Thinking Like An Immortal

Now that the world has been battling with Covid-19, it may cause us to feel that human life is short and fragile. This is especially the case in the countries and places that have been more heavily affected by it. To battle the virus since 2020, some recommendations have been to take precautionary measures such as wear masks and gloves, carry around hand sanitizer and tissue, take lots of vitamins, and lock ourselves indoors or self-isolate the best way we can. The long period of self-isolation causes us to feel like we lost a sense of freedom and that our lives are on hold. Different people react to the virus in different ways. Some people are overly cautious or paranoid about the virus. Every time they get back home from somewhere they will go so far as to spray their hair, all their clothes, and entire bodies with alcohol or sanitizer. Others are in denial and act as if they are invisible to it by going to crowded public places without masks. Some people feel a cloud of depression and deal with a lack of motivation to continue their previous endeavors or daily routines that they had before the outbreak. This might cause people to fall back into old addictions. There are those that view it as a long holiday or break and aren’t concerned about the possible effects of the virus by only focusing on the things that they never had time to do before. Then, there are the ones that are strongly affected because they themselves got the virus or know someone who got it. When we see that people are in serious pain and even die from the virus, we are faced with our own immortality. When we have to stare at our own immortality directly in the face, it scares us. The way we react to the fear that this virus causes depends on our personality. We can be paranoid, we can be in denial, we can be depressed, we can even be reckless about it, and we can even try to escape our current reality. All of these things cause us to lose our sense of self.

What if I told you there is another way to approach a virus that, as of yet, still has no cure. Instead of looking at the virus through the eyes of a mortal, why not learn how to view life through the eyes of an immortal. What if I told you that there were some enlightened masters in ancient times that were able to overcome all the limitations of being a mortal by mastering their thoughts? Have you ever contemplated being or becoming an immortal? It’s not a completely crazy or off-the-wall idea. Many Taoist masters thought about this through the ages. However, you may not know anything about being a Taoist and much less about being a master. Instead, you may find yourself trapped in a mortal body that’s battling an illness, disease, or health issue. What tools or wisdom might be available to you?

There is an idea in Chinese literature about a term called “a banished immortal.” I learned this in my Asian literature class when I was in college that Li Bai, one of the two most famous Chinese poets in history, was known as Zhexian “The Banished Immortal.” A banished immortal is an immortal that has been punished because of a bad deed by being sent to earth to live life as a mortal. We are all here on earth to learn important lessons in this school of life. So in a way, we are all banished immortals. Banished immortals usually remember life subconsciously as an “infinite multidimensional being” so it is difficult for them to understand and adapt to how things on Earth work, like being bound to a physical body and experiencing limitations. Li Bai, being the banished immortal that he was, had a deep desire for a higher, more perfect world. There are a lot of reviews online about a book called “The Banished Immortal: A Life of Li Bai” written by a National Book Award-winning author. Check out a review here to learn more about Li Bai and the meaning of “a banished immortal” here on amazon.  If you are interested in this book, purchase it here or at your favorite book-selling site. If you have already read it, share what you know in the comments section below. Check out these YouTube videos about the book, the author, and about Li Bai.