Nov 12 2012

Watching High Plains Drifter – a great Eastwood film and just heard a little piece of wisdom – “It’s what people know about themselves inside that makes them afraid”

What does make people afraid, what is it we are afraid of? I’m not referring to fear of physical danger, although in reality, this line does explain a lot if we think about it. Our knowledge of how we react to situations, how much we can stand in the face of danger, of uncertainty, of the unknown determines the things we are afraid of. I’d like to say I am not afraid of anything, of course that’s not true. I have less fear than many, and more than many others. My fears are different than others, as others’ fears are different than mine.

What makes us afraid? Is it that we know ourselves or worse, don’t know ourselves and thus the fear is not knowing how we may react or deal with things. How often do we find ourselves afraid of something that we know we shouldn’t be? Our inner self is telling us that we will not push through the potential pain, be it physical, emotional or psychological. Is it true, could we all face more than we think we can? How often have we heard stories of people who have done extraordinary things? Things that most of us are “afraid to do”. Maybe it is because we haven’t faced it before – if we had & conquered, or overcome it, we may be less afraid in the future.

A lack of fear may mean we are careless or cavalier, but it may also mean that we have already faced similar, and believe in our own ability to stand strong, to push through the inevitably painful outcome to get to the other side of that which we fear?

Will have to ponder this one a while…