Will You Return To Normal Or Seek A New Normal?

5/28/2020

Will things return to normal or will we all have to adjust to a new normal?

A pertinent question if there ever was one, but as far as I'm concerned the question is of secondary importance. What matters more is this - should we desire to return to our normal selves or should we seek to establish new normal selves?

For the sake of argument let's pretend everything returns to the way it was before the birdemic. Does this imply that we should also return to the way we were before the 'crisis'?

And what if things never return to normal? Well, this will likely exclude any chance of slipping comfortably back into our previous 'normal' selves and lives. On the contrary, we will probably be forced into accommodating and adapting to the new normal world in various ways.

So which do you prefer? A return to normal or a new normal?

Either way, we should be inspired to establish new normals for ourselves in this time and place. If our previous normals were on the right track, we should take this opportunity to intensify our efforts. If our previous normals were wayward and misguided, we should seize the moment and strive for more focused and authentic ways of living and being.

As we emerge from the present, we should aim to discard all that is negative in normal - all that is ordinary, conventional, routine, and unexceptional - and embrace all that is positive in normal - all that is sane, healthy, lucid, and right minded. We should then make these 'positive normal' attributes the foundation of our new normals.

Each new normal should be as unique as the individual possessing it, but it should possess a refreshed and deeper understanding of what mortal life in this world is really about and what we should be doing with it.

That's my new normal, and I'll stick to it even if things go back to normal or some new normal begins to take shape around me.

4 Comments

bruce charlton

5/29/2020 09:18:15

So far as I can see, there is zero possibility of returning to the normal of four months ago - the government and the media don't want it; and a great mass of British people don't want it either (for different reasons, somewhat).

People apparently suppose they can have the old normal plus social distancing, but they can't - it is not possible So widespread, intense but futile activity of doomed 'adaptation' of institutions to SD may delay realisation of our situation - as is no doubt the intention.

But the question is what is the new normal to be? (what is the aim?), or more exactly - what *motivates* the new normal?

If the motivation for change is merely that fear is wearing-off, that's not enough to make a good new normal. If it is that people want to do fun stuff, that will not suffice either.

Only if most people want something 'spiritual' and Christian rather than materialistic - might the new normal be a good situation. The thing is - I don't think unconscious or implicit good motivations will suffice now (if they ever did).

Good has has to be consciously chosen, and explicitly aimed-at. Good does not happen as an unintended consequence of self-ish, short-termist materialism.

So - if a good thing happens, if we really are heading for a good new normal - we *will* know about it, because people will be talking about it, explicitly.

Ingemar

5/29/2020 18:57:31

The "new normal" that the Establishment wants is 180 degrees separated from the "new normal" we should seek.

After months, someone in my family (other than my parents) finally responded to my protests of VirusRegime. As you might expect, she (a very highly educated leftist) countered every single objection I had with Establishment dogma. I know that in her mind she was doing me a favor, but this only widened the chasm between us.

I am not ashamed to admit that--between this impasse, the physical and spiritual isolation, and the newest round of despair porn (race war) that the Establishment is trying to foist upon us--I cried, bitterly. But in these disappointments, God is reminding me that He is there and He suffered for our sake.

I don't want to return to a "normal" where I am the master of my own life, responsible for everything and wise in my own ways.

5/30/2020 13:55:01

The longer this goes on, the clearer it becomes that this 'new' normal world is something very deeply desired by a large proportion of Western people.

The Western Zeitgeist has simplified down to a very pure short-term materialism which is solidly believed, and (understandably) as a result the Western spirit solidly desires its own destruction.

At present, this suicide is dressed up with irrational denialism based on an absolute refusal to think independently and to consequences - the idea that everything can change... yet somehow nothing essential will change.

I suppose this will continue until the collapse begins to accelerate and feed upon itself. When it will become an explicit despair and desire for death.

Francis Berger

5/30/2020 16:18:58

@ Bruce - I quite agree with what you have expressed in your comments. I don't expect a return to normal or a new normal to offer anything beyond what already infects us at the collective level.

In fact, both would likely only lead to intensifications of the disease that gripped us before this whole 'crisis' came about. In this sense, a return to normal or any new normal that arises is undesirable, but most likely unavoidable.

Within this context, our responses at the individual level (perhaps very small group level - family, small circle of trusted friends) are the only things we can rely on. We must intensify our old normals (if they were properly aligned) or establish and maintain our own individual new normals to counteract whatever manifests at the collective level.

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