Why current events bring so much hope for changes and a better future, but at the same time so much uncertainty and fear? Tsiolkovsky (a Russian rocket scientist, pioneer in astronautic theory, as well as one of the philosophers of Russian Cosmism) writes that the whole Universe is sensitive and has three beginnings: time, space and force. His theories are visionary, but also controversial (he basically wanted to colonise the universe), but for me some of his thoughts are still important. Everything that has happened in the last 3 months, is happening now and will happen , probably, in the next year, bring me (probably not only me) to controversial condition which varies from anxiety and apathy to euphoria and empathy to everything. Is the reason for this mental instability the changes of time, space and force?
Home changed to workplace, to school, to kindergarten, to bar, to club, to fitness or yoga studio. Ikea in Mai looks like Edeka or Rewe in March with empty shelves and missing toilet paper or pasta. In April people queued in everything for home outlets. Не выходи из комнаты, не совершай ошибку ( don’t live the room, don’t make the mistake). Maybe this will bring us to the understanding that nobody needs these bloody internal offices with a 9/5 work schedule. Maybe all those bullshit jobs won’t be so bullshit anymore. I just don’t need to imitate that I’m working 9/5 hours in the office, because at home I can do those pointless tasks just for one hour and the rest I can use as I want. There probably won’t be so many offices at all, because on many types of jobs workers don’t really interact with each other. Maybe Hollywood and all this shity luxury production will die, because there will be no need in big cinemas or huge concert halls.
The first few weeks of lockdown are characterized by a feeling of doing a lot just by staying at home. Individuals have the power to save lives and flatten the curve. I’ve so long saved the world, so now it’s time to destroy it. Maybe we will get cases of domestic revolutions and self organized social movements. Maybe an ongoing protest it’s only first step. Maybe the migrants will get the right to vote without having citizenship, just because they are already living four or five or eight years in a particular country. Maybe everyone will get UBI.
We’ve all got a huge amount of time. Everything slowed down. There was, and probably still is, no need to run and to stress out because of thousand deadlines, million tasks and a few different jobs. People have more time for things that they couldn’t do earlier. It’s already shown how supportive people could be to each other. Maybe we will change the pattern of communication from ignorance to solidarity. Maybe…
I’m writing only positive examples of what is happening now can change the future. The problem is, that everything that is changing now, doesn’t bring sustainable changes. There is no more hope that pandemic will kill the capitalist system or will solve climate change or bring a lot of human rights. We have so easily and too quickly adapted to isolation, alienation, to hundred of thousand deaths, to unemployment…Now this is our normality, which happily coexists with the old system.
I have to think about Tsiolkovsky again and about his space utopia, the power of his imagination and a strong hope for future achievement, which is essential for me now. As an individual I still hope for at least small positive changes. As an individual I’m afraid that the changes will be way worse than negative. The problem is, that hope is not enough. I need utopia. Probably not only me.