I take issue, perhaps only with his wording, on the idea of living without fear. I disagree with the notion that one can live without fear, or even that one should want to. Fear is a gift, a natural response of our unconscious mind that can process things that our consciousness refuses to enfold. Trying to avoid it is what causes us to live in 'safety' and so ironically makes us ill prepared for any disruption of that safety, along with making our lives... lifeless. I would agree, to live safely is to invite decay without profit.
But I will take issue with someone who claims that living in constant revolt against the established ways of the world is without its share of fear. Change causes fear; it is normal, it must be controlled and put to good use, but to claim that it will not or should not be there only makes one ill prepared to encounter it. There is a difference though (and perhaps this is what is truly meant here) between experiencing fear and being afraid. When the fear penetrates us, when it becomes part of our being, then we have truly lost. It ceases to fulfill its function and turns to despair, paranoia, and blindness.
Education is indeed a beautiful thing. Not because it eliminates all of our fears but perhaps because it inoculates us against the effects of fear running rampant in our lives. To be educated is to see that the world can be understood, to see that we can learn and grow and achieve all manner of things when we stand on the shoulders of giants. And, more to the point here, it shows us what we can do when we choose to act, not only when fear is absent, but when it is powerfully present.
A man without fear cannot be called courageous, but one who can overcome himself deserves honor.
I take issue, perhaps only with his wording, on the idea of living without fear. I disagree with the notion that one can live without fear, or even that one should want to. Fear is a gift, a natural response of our unconscious mind that can process things that our consciousness refuses to enfold. Trying to avoid it is what causes us to live in 'safety' and so ironically makes us ill prepared for any disruption of that safety, along with making our lives... lifeless. I would agree, to live safely is to invite decay without profit.
But I will take issue with someone who claims that living in constant revolt against the established ways of the world is without its share of fear. Change causes fear; it is normal, it must be controlled and put to good use, but to claim that it will not or should not be there only makes one ill prepared to encounter it. There is a difference though (and perhaps this is what is truly meant here) between experiencing fear and being afraid. When the fear penetrates us, when it becomes part of our being, then we have truly lost. It ceases to fulfill its function and turns to despair, paranoia, and blindness.
Education is indeed a beautiful thing. Not because it eliminates all of our fears but perhaps because it inoculates us against the effects of fear running rampant in our lives. To be educated is to see that the world can be understood, to see that we can learn and grow and achieve all manner of things when we stand on the shoulders of giants. And, more to the point here, it shows us what we can do when we choose to act, not only when fear is absent, but when it is powerfully present.
A man without fear cannot be called courageous, but one who can overcome himself deserves honor.
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