Quarantine
Things have slowed down to nearly a snail’s pace as of recent with the “safe in place” or more appropriate term, quarantine. Although I walk outside and see more people than ever, soaking up the sun and seemingly enjoying a needed rest, it has brought all of us to a point of being more introspective. It is in these times that it is necessary more than ever to guard the mind, knowing that our self-image is made of the language of what the mind believes our condition to be.
While doing a Facebook Live, on the day of Passover on the Jewish Calendar, I was surprised upon discovering that the word quarantine came from the Italian word quaranta, which surprisingly means “40.” That’s right you heard me correctly, quarantine comes from the Italian word that means 40. Quarantine means, “a state, period or place of isolation in which people or animals that have arrived from elsewhere or been exposed to infectious or contagious disease are placed.” It is a dedicated time and space of separation.
Needless to say, I was beside myself upon discovering this, exclaiming “What!!!” loudly on the video while doing my live teaching. This concept of quaranta brought a whole new perspective to the word quarantine. The quarantine we are in during this present state of uncertainty is nothing like the quarantine Israel was in when they left Egypt and stayed in the wilderness for 40 years! If that sounds bad, think about Moses who was really in quarantine for 80 years, lest you forget that he stayed on the backside of the desert 40 years before he was able to lead God’s people out of Egypt, staying another 40 years in the wilderness with them. Moses lived a quarantine life!
Pondering on a 40-year quarantine compared to our short term safe in place confinement, I realized that we have no clue what quarantine really looks like. However, with that being said, we are undergoing a dilemma within our self-image, as our mind and body reconcile a new identity of our present state.
The language of the mind is our condition, what or who we believe we are, whereas the language of the body is our emotions. Our mind and body are continually getting updates physiologically all day long between the heart and brain, and psychologically through our condition and emotions. Miscomputations occur between the languages of the mind and body during this time, until we are established firmly within our new state, when the mind and body connect forming a new association of our reality.
Without being aware, your mind is continually giving meaning all day long to all that you do, based on your past associations. Your past associations are memories, which are dissected to be images attached to thoughts and words, funneled through the vehicle of expressed emotions. Therefore, the language of both the mind and body operate to bring clarity to our associations. The associations are our lens, causing us to see what we must.
How can we integrate this present “safe in place,” with the new time in which most of us have no personal association? It’s as though we are grasping at straws considering historical events like “the Great Depression,” and for others who are fearful of all the conspiracies behind it all, “the Holocaust.” I know this might sound crazy, however, if the historical events take precedent in the mind, then somehow it is evident that the historical facts have impacted us enough to create fear in our present. If while grappling the brain concedes to our emotionally heightened historical facts in the most difficult of times, then they will feel true.
With that said, our mind and body are reconciling with the language of our brain asking what our condition is, such as “am I safe,” as well as our emotions at times going up and down because of having not been this way before. The body doesn’t know how to feel about all of this because the brain has not given it the necessary associations to satisfy it. This is what happens when we start any new job, go off to college, get into a new relationship, have children for the first time, etc. Our brain is creating a new path in which we have not walked, providing answers to the questions, which initially are about our survival.
Thus, quarantine and the meaning of 40 represents our time of coming into a new mindset. It is our trying in the wilderness, where we are parched in need of a cool drink to bring solace to our soul, letting us know all is well. A mental and emotional dehydration takes place, in which the detrimental things to our self-image are exposed to the light.
Dry wind on our face with an unending view of a desert plane gives us a wakeup call to the incoherencies of our imagined reality, compared to that which is true. Awake from the slumber of hypnosis we realize the influence past associations have had on our life, no matter how small, making us afraid of the future! This is what our mind and body connection undergo in every moment of our life, trying to make sense of what we believe to be real.
This is why quarantines work to our good; they remove the old mental and emotional dis-ease from our subconscious, letting us know that it is time to take out the trash! We see this poignantly in Israel who had been in Egypt and became so captivated by a lifestyle they thought they wanted while they were yet still slaves. Even when the people of Israel left Egypt with all the gold and silver, entering into the wilderness, that which they could not have as a slave had already owned their heart. This is the nature of coveting.
Covet means to yearn in the emotional passion of possessing something. What is crazy is the Latin word from which it comes is cupiditas, which made me think of Cupid-itis, cupid representing the arrows of an imagined angel of love, landing in your heart. It is the disease of loving something to the point it becomes all you focus on. Although Israel had been slaves, their hearts were caught up in the greed of life, and the wilderness was their quarantine to bring to light their emotional and mental disconnect.
They had not been in the wilderness before and the only associations that were resident within them were EGYPT. Those who truly sought freedom as a reward were delivered from the oppression of past associations that would try and blind the soul. Instead, they hungered for the truth of who they were, looking to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to provide and deliver.
The quarantine was to expose the self-image!
We see this beautifully displayed when Christ Jesus was in the wilderness 40 days and 40 nights, being tempted by the devil and was found to be WITHOUT SIN. Christ could not sin because HIS SELF IMAGE WAS GOD!!!!!
GLORY TO GOD!!!
Although He had been in the world (Egypt) He was not of the world!
Likewise, this quarantine is the revelation of the strength given to answer the question: WHO ARE YOU? Who are you really? It is in the quarantine that you find out who you truly are. Moses thought he was a prince of Egypt, until he was banished and lived on the backside of the desert 40 years. It was then that he found out he would be a deliverer to lead others where only he had gone, QUARANTINE, THE WILDERNESS! JUST WOW!
Do you see this? When you overcome your quarantine, you can help others in their wilderness. Quranta in Italian evolved into the Italian word quarantina meaning “40 days.” Jesus overcame His 40 days in the wilderness and because of the work of the Cross and His resurrection, YOU CAN TOO!
It was in the wilderness that Moses came to know who he was that he boldly proclaimed, “GOD SHOW ME YOUR GLORY!” His mind and body reconciliation developed because Moses knew that the greatness of his creator was inside of him. The quarantine he had lived in had forged the path to his identity, his self-image.
17 And the Lord said to Moses, I will do this thing also that you have asked, for you have found favor, loving-kindness, and mercy in My sight and I know you personally and by name. 18 And Moses said, I beseech You, show me Your glory. 19 And God said, I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim My name, The Lord, before you; for I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy and loving-kindness on whom I will show mercy and loving-kindness. Exodus 33:17-19 AMPC
15 I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world), [just] as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth. 18 Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. John 17:15-18 AMPC
God Bless!
Robin Kirby-Gatto