I wanted to talk a bit about what it means to be a Dark Jedi in a time of quarantine and limitation and doubt. The Dark is an aspect of the Force driven by seeking and securing agency for yourself; that power that comes with the freedom to do what you want in life, with the full knowledge of what that Want is. It is a goal that involves, more or less, hard work on getting your inner house in order and building your own solid foundation on which to launch yourself at your goals.
So what opportunities does the time of Coronavirus bring to us?
I can better frame this in terms of what it does not bring and why.
Throughout the Dark Aspect training at the Force Academy there is a drumbeat that echos my belief that you must have your foundation solid to begin serious work. This is very much a Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs issue; you must have food and shelter stability before you can expect to devote yourself to writing sonnets. You must have emotional needs met for yourself before you can expect to teach others. You must place the airline oxygen mask over your own face before assisting others. It is not a hard and fast rule, as many will say, but it is a steady model of progress on increasing levels of foundation.
Right now, not everyone reading this has food or shelter stability. A lot of us are out of work and uncertain about our bills. A lot of us have medical needs that are suddenly unable to be met. A lot of us have family and friends who are sick, have died, or could die in this. We don't know what the next six months will look like as a society. Our foundations are shaken.
Now, I know many of you have seen the memes and cheerful challenges about "if you don't come out of this with a new skill, you didn't lack time, you lacked discipline." This assumes a level of privileged stability that not everyone has right now. I imagine, as the quote goes, that if you have more time now, it might be because your income is suddenly cut off. This challenge and others along the same line assume that everyone is in a stable state from which to learn a new skill with the golden opportunity of enforced quarantine.
Well, that's not true, is it? It might be for one person, but not for another. One person might be able to take on new hobbies and skills during this, and another might be suffering from anxiety over it and unable to focus on showering regularly. Just because other people lack that stability to focus on self-improvement doesn't make them lazy or weak. It means they are coping from a different world than you, and possibly struggling at it.
So I say... take care of your foundations first, especially the mundane ones like finance and health, and don't worry about mastering chess or baking your own bread for Instagram.
That is not to say that those on the Dark Aspect path have nothing to do right now. Our early training focuses on watching our minds and emotions and understanding how they work. This is still a learning experience, though one that may be difficult.
First, attend to what needs attending to, for yourself. Focus on that.
Second, if you feel you can take on a bit more, observe yourself during this. How are you doing? Without dwelling on regret, what would you have done six months ago, with what you know now? How about a year ago? What could have helped make this easier? Do ideas come to you during the day now that you lack the energy to do? Write these things down in your journal and then let them live in words for now. They'll be waiting to be acted on when you're ready, not when other people think you should be ready.