of self-development so as not to face reality. People act on the basis of personal psychology, using what they can. I believe that over time we will be able to recycle this trauma and become a little different. Not better, not worse, but different. I believe in humanity.