This little COVID-19 virus that is bringing everything to its knees is also highlighting the fragility of out multi-billion dollar businesses and showing the cracks in leadership around the world.

There isn't a day that goes by without hearing something controversial on COVID-19. Real news mixes with fake news to a never-ending stream of maybes, new discoveries, and shocking horror stories compiled on top of a few struggling good news.

Without naming any stories, I welcome Monday afternoons as a neighbor of ours who plays in the city Symphonie plays with his children on their porch.

But with all of this confusion, one thing stands out. How have we come here? How did we get here? How did we let things get so bad an administration blocks much needed protective gear from first responders? Local leaders have been, well, less than stellar. Busines that until last year were rolling in money are now begging governments for money?

In all these leadership failures, I find two things extremely interesting. Countries run by women fared the pandemic better than by men. Taiwan was prepared since 2003. Locals are engaging more than ever questioning their previous lifestyles. And politicians fight for elections as if the world hadn't changed.

The child in me doesn't understand how we go here when it was screaming against complacency. It's difficult to see beauty and ugliness at the same time. Maybe that's what they meant when they said Earth was an amazing kaleidoscope of activities and events.

"You forget your feet when the shoes are comfortable. You forget your waist when the belt is comfortable. Understanding forgets right and wrong when the mind is comfortable. There is no change in what is inside, no following what is outside, when the adjustment to events is comfortable. You begin with what is comfortable and never experience what is uncomfortable when you know the comfort of forgetting what is comfortable."

This strikes me as particularly a propos considering our self-imposed isolation due to the Covid-19 spread. This lock down of sorts is wearing and testing many. I know I'm not alone either. It's this unease at facing what is inside. How ridiculous. What is there that I would fear inside?

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KNOWLEDGE WANDERED North to the banks of the Black Waters, climbed the Knoll of Hidden Heights, and there by chance came upon Do-Nothing-Say-Nothing. Knowledge said to Do-Nothing-Say-Nothing, "There are some things I'd like to ask you. What sort of pondering, what sort of cogitation does it take to know the Way? What sort of surroundings, what sort of practices does it take to find rest in the Way? What sort of path, what sort of procedure will get me to the Way?"

Three questions he asked, but Do-Nothing-Say-Nothing didn't answer. It wasn't that he just didn't answer - he didn't know how to answer!

It's been a long time since I felt connected to life, people, the Universe. I've always felt slightly out of touch, out of sync, from another planet just waiting on the spare part to get my spaceship back home.

The Covid-19 pandemic spread and its self-imposed isolation has pushed us further into the refine of our homes. And with that comes time to dwell within. This opens the doors to the unknown which turns out to be not as frightening as it was imagined.

I feel more connected to the others than I ever have. It's almost as if I was connected as I used to feel it in my teens and twenties practicing mediation and out of body travels. I feel connected in a way that is anchoring love at the deepest level.

Another thing this strange passage has done is to affirm that things are well. Things are as they should be. That although there are nefarious entities on this planet and dark ones, they are neither the norm nor as strong as I thought they were. They just are there as a counterbalance. The "Brotherhood of Light", that all-pervasive goodness of sorts is far more prevalent than these low energy cockroaches. No offense cockroaches. You too have a purpose. I see that all-pervasive goodness vibrating everywhere in the Universe strongly. It is the norm. Hopefully, we are getting rid of the nefarious ones or at the very least curbing them so far back they stay put for us to see but not touch. They should serve us as a reminder of what can be but shouldn't.

All in all, I feel this wave is good. It's going in the right direction. It has a positive driving factor and it's shedding light where there once was darkness.

Maybe today's Creator's Writing is perfect on time again:

I'm not an expert in Vedic astrology but enjoy its different way of seeing the stars than western astrology. If you've never heard of Kai, Sarpa, Rahu, and Ketu, don't worry. There are similarities between both. After all, how much different can human understanding and perceptions be even halfway on the other side of the globe? GHasn't the Covid-19 virus taught us we are more alike than different?

Pt. Punarvasu says "all planets including the Sun, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn are under the orbit / axis of Rahu & Ketu forming a very significant negative Kal Sarpa Yoga. This yoga is currently built up in your horoscope with all planets hedged between Rahu in Gemini & Ketu". Rahu and Ketu are respectively the North Node and South Node.

He says "the Kal Sarpa combination is underway with all the planets hemmed between Rahu (the dragon's head) and Ketu (the dragon's tail) which figuratively speaking means that the entire planet chain in swallowed by Rahu & Ketu similar to what the world is experiencing - a worldwide lockdown."

"Rahu & Ketu are karmic planets. They become fully dominant over all planets during Kal Sarpa Combination, not allow them to function independently. When Rahu-Ketu act like masters of everything, they create major blocks in thinking. Being egged by negative serpentine energy, any miscalculated decisions backfire. Major decisions & moves need to be delayed till 27th May 2020 and once the negative energy dissipates it would be time for us to move on."

My first love was an introduction to Taoism in High School at around 13. It's hard to describe what it did to me or how I felt.

Home. This is it. That makes sense. This is the closest I remember how I felt when I was first introduced to the ancient Chinese philosophy that tries to explain what life is through what it's not and the "Way" as impalpable, ineffable. Taoism has its place in today's world where the ridiculous is worshiped and nonsense adulated.

"Cut off sageliness, cast away wisdom, and then the great thieves will cease. Break the jades, crush the pearls, and petty thieves will no longer rise up. Burn the tallies, shatter the seals, and the people will be simple and guileless. Hack up the bushels, snap the balances in two, and the people will no longer wrangle. Destroy and wipe out the laws that the sage has made for the world, and at last you will find you can reason with the people."

It's hard to argue against this wisdom.

But try as we might, we live in different times than the ancient masters did. As much, we must adapt and take from the old, anchoring our feet in this new reality we are forced to acknowledge.

I take refuge often in Chuang Tzu's famed words. No matter whether he or she exists or not. Who cares. It's the moon we must watch, not the finger-pointing. But this ruthless logic should have us re-examine our way of disempowering ourselves, then complain, then hail saviors that never come.

As we watch the news, it would be wise to see we hear from political careerists and not trained health professionals. Those who are trained health professionals speaking with politicians have long left the confines of their labs and research.