‘The Other Side Of Fear’
“Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is a freedom” – Marilyn Ferguson
The Other Side Of Fear
Tag: Fear
Unknown Destination
‘Unknown Destination’
The path to whatever is next in our lives stretches ahead.
The end of the track cannot be seen and there is no certainty as to what lies ahead.
We can be in trepidation of the unknown, but we can also be encouraged in our journey.
For we have already undertaken that hardest part of it.
Fear of leaving the known is usually greater than fear of the unknown.
And we do not arrive at “whatever next” without first stepping the track.
The pathway itself will provide the things we need, the tools, to reach the destination.
The journey, then, becomes as important as wherever we are moving to.
The Same Voice That Calls
“Whether we call it sacrifice, or poetry, or adventure, it is always the same voice that calls”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Just one question really – what is it that calls you over your known edge, past your fear, to that thing beyond ?
Fencesitter Blues
If sitting a atop this pointy, gothic fence would not be a particularly comfortable proposition, neither is it when we do so in a metaphysical sense.
There is pain in procrastination; injury in indecision.
Doing neither one thing nor the other is often more tortuous than the perceived risk of doing something new or different, so you may as well jump (if I may be so pointed)…
Terror Facade (When Buildings Scream) II
Yesterday’s post picture revisited and re-imagined.
There’s been something bugging me about it and I feel the need to inject a touch more terror into this architectural mishap.
Somewhere in the back of my mind is that classic horror short story by Edgar Allan Poe, ‘The Cask Of Amontillado’,which I read a number of times as a teen .
Brick by awful brick ,the victim Fortunato is walled into a niche in a cellar.
I used to wonder how long he lasted, yelling for help, screaming with fear maybe.
No one to hear him.
Like this old building’s silent scream…
Terror Facade (When Buildings Scream)
Downright disturbing turn of the twentieth century building façade espied on an Auckland walkabout this week.
What was the architect thinking?
Or thinking of, to be more precise?
Sheer bloody terror frozen in stone and plaster.
Oddly, the 1905 building was originally a gymnasium.
Which might explain my take on it: few things are more frightening to me that being trapped in a crowded gym amongst heaving, sweating, exercising, bodies.
Give me a walk in the fresh air, anytime. I think I need some…
Wilder
“Going to the woods is going home, for I suppose we come from the woods originally. But in some of nature’s forests, the adventurous traveler seems a feeble, unwelcome creature; wild beasts and the weather trying to kill him, the rank, tangled vegetation, armed with spears and stinging nettles, barring his way and making life a hard struggle.”
– John Muir (Scottish-American naturalist and writer)
Nowadays , when we are encouraged to find our “wild side”, we don’t really mean anything that would instill fear in us, or cause us pain.
It’s more like an extravagant extra, something different that takes us out of our humdrum existence.
A bungy jump; a raging party; acquiring some “edgy” art or clothes ; or a trip to somewhere off the usual “tourist trail”. Preferably something that can be posted on social media after the event…
But definitely not something we have to endure, or survive.
My own experience with hellish life events outside my control that took me to dark and wild places (nowhere I would choose), was exactly those two things. You too may have gone unwillingly into your own wild woods…
The words of Muir resonate with me as I think about those times: I knew with absolute certainty that everything could hurt me, anything could have my number.
The feeling of being utterly lost, blocked at every turn, and with each moment fraught with pain and danger, will stay with me always. It has changed my outlook on life, changed me.
The true wild transforms you.
If you survive it that is…
Sea Cave Treasure Seeker
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
– Joseph Campbell
Mighty sea cave on New Zealand’s west coast at Muriwai Beach.
I would be more than a little afraid to explore beyond the cave’s entrance – the power of the sea ,the damp rock walls and general darkness puts me off. Plus, a tiny fear of drowning…
The uncovering of the mystery of the cave’s depths and discovery of its ‘treasure’ will fall to someone else braver than me…..
Fear holds us back from discovery so often. Even when we know that at the times we have been most brave, we have learned and gained much.
As an aside, sea caves are products of erosive wave action – it is amazing that the destruction of the softish cliff rock over time actually creates something ‘other’ and new!
Beautiful And Terrible Things
“Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.”
-Frederick Buechner
…and sometimes those things are one and the same…but never be fearful, like the man says.
PS: Bonus points for spotting the evil and laughing double-faced gargoyle plant flower.
Barbed Wire Blues
It’s natural to feel blue,or trapped,or both,sometimes.Barbed wire thoughts keep us there.Fear defines the perimeters of our life.
In this shot ,I do not resile from that harshness, for I know it well enough. But through,and above ,the loops of razor wire the vastness of the sky is a signifier of the attainable beyond.
We Are The Ones Who Stayed Behind
“We are the ones who stayed behind, for all those good, bad and ugly reasons: because of caution, for conformity and obligation but mostly I suspect because of habit and fear. We didn’t take the risky road.”
– A.A.Gill ,excerpt from ‘The Golden Door’.
Gill was describing those people who did not migrate from the Old World, Europe, to the new one, America but he could equally be describing all who have stayed where they were in a situation, place or relationship because they felt bound to it, refusing to take the leap into the unknown new. It speaks to me anyway…
Ebb Then Flood 