The Risk We Fear To Take
In a fleeting moment of hope,
I opened my heart-
And was shattered upon the rocks.
Is it any wonder we find being open and vulnerable so difficult, when it seems possible or even certain that we’ll be destroyed by it? Perhaps then, we can only hope that when we go through destruction, we will see that we are not what we thought we were, and it was only the illusion that was destroyed.
April 12th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
That is just about the best thing I’ve ever read, is it yours?
How you doing mate?
April 12th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
It is, though I claim inspiration from a book I read long ago - Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet”, which in a twist of fate is the book I bought in that great little bookstore when I stayed with you and your mum down in Somerset. Time for a re-reading I think.
I’m well mate, interesting times indeed. Enjoying the Easter holiday from college, though I suppose it’ll soon be time to take it up once more and get my hands on bodies and my nose in my anatomy and physiology books
Do drop me an email, let me know how you’re getting on, and how the family is.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Hey Lewis,
I have to say that’s one hell of a cool piece of writing! Kinda reminds me of something I read year ago in a meditation book, that the only way to be invulnerable was to let go of all your defenses.
Took me a while before I started to understand what she was getting at.
With metta,
Rich.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
I keep a copy of “The Prophet” on my desk at work. I love that book.
Over the past 8 years, I’ve been going through repeated cycles of destruction….destruction of the self. I can honestly say that I’m a better person than when I started. I firmly believe in the power of rebirth through experience.
I like what you wrote, there.
April 13th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Wow, quite a response from this one. I thank you all.
Richard: Ahhh.. yes, lovely… reminds me too of a bit from Dan Millman’s
“Way of the Peaceful Warrior” :-
“The peaceful warrior’s way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability - to the world, to life…. A warrior’s life is not about imagined perfection or victory; it is about love…”
Mike: Hehe, yes, the amount of times I’ve destroyed or let go of ideas I’ve had about who I am, thinking, “Ah. yes, I’m not those things, so I’m this! Yes, I know now… ” only later to find that even that was not who I was and that idea needed to be destroyed. Death and rebirth are indeed key to growth, it’s as much about peeling away the layers we’ve built on top of ourselves as it is about improving our weaknesses.
Again, the most powerful thing we can use in any situation is the power of “Don’t Know”. This means that we do not say for certainty that we are right (which tends to mean we take in no more new information because we have already decided), and instead embrace the idea that we don’t know, that we may never know, this keeps our eyes open and fresh for each moment. In the words of my good friend the Fox,
“Embrace the Mystery.”