What is spiritually right will not be found in Corona times in the attitude of being right and knowing better, but it shows itself elsewhere, writes Klaus Mertes SJ in his editorial in the new issue of "Stimmen der Zeit". 

"There is a place beyond right and wrong. There we meet." This sentence is regarded as one of the program sentences of non-violent communication. It is attributed to the medieval Sufi Mewlana Rumi.

Of course, in an open society, there has to be a dispute about right or wrong. But there are situations in which the usual culture of debate fails because it is too obvious that the challenge is greater than a public interested in quick judgement can even grasp. The legitimate urge for certainty and predictability is then no longer served by reliable projections and forecasts. The avalanche is rolling, and we are all in it. This is also the case in these Corona days: the possibility of calmly weighing up between health policy gains and the economic and social, and in some cases health-related losses that are achieved by the drastic measures is limited. System logics collide which normally tend to work hand in hand - infection protection logic versus fundamental rights logic, protection of the health care system versus protection of the economic system and the social security system, solidarity versus proximity.

Issues that until recently were the subject of controversy are now completely relegated to the background - as far as some personnel debates are concerned, one breathes a sigh of relief, and less so as far as other issues are concerned, such as the situation on the Turkish-Greek border or the climate problem. Our problem is now called a) corona and b) the consequences of the measures to contain corona. The billion-euro package to support the economy, which the Bundestag recently decided on, was unanimously approved - except by the members of one party because they considered the astronomically high amount, which will certainly not alleviate all the damage, to be too low. My gut tells me that even twenty or thirty billion more will not be able to fill the hole that has opened up.

In Corona times, meanings from outside fail. It just doesn't work with commentary if you are rolling along in the avalanche yourself. Corona time is not a time for comments. A bishop in Switzerland, who speculated about Corona as a punishment from God, should only be mentioned here to name the own shame that one feels as a Catholic Christian in the face of such statements. The secular variant of the philosophy of history comes across as somewhat less unbearable: "The earth is pressing itself against man" (Jogi Löw). Certainly, we will probably have to think anew about globalization, also with regard to what it does to people. Otherwise, those voices that spoke hastily of "crisis as opportunity" have become quieter. One can philosophize about chances if one is socially secured, if one does not bear any responsibility for a medium-sized company, or if one does not have to support home schooling at the PC as a single, working mother, if sports clubs remain closed during the day, children suffer nightmares at night with the thought that they could infect their grandmother, and social contacts outside the own four walls are to be avoided. Even "solidarity" becomes more and more a confusing word, when old people are barked at in discount shops because they don't stay at home, although they are the ones who should be protected by social distancing.

"There is a place beyond right and wrong..." I think of this sentence especially when I look at the political leaders. I would not like to be in their shoes right now. How is one to decide right and wrong beyond the place of right and wrong? In spring 2010, when the abuse scandal broke out with full force, I found myself in a place beyond the place of right and wrong. Together with the other people in charge, I held on to the sentence: "Whatever I do, it is wrong. So I'm doing the wrong thing I think is right." This is perhaps similar today to the Chancellor, the Minister of Health and other politically active persons, who are not only the executive organs of the findings of virologists limited to their own areas of responsibility, but also bear the political responsibility for decisions with enormous consequences.

An insight similar to that expressed by Rumi is found with Ignatius of Loyola in the letter to Francis Borgias of July 5th 1552: "It may be that the same divine spirit moves me to it (to the one position) for one reason and moves others to the opposite (to the opposite position) for another reason. What is spiritually right will not be found in Corona times in the attitude of being right and knowing better, but beyond right and wrong through empathy, through a sense of responsibility and - let us say it calmly - through prayer.

This text appeared in the "Stimmen der Zeit" in May 2020.

AUTHOR:

Klaus Mertes SJ - born 1954 in Bonn

Father Klaus Mertes SJ studied classical philology and Slavic studies in Bonn after his high school graduation in 1973. After joining the Jesuit order in 1977, he studied philosophy in Munich and theology in Frankfurt. Since 1990 he has been active in the teaching profession, 1990-1993 at the Sankt-Ansgar-Schule in Hamburg, 1994-2011 at the Canisius-Kolleg in Berlin, whose rector he was since 2000. Since 2011 he is the director of the international Jesuit College in St. Blasien. He is also a member of the editorial board of the cultural magazine "Stimmen der Zeit".