Lausanne, 4th February 2020
‘Conspiracy theory’ going mainstream?
What’s the matter, That you have such a February face, So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?
Given that last month was both momentous and portentous (a bit like Janus, the two-faced god after whom January was named and whom the Romans associated with gates, doorways, etc.), I must admit that I would have been extremely apprehensive on the last day of the first month of the year had a series of quasi psychedelic paintings I had seen on the very same afternoon not reminded me not only of the cyclical nature of the human condition but also of the beauty of the human soul.
I got a further boost the next day, i.e. on the first of February, when upon having borrowed a book on outer-body-experiences and perused it, I read in it that some major breakthrough concerning our understanding of the soul accomplished in neighbouring Geneva by two non-university-affiliated researchers had been made possible only because they had been funded for many years by a local couple.
So although what is happening in China simply beggars description and although I continue to harbour deep concerns over the situation in the Middle East, it is somewhat soothing to know that there are dimensions of reality which we still do not understand fully and that human suffering may not simply be random, gratuitous or even meaningless.
Incidentally, February derives from the Latin word februa, named after Februus, the Etruscan god of the underworld and of purification, whom the Romans continued to honour with a festival of purification, held on 15 February.
So if February 2020 brings us any purification, let us hope that it will not be through violence and destruction.