Extract

“Crises, upheavals, illness do not arise by chance. They serve as indicators for us to correct a trajectory, explore new directions, experience another path in life.”

Carl-Gustav JUNG

Foreword

Who could have imagined at the beginning of 2020 that, two months later, half the world's population would be confined, there would be no more planes in the sky, no more tourists in Venice, and we would be experiencing a historic global economic recession? The Covid-19 pandemic, although not the most serious that humanity has ever known, reveals the extreme vulnerability of the globalized world. When the Black Death wiped out more than a third of Europeans (around 25 million people) in the mid-14th century, the Chinese or Indians were not affected, and they were probably not even informed. For better or for worse, we are all connected today, and a simple virus, emerging in any corner of the globe, can bring the global economy to its knees and impact the lives of nearly 8 billion people. Because every aspect of our existence has been disrupted by this pandemic: our family and professional lives, as well as our relationship with the world, space, and time. We are affected or distressed—for ourselves and for our loved ones—by illness and death. But also by material insecurity, by the loss of our freedom of movement, by the impossibility of planning for the future.

Faced with such upheavals, we can grit our teeth and hope that everything will return to the way it was as quickly as possible. This seems illusory to me. Not only because we cannot emerge from such chaos in a few months, but above all because the root causes that led to this situation will persist after the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. As I already explained at length in 2012 in my book The Healing of the World , the contemporary crisis is systemic: all the crises we are experiencing in our globalized world – economic, health, ecological, migratory, social, etc. – are linked together by the same consumerist and profit-maximizing logic, in the context of deregulated globalization. The pressure exerted on the planet and on human societies is unsustainable in the long term. If we seek to start again “as before,” we will go from economic crisis to economic crisis, from ecological crisis to ecological crisis, from social crisis to social crisis, and from health crisis to health crisis. The real solution is to change our logic, to escape the consumerist frenzy, to relocate entire sections of economic activities, to regulate finance, to move from "always more" to well-being, from competition to collaboration.

These big questions, crucial for the future of humanity and the planet, are the subject of another book I have been working on for over a year with Nicolas Hulot (which will probably be published in the second half of 2020). For now, the question I want to address in this short book is quite different: how can we live as well as possible in times of crisis? While waiting for the hypothetical paradigm shift to which more and more of us are aspiring, what inner solution can we find to face the health crisis, the upheavals in our lifestyles and the anxieties that result from it? How can we try to remain calm, even happy, in an increasingly chaotic and unpredictable world? Or, to put it another way: while waiting for the world to change, how can we change ourselves or transform our outlook to adapt as positively as possible to a reality that destabilizes us?

I therefore conceived this book as a manual for survival and inner growth, that is, a manual for resilience, providing readers with advice on how to live better during this painful and destabilizing period in many ways. I drew a lot of inspiration from philosophers of the past—such as the Stoics, Montaigne, or Spinoza—who lived and thought during periods of profound crisis and who offer us essential reflections on how best to navigate adversity. But I also draw inspiration from more contemporary considerations, particularly those from neuroscience and psychology, which offer us valuable keys to dealing with disruptions to our fundamental biological, psychological, and emotional needs.

May this little book, written in the urgency of the present time, bring lasting light and comfort to all who read it.

1

Feel safe

As I began writing this book, I had a telephone conversation with a dear Canadian friend, a yoga and qigong master: Nicole Bordeleau. She asked me what I thought was our most fundamental need: connection or security? I answered without hesitation: security. Connection is crucial, even vital, because, above all, it provides us with what we need most: security, both internal (psychological) and material and social.

To better understand this, let us consider two major theories: that of conatus , by the Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza, and that of the pyramid of needs, by the psychologist Abraham Maslow. In the 17th century, in his major work, Ethics , Spinoza asserts that "each thing, according to its power of being, strives to persevere in its being." This effort ( conatus in Latin) is a universal law of life, as confirmed by the famous Portuguese neurologist Antonio Damasio, a fervent disciple of Spinoza: "The living organism is constructed in such a way that it preserves the coherence of its structures and functions against the many hazards of life(1)." Spinoza then notes that, in an equally natural way, every living organism tries to progress, to grow, to achieve greater perfection. Finally, he observes that each time he succeeds, his vital power increases, he is inhabited by a feeling of joy, whereas each time he encounters an obstacle, feels threatened in his being or his vital power diminishes, he is invaded by a feeling of sadness. The whole of Spinozist ethics therefore consists of organizing our life through reason, to preserve the integrity of our being and increase our power to act and the joy that accompanies it. Spinoza reveals two mechanisms of life: preserving oneself and increasing one's vital and action power. In other words, he explains to us that security and growth are our two most fundamental needs.

Between 1943 and 1970, American psychologist Abraham Maslow developed and refined a theory of motivation embodied in a universal hierarchy of human needs, which is not unrelated to Spinozist theory. At the base of the pyramid, we first find our basic physiological needs: breathing, drinking, eating, sleeping, eliminating... Then come the security needs: being healthy and living in a stable and predictable environment. Then come the needs for belonging and love. Finally, the needs for esteem and recognition appear, and at the very top of the pyramid, the need for self-actualization. The idea developed by Maslow, very well illustrated by the pyramid shape, is that a new motivation arises when a more fundamental need is satisfied: I will only seek self-actualization when all my other needs have been taken into account.

As relevant as Maslow's typology of needs seems to me, their hierarchy can also be open to criticism. Many authors have noted that certain needs, such as belonging or recognition, are just as fundamental to life as physiological or security needs. We know, for example, that a baby who does not receive love will be incapable of developing psychologically in a harmonious manner, or even of surviving. We can also see that some people do everything possible to satisfy a need for recognition, while their primary needs are not fully met: a teenager from a poor family will sometimes prefer to have the same smartphone or the same expensive sneakers as his friends rather than eat well or live under a decent roof. Similarly, the need for self-fulfillment, which includes the spiritual dimension and faith, can be expressed in those whose other needs have not been fully met. I have met very poor people all over the world who were imbued with an intense faith that helped them cope with their miserable condition.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs should therefore not be taken as absolute. Nevertheless, we can see that in times of profound crisis, like the one we are currently experiencing, it seems to regain a certain relevance. Survival has suddenly become the main motivation for humans again. We saw this from the first signs of the virus's spread: food stores were looted. I met people in the supermarket down the street from my house who had a trolley filled to the brim with pasta, mineral water, flour, and toilet paper, and who laughed at the sarcasm or criticism of other customers. The first instinct in a context of survival is to ensure that our physiological needs can be met, regardless of whether we appear selfish or ridiculous. In the event of a major crisis, primary needs come first, and safety needs will come second: once the fridge is full, we confine ourselves at home to escape contamination. And only once we are safe can we express our need for belonging, by calling our loved ones and friends, by strengthening our emotional and social ties—from a protective distance. The needs for recognition and accomplishment will come later, when all the others have been satisfied.

In the relatively stable and affluent Western world in which we have lived since the end of World War II, most of us had escaped the fear of no longer being able to satisfy our most basic life and security needs. We could, moreover, group the first three needs and motivations (physiological, security, belonging) into the same category: security. While the next two (recognition, accomplishment) would fall under another category: that of our growth (in society, but also spiritually). The first three are essential for survival. The next two allow for the unfolding of life, both socially and personally. We thus find ourselves again in the two great needs demonstrated by Spinoza: self-preservation (security) and growth. And we can generally say that when our security needs are satisfied we can focus more on our growth needs, which bring us the deepest joys: the joy of love blossoming, of our professional achievements that allow us to fulfill ourselves and be recognized, the creative, intellectual and spiritual joys of our spirit progressing, etc. But when we feel a deep sense of insecurity, the need for protection outweighs the need for growth, and the search for serenity, for emotional appeasement, over that of joy.

There is, however, an important interaction between the base and the top of the pyramid, between our need for security (through its various dimensions) and our spiritual dimension: the strength of our spirit can help us strengthen our sense of security or, more precisely, live better in times of insecurity. I have already mentioned this in relation to religious faith, which helps many poor people to live better, even to be joyful. The same is true today in the West for people who have a deep faith, but also for non-believers who have developed their human potential or a form of secular spirituality. Those who cultivate their spirit by reading books on philosophy or poetry, those who regularly practice yoga or meditation, those who are creative, those who develop love and compassion by engaging in society, those who seek to give meaning to their existence are undoubtedly better equipped to get through difficult periods in life. Indeed, they deploy spiritual qualities that support the body and stabilize emotions (especially fear), improve the quality of emotional and social bonds, strengthen confidence and love of life. So many precious qualities that promote, after a shock or a profound destabilization like the one we have just experienced, the possibility of a rebound, of working on oneself, of entering into resilience.

(1) Antonio Damasio, Spinoza was right. Joy and sadness. The brain of emotions , Paris, Odile Jacob, 2013, p. 40.