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Compasses don’t work so well at the South Pole (well at least at the magnetic South Pole). They tend to point down. GPS though still works fine though it may take awhile to locate satellites. However, it isn’t 100% reliable as Robert DeLaurentis found out recently.
Robert began his South Pole to North Pole expedition in November 2019 in his plane “Citizen of the World’ to bring awareness to how we are all interconnected. He describes in a recent article how he was navigating a 50 nautical mile “Zone of Confusion” airspace just before and after the South Pole where his GPS didn’t work. It was a scary time for him in an overloaded plane, using biofuels for propulsion, in -60C temperatures. He called his experience when his GPS shut down as ‘The Time in-between’. It gave him time to reflect and decide whether he would allow fear to rule him or trust in the universe. He relates it back to the Coronavirus lockdown and had this to say:
We are in a time where no one really knows what will happen next. Our experts and the media contradict each other several times a day. Pessimists are predicting doom and gloom. While this pandemic is tragic with people all around the world suffering, I’d like to offer another perspective: What if our planet and people are actually living in a “Zone of Confusion” and the Universe is giving us “Time in Between,” as an opportunity to recalibrate and reconnect with what is most important to us and to the planet while experts in science and technology work on new solutions to treat and eradicate the virus?
We are all growing and evolving at a very rapid pace, which is consistent with the natural order of things. Ultimately, we will learn many great lessons from this coronavirus experience, including the importance of treating our planet and each other better, having more patience, overcoming fears, redefining our role in the world, valuing time in silence, living interdependently with others, and facing mortality with respect and compassion. On a global scale we will come to learn the value of peace on our planet and the importance of cooperation versus competition between countries that is required to achieve this peace, like that which has always existed at the North and South Poles (https://blog.aopa.org/aopa/2020/04/08/navigating-uncertainty-between-the-south-pole-and-coronavirus/)
What do you want?
I admire his optimism but I suspect many of us, especially corporations will go back to business as usual, grasping for riches, disregarding the planet, pumping out CO2 and generally being the biologically programmed robots that we have always been, without much true self-awareness at all.
On the other hand, some will come out of this experience changed, looking for perhaps, a simpler, more fulfilling, more secure way of life. This time we have right now is the perfect time to ask the important question ‘What do I want for MY life?’ No-one else’s, just yours and have you been following a path that is expected of you, one that you feel constrained to follow. Are you the hamster on the treadmill and is it time to get off?
Choose wisely.
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