Several months into the pandemic experience, and like the Borg from the Star Trek television series, the virus carries on as if “resistance is futile.” (If you’re not familiar with the Borg, it is a collective that announces the following when it encounters an alien race it intends to assimilate: “We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.”)

While there can seem to be some similarities between the virus and the Borg, they are, of course, very different. In the case of the virus, it is clear that some strategies can keep you from contracting the illness it carries. If you interact with too many people (move too far outward), you will catch the virus. If you interact with the fewest number of people (move inward), you are less likely to catch the virus. All humans can carry the virus, and only humans can stop the spread of the virus. Resisting catching the virus, therefore, is not futile, especially if that resistance is comprised of moving inward, confronting who you are, and developing One Life awareness.

We have previously spoken about the power of contagion [Sedona Journal of Emergence, June 2020], but we have not spoken about the power of the collective. A collective is commonly understood to be a group of entities who share, or are motivated by, a common goal or objective.