Question of the Week
After my non-stop complaining about all the restrictions for the last three months, now weirdly a part of me feels like I don't want to go out and face the world again. Is it normal not to want to leave lockdown?
Answer
After the last eighteen months, I am not sure what normal is any more. But what you are experiencing seems normal to me. It is a common case of Ark Attachment.
It all started with Noah and the flood. Noah, his wife Naama, and their three sons and daughters-in-law spent over a year confined to the Ark, in the company of wild animals. Which already sounds like a typical lockdown home arrangement.
You would expect that at the end of that year, they would be itching to get out of the ark and back to the outside world . But no. Noah had to be commanded to exit the ark. The flood had ended, the danger was gone, and yet he stayed put. This is Ark Attachment.
There is a certain comfort in being locked up at home. You have more control over your environment. Your day is more predictable. You avoid having to deal with some difficult people and messy situations. Even monotony, loneliness and boredom, as painful as they can be, can start to feel safe. After a while in the ark, you forget what you were hiding from in the first place, and start to hide from everything.
That's when you need to be reminded that this is not what your life is about. You are not in this world just to stay safe and avoid inconvenience. You are here to go beyond yourself and reach outwards, to interact positively with the world, and to engage with others for their betterment and your own. It can be risky. You might get hurt. But this is life.
Some dangers warrant an escape to the ark. But not all. There are risks worth taking. When you understand that, you are cured of your Ark Attachment.
There is a time to enter the ark. Now it's time to leave.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss
Sources:
Likkutei Sichos Volume 25 p28