Timeo Ergo Sum (I'm Afraid, So I Exist)

In an interview by Deutsche Welle, German National Television, Heinz Bude, the German thinker, was asked a short but sharp question. What is the opposite of fear? The answer: Hope. Why?

Hope, said Bude, rests on the understanding that the current situation is not the last state. Changes for the better are still possible. This moment, which may be painful, can still be surpassed. Hope is the greatest enemy of fear, Bude insists.

Amid the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, and government policies that kill its people, is there still hope? The government and the media continue to hit the people with the bad news that breaks the heart. The policies issued are full of common sense holes that insult the intelligence and impoverish the people. This is not just an abstract discourse but directly hit my personal life.

Systematically Impoverished

Early June 2021, I tested positive for COVID 19. At least that's the result of the PCR test I did. No symptoms. No complaints at all.

I did a PCR test because I had to go to Bali. Those are the requirements requested by Jokowi, the President of Indonesia. The price is very expensive. However, because there was an urgent need, I did it anyway.

He said I am OTG (Asymptomatic Person). My critical sense is at work. Asymptomatic people don't mean healthy people? If I'm completely asymptomatic, then why am I positive for COVID-19, and have to self-isolate? This whole argument about COVID 19 is very suspicious indeed.

My brother also experienced the same thing. No symptoms at all. Healthy and strong, but recorded positive for COVID 19. He was forced to take a PCR test because his office required him to.

He and his family were scared. Moreover, being pounded every day by news of COVID 19 in various media. If it wasn't COVID 19, maybe it was fear that would make him sick later. I am not afraid at all.

I eat healthy (always). I exercise (always). I meditate and do Yoga (always). After 7 days, I tested negative (after paying a lot of money again), and flew to Bali.

Another spooky news is back. My brother remains positive for COVID 19, after the second test. He was confused again. Body healthy and fresh, but labeled sick. Provided?

Again he must self-isolate. After about 2 weeks, he came back for a PCR test, and it was negative. Imagine, how much money has been spent? How much will the pharmaceutical and medical device industry gain from all this?

The disaster seems to have never ended. After returning to work, he was laid off. Can you imagine the psychological pressure he and his family faced? Newly labeled negative by an expensive PCR test, then laid off from work.

This is the umpteenth time he has had to change jobs. I remembered my father. He worked in the same company for 40 years, since graduating from high school. His company is his family, even closer than his own.

Compare my father's experience with mine and my brother's. Over the past 20 years, I've changed jobs four times. Even now I work in several places. During a pandemic, the threat of dismissal is always real.

No job is safe today. A dozen years of a career can be ruined just like that. Businesses that have been pioneered for decades can just go bankrupt. The situation is increasingly uncertain, and filled with fear.

This is not just an abstract theory for me. I experienced it firsthand. I also hear from people who have experienced it firsthand. If you don't get fired or go bankrupt, people can be deeply in debt.

A World Full of Fear

This is discussed in depth by Heinz Bude, a German thinker. He wrote a book entitled Gesellschaft der Angst (Society of Fear) in 2014. Amid an era stabbed by a pandemic and the depravity of the rulers, this book becomes very important in 2021. There are four important arguments that he put forward.

First, fear is now a basic human experience. It is no longer an exception, for example, fear in the presence of danger, but has become a daily routine experience. “Fear”, Bude wrote, “shows us clearly what is happening to us.” This is connected with the next view.

Two, in modern society, fear is the theme for all. It knows no boundaries. Rather, it is the existence of fear that gives the modern world a thrill. Modern civilization was born from and cultivate the fear experienced by humans. Angst als Erklärungsprinzip (Fear as an explanatory principle), as Bude said.

Three, fear is now a social phenomenon. It is no longer a symptom of someone's psyche. Fear is a concept that operates at social, political, and economic levels. It is a political category. A similar pattern is found at the global level. The world moves with fear. All policies are made no longer with common sense and a clear conscience, but with fear. Timeo ergo sum, I'm afraid that's why I exist, I hope it's not too much.

Fourth, as a global phenomenon, fear has also strengthened, due to the destruction of social and economic stability of the middle class in various countries. The gap between the rich and the poor is getting bigger. Bude wrote before the COVID-19 pandemic occurred. In 2021, this analysis is increasingly finding the truth.

These four things happened, because of the failure of political and economic governance in various countries. From an economic perspective, the world is moving to the right, which is becoming more conservative. Workers' rights are brushed off. The big-cap businessmen, who play corruption with state officials, are becoming more and more special.

Something similar happened in my country. Politics is ruled by rich businessmen alone. They do not have sufficient national insight and political leadership to organize a very young and diverse republic. As a result, the government cannot provide a sense of security to its people. On the other hand, in my country, the government becomes a terrorist (spreader of fear and uncertainty) for its citizens.

This is all coupled with an endless pandemic. The COVID-19 virus continues to mutate, making it even more dangerous. In my country, this pandemic has exposed the government's failures so far in the development process, especially in the fields of education (people's mindset) and health (health system). However, as usual, it is the people who have to pay the consequences of the impoverishment and terror of COVID 19 which continues to spread every day.

Heinz Bude's views in Gesellschaft der Angst may be compared with those of Steven Pinker in The Better Angels of Our Nature: A History of Violence and Humanity. Pinker argues, that in this era, humans are becoming more human. Fewer people are dying, as a result of the brutal violence. Humans are getting better day by day.

Bude catches the paradox in this view. On the one hand, from the available data, brutal violence is decreasing in the 21st century. However, on the other hand, the fear is getting bigger, just when the world is getting safer. That is, the presence of fear is not in line with the existing reality. How should we respond to all of this?

What Can Be Done?

Considering these various circumstances, four things can be done. First, we need to clearly and critically read the news. The majority of news in the mass media and social media is not balanced. They only aim to create mere sensations, including fear, to invite sheer economic gain.

This view has been discussed in depth by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky in their book Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of Mass Media. People's views are shaped by media coverage that is full of narrow interests. Not surprisingly, even though the world is much safer, the fear of the global community has increased sharply.

Rutger Bregman's warnings in his book Utopia For Realist: How Can We Build Ideal World Today should be heeded. Something makes news because it rarely happens. Crime is in the news because crime is rare. What happens a lot is kindness between humans. If crime continues, it will no longer be in the news, because it has become commonplace.

Two, it is necessary to continue to control the government's performance. This is the heart of democracy. The community actively communicates with the government about various issues, so that they can find the root of the problem and find a common solution. As stated by Jürgen Habermas in his book Faktizität und Geltung: Beiträge zur Diskurstheorie des Rechts und des democratizes Rechtsstaats, that democracy is a free, rational and open conversation without stopping.

In particular, the quality of the nation's education must be improved. Education is not only about infrastructure but also about the content and spirit of education itself. Education officials, especially the education minister, must be replaced with truly competent people. Education, quoting Julian Nida-Rümelin in his book Philosophie einer humanen Bildung, must build the entire human dimension, and free humans from various kinds of shackles.

Three, in this fear-stricken time, people need to cultivate their mind. He needs to find a deeper dimension, so he can remain peaceful and calm amid an increasingly uncertain world. This is where the importance of spirituality goes beyond religion. Spirituality unites us all with all living beings, while religion separates us from one another.

Hope can only exist, if we see the world. Clarity comes not only from intellectual intelligence but also from spirituality. This is what is lacking in Indonesia today. For that, we might need to learn from Willigis Jäger in his book entitled Westöstliche Weisheit: Visionen Einer Integralen Spiritualität.

Jäger asserts, that within humans, there is a stable background of consciousness. It becomes the background of all emotions and thoughts that arise. He is unchanging, and always in a state of calm. We must all learn to recognize the background of that consciousness, to remain calm when the storms of life hit.

This background of consciousness is like a sky with ever-changing clouds. It is like a movie screen with movie scenes that keep changing. He is like a mirror and the object of reflection that keeps changing. Only by touching this background of consciousness can humans truly be liberated from fear. Only by living immersed in this unchanging backdrop of consciousness can humans build hope for a better future.

The lead image by: https://unsplash.com/photos/j8a-TEakg78