Experiences from the heart of the Italian crisis

By Heinz Grill:

I am sitting at the table looking at a bright red fire vehicle, with a loud speaker, driving down the narrow lane past the house. I venture out onto the balcony, braving the din of the loud speaker on the vehicle-roof: „Rimanete a casa, per motivi di salute e sicurezza…!“ The daring step onto the balcony was too foolhardy. I had broken the law. With a brusk gesticulation the fireman sent me back indoors, threatening me with future punishment.

As I am by nature a creature who struggles with dictatorial situations in life, and people already accuse me of being a completely stubborn character, I put on my shoes and went into the small village, quietly of course, so that the van didn’t notice me. The neighbours were calm, no one was to be seen in the street, on balconies or in gardens. The feeling of living in an old, decaying ghost town could not escape my awareness. For days I had seen no one. But yes! – There was someone! For a second a seemingly older person looked fearfully out of the window, pulling the curtain a few centimetres to the side, only to turn away again immediately, to avoid being seen by the fireman. Maybe the deathly silence is a fitting demonstration of obedience, and the nation wants to show its willingness to retreat. But why the announcement, I ask myself, when there is no sign of life in the village?

Since the 21^st of February, quarantine has been imposed in Lombardy, being strictly controlled with a breach attracting severe punishment. Italy is taking drastic measures. One man wants to take his dog out. I see how the police shoo him fiercely back into the house with presumable punishment. Does the man now have a criminal record because he wanted to allow his beloved and probably only house-mate to go out a few metres?¹⁾ It is tragic that the relationship between state measures and individual behaviour is becoming increasingly disproportionate. Italy is probably known as a country where citizens and state correlate least. The strong agreement of citizens to the quarantine measures seems extremely concerning to the external observer, as the police, who are also under pressure, make increasingly unpleasant moves and the citizens accept the clearly absurd isolation. The health implications of this self-surrender are bound to take expression in severe nervous illnesses and disturbances that reach right into the cell system. A sportsman friend of mine has a big heart through many years of training. He is not allowed to leave the house. His flat has a total area of 40 square metres. I picture him carrying out his endurance runs around the kitchen table, then having a shower and sitting down alone for his evening meal. This seems to be the daily work routine of the mountain guide. I call him up. The phone still works. In a quiet whisper, so that no one might hear, he tells me that in the grey hours of the night he left the house and went unnoticed through an olive grove and up the mountain. There he ran, breathing deeply, until his lungs had regained their generous capacity, and then he returned strengthened, but ducking and creeping like an Indian out of the woods, back to his flat. I confess to him that I am also not always quite so obedient and carry out small to middling actions to keep up my physical fitness.²⁾ It might seem sardonic to formulate this account with a degree of humour. In reality a tragedy of unimaginable proportions stands before the eyes of the healthily reacting observer. A certain degree of wit has to be retained in the situation, as only too well can one see that the measures of complete human isolation will lead to serious problems.

The aunt of a friend’s girlfriend died recently in Italy of old age. She was collected and tested for corona. I’m afraid I no longer remember the result of the test. A statistic is what ultimately counts! A pharmacist had the habit of jogging to work. A woman threw a bucket of water from her balcony over his head calling him „untore“, a swearword used in the time of the plague to describe carriers of the disease. He is supposed to drive those few hundred metres in the car, shut himself in, do his work and not endanger others. I never knew that going for walks in the fresh air, jogging, cycling, and sport encouraged lung infections. But another sporty young man managed to ride to his office on his bike. He had a sign on his back saying: „Vado al lavoro“, which means “I’m going to work”. Maybe in future he will have to write „Vado al lavoro urgente“, because the measures in Italy are meant to be intensified so that only the most exceptionally urgent journeys can be made. Up until now the police have let him carry on with his bike.

The regulations are so fearfully strict that one might be in an atomic laboratory. Speaking is only allowed through telecommunications. Contact is still permitted amongst families, yet out of fear and safety precautions one corona suspect locked themself in a dark bathroom for 14 days. While people are still allowed to go shopping, face masks have to be worn and any conversation avoided. To tighten quarantine measures, there is talk that they are considering banning shopping and organising deliveries of spaghetti and tomato sauce. But what about the wine? Will that be delivered too? I try to imagine how it might be possible to faithfully implement the law. My colleague sits at the table. The regulations say we have to wear face masks. How does one accomplish the skill of taking each bite into one’s mouth, while breathing in enough air and not pushing the mask aside? Artistic acrobatics seem to be necessary for the future in order to manage life in complete isolation.

People in Italy are speaking very hopefully about the future, nevertheless on closer inspection this view seems distorted and artificial. A colleague goes to the doctor because she can no longer eat or sleep and is finding the loneliness of quarantine unbearable. She can no longer tolerate the complete isolation of the past four weeks in a cramped flat without a garden. Her treatment consists of antidepressants and tranquillisers. Together, they say, we will conquer the virus. But all the experience to date shows that the number of infections is rising in spite of the strictest form of quarantine, and the virus only has a relatively short incubation period of seven days at the most. The training in logical thinking, developing a capacity for deeper judgement and solid spiritual insights, which I have been offering for years, seems to be stuck in its infancy. In Germany there are hardly any deaths, in Italy however people are dying like victims of the plague. The numbers – yes there are the numbers. The statistics – yes there are the statistics, and these are compiled by top-class experts. A way of thinking that approaches the causes with discernment, precision and logic, now when it is most needed, seems to be as superfluous as an umbrella in the sunshine. All that matters is fighting the virus, as that is the enemy and it does what it likes.

For days I have been looking for national information about the epidemic to try and understand how the principles behind the rationale, like the statistics, are compiled. Any information I have obtained has been through foreign channels and reports.³⁾ Upon closer research, the corona crisis in Italy appears to originate from Germany. Germany is Europe’s leading economy, while Italy is one of its last. An intensive collaboration between German and Italian research activities would make sense. Hospital beds are still free in Germany while in Italy they are overloaded. A cautious assessment indicates that Germany should come to Italy’s aid and should avoid pointing its finger at Italy. President Conte speaks decisively of transparency and declares a state of emergency with sanctions until 31^st July. In my curiosity I would naturally be interested to know how many people suffer with psychological problems through the quarantine, how many commit suicide, lose their livelihood, resort to violence and turn to alcohol. Amongst the people known to me, the most severe depression is apparent, and as yet suppressed aggression.⁴⁾ From a spiritual perspective, it is precisely the quarantine measures, if they last for more than five days, that lead people to become profoundly withdrawn and reserved psychologically. The lungs need contact, as through the process of breathing they are the organs, above all others, that are most clearly interwoven with the rhythmic interplay of air and of life. If there is no natural breathing into nature, into open space, the bronchi and alvioli are bound to weaken. A large amount of electro-smog and computer work also burdens the nerves and indirectly leads to tension in the respiratory muscles. This in turn weakens one’s whole vitality and ultimately the immune system. The emissions released by electronic devices are not discussed in this article. It is said that 4000 psychologists are already being deployed to give telephone counselling to those in despair, but that is just a side issue. By all accounts, according to the Italian media, there is no problem. There are no statistics published for the real situation and for the knock on health effects of coronavirus. Some blogs and journals that undertook closer research have been forced to discontinue.⁵⁾ See this video (in Italian) on the planned closure of Byoblue on YouTube Inside the ghost towns there is probably focused meditation and sacred peace. Certainly there is is a lot of praying.

How are the doctors? The white coats have turned into men in masks. Many are fleeing to these masked men as if through a kind of phantom attraction, however rarely because they are ill, but simply out of fear and because they have convinced themselves they have or might have the virus. The hospitals are overflowing and there are only corona patients left. The world is governed by corona. People’s thinking allows no gaps or exceptions. Hope and despair depend on one single fact and this has conquered Italy. Strangely enough however, it is always only older people and those with pre-existing illnesses who die, and the overall mortality statistics are no greater since the corona crisis.⁶⁾ A differentiation between cause of death and a secondary issue, which might have led to the death, is not made in Italy with the statistics quoted. The measures therefore taken, which are completely excessive, amounting to grotesque destruction of mentally intact lives, as well as of economic existence, could probably only be justified if it were a case of an extremely dangerous and untreatable virus. In Bergamo the dead are collected in military trucks. Someone working right in front of the hospital – had he forgotten his glasses? – never saw the military.⁷⁾ See also air pollution in Lombardy and this lecture by Dr Klinghardt on the connection between 5G and lung disease. In my view, which comes from a spiritual perspective and will therefore probably be ignored because there does not seem to be a spirit in human beings so a spiritual perspective of the current circumstances is considered as fantasy, I experience the corona crisis as the start of a huge episode of illness. Human beings need encounter, deep breathing, fresh air, contact, colour, nature and exposure to various temperature conditions. Meetings with others are important to strengthen the immune system. But I am referring naturally to proper encounters and not to emotional cliques and rapturous hugs. The real illnesses, with terrible consequences and existential dimensions will only occur after the corona crisis and these will be the result of passivity, of accepting fear-laden suggestion and of lengthy retreat into isolation. When we try to really connect with people, their reaction is perturbed, unnatural, they are for the most part depressed and in their faces we see a kind of false hope, which in reality points to a deep, existential and impending crisis. The Italian state is leading itself into bankruptcy and the effects, alongside economic damage, unemployment, and dictatorial, coercive measures, will above all hit people’s health.⁸⁾ The root causes of the corona crisis will probably be substantiated not only in alternative circles, but by researchers with economic interests. The question arises: Does Italy intentionally want to make itself bankrupt? Or another question can also be asked: Are there interests that want to drive Italy into ruin? A spiritual perspective certainly indicates these interests. It is not these, however that appear to be the primary cause, but causes of a religious nature, which for reasons of complexity will not be discussed here. From a spiritual perspective, which sadly is viewed simply critically today, individual human beings are travelling a path of complete self-effacement and submission, and this will dramatically weaken their immune systems. After several weeks of quarantine, these consequences can be foreseen by any trained medic, without needing spiritual insight. Italy is destroying itself through its own measures.⁹⁾ The difference between the Italian and the German mentality is very great. Were Italy not to have great, restrictive quarantine measures imposed, there would be a relatively great danger that people would completely lose themselves in emotional groups. Germans, on the other hand, find it easier to bring about a discipline and maintain a code of hygiene. Italians certainly want the quarantine regulations, as they want to protect their families and the elderly.