These were the dramatic words spoken by Emperor Commodus to Maximus Decimus Meridius in the final scene of Gladiator in the colosseum before their fight to the death. For me it was a battle between culture and nature, Commodus in a seemingly impenetrable position of power, and Maximus reduced to slavery and daily survival. One is seated on a manicured throne, whilst the other sits in the dirt, until their two worlds collide. The Covid-19 pandemic was our colosseum, where the human race’s position at the top of the food chain was disrupted by a miniscule virus, the most primitive form of life. It was a timely reminder that if culture and nature do not learn to collaborate and coexist, the outcome will be pure destruction.
Right now, we are all slaves to years of cultural conditioning. We should be living glorious lives, but that will only happen when we remove our helmets, a powerful metaphor of our own limited thinking patterns. Within each of us lies extraordinary evolutionary potential – our nature, which can only be realized in a culture that supports its emergence instead of fearing it. Nowhere in human history has the need for our instinctive creativity, confidence and clarity been greater, and the possibility of facilitating the necessary conditions for a worldwide awakening better. It’s time to gird up our loins and run the right race instead of remaining stuck in the rat race.
We need to make time for nurturing our nature. This requires listening to your body with all its sensations, your heart with all its feelings, your head with all its thoughts, and your spirit that connects you to the life-force of existence within everything. Instead of feeling compelled to do things, much like a slave, we will take time, that most precious and finite commodity, to simply be. Through daily practices like conscious breathing, emotional intelligence, mental flexibility, and meditation, we enter the eternal present. Instead of being distracted by hopes and fears of the future, and regrets and longings of the past, we will be appreciative of the here and now as more than enough. When human culture and nature come together with mutual admiration and respect, there will be a triumphal applause throughout the entire colosseum of the universe.