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Of Fear and Superstition (VSG#35)
Of Fear and Superstition (VSG#35) Of superstition: I grew up in the Appalachian mountains. Superstitions are as common as fleas on a squirrels ass there and my beautiful mother is about as superstitious as they come. I almost gave her apoplexy by walking under a hayloft ladder when I was five or six. I was well into my thirties before I stopped throwing salt over my left shoulder when I spilled a bit out of force of habit. (Bless her heart, my mom is a real stickler about that one). Many superstitions were born of fears, both real and unfounded. Repeating them to kept the from doing things that would possibly get them injured or killed. Some, like the salt thing, have a basis in religion. (Judas was thought to have spilled salt at the last supper.) I never had a lot of faith in the truth of any superstition frankly. Life has enough unexplainable bad fortune, it never felt logical to me that doing something to ward off bad luck would work. Of fear: There is not a single halfway sane person who doesn't have some fear. Fear is inborn to most mammals, survival is dependent on a small amount of fear. I fear a lot of things, but not the things that many people fear. For example, I am not afraid of clowns. If a clown comes after me with a weapon, it best pray I don't have one. I will readily defend myself, and I will fight like a wildcat to the last breath if I don't. I might die, but I will absolutely go down swinging. I have no fear of nature, but I do possess a healthy respect for what it can do. I am certain I would be paralyzed with fear were I to be confronted with an apex predator or a natural disaster, so I do try to avoid those kinds of encounters. But I don't limit my time in nature because of potential fear. Spiders, snakes, rodents....they might startle me by showing up when I don't expect them, but I am not afraid of them. I don't fear heights, but again, I have respect for the damage that could be done by being aloft on unstable footing. But I will walk to the edge of the cliff or walk across a swinging bridge and imagine what it must feel like to be a bird. And while I do not invite it, I do not fear death. Death is the end of life in this plane, no one knows what comes after this body gives up. Maybe it is nothing, maybe it is hell, maybe it is an alternate universe....I will know when I get there. But I am not going to sit in fear of dying. It is a waste of time better spent enjoying what is here and now. But I do have fears. I fear a world made uninhabitable by our incessant greed. A world with limited resources and too many people is just north of hell's gates in my mind. I fear any loss of my personal freedom. Life in a cage, life with someone else in control of what I say or do. My sanity would be entirely forfeit in a matter of days. I fear loss of passion. I'm not only talking about sexual passion, but passion for life in general. A life of simply existing, going through the motions of living without any feeling. That to me seems to me, to be the saddest life possible. I fear alzheimer's, or any other kind of dementia. A life lost within the confines of ones own mind, no connection to anything or anyone. I have worked with the elderly long enough to pray for a fast death should genetics and/or environment lead to that reality. I fear the loss of my loved ones, those closest to me. (Including; but not limited to, my mutts.) While I readily love humanity, even the less than loveable ones, I have a very small, very close circle of those I have allowed to see me at my worst, those whom I have allowed access into the totality of who I am. There is not a single day of my life that I am not grateful for each and every one of them, there is not a day that I do not wish the best of all life has to offer for them, there is not a day I do not take comfort in just knowing they are alive and on this planet with me. And there is no day I fear greater than the day I lose any one of them. This is my greatest fear, and it is also the fear I know that unless I check out first, I will face. But instead of fearing that day, I spend it enjoying every last second I have with them. Too much fear will steal the flavor from life, so I try to face mine head on. I try to live life fearlessly as deeply as I can. But right now, I fear if I don't get to doing this laundry it won't ever get done. Ya'll have a good day. I'm off and running. Love and Peace! "Shall I tell you the secret of the true scholar? It is this: every man I meet is my master in some point, and in that I learn of him." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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I dont know ianyone was afraid of clowns before John Wayne Gayce... Im not sure tho. Clowns dont scare me... people with GUNS do, knives... or drugs too. Im also afraid of water, but thats a whole blog in itself! LOL HUGSSS Hope you are going well! We lost touch.
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My greatest fear is one of yours... loss of loved ones. Namely my children. Thoughts from the Garden...
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I have ZERO superstitions , and only "sane" (rational) fears (death, injury etc.) I used to be afraid of heights (strange since I'm a pilot) but it never manifested itself that way - it was more along the lines of looking down from a tall building or cliff. That seems to have abated considerably with age, though I have no idea why. "as common as fleas on a squirrels ass" + "bless her heart" - you're country is showing! Hotel Room Messes Sports, on HNW She Did It Busted My Cherry [post 3312759] My Private Blog - Tell Me ALL Your Secrets
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I enjoyed your post, especially the point that fear is embedded in the human condition.
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Alzheimer's is what I fear if I'm being totally honest. My Grandmother, my Uncle and my Mother all had it and it is soul destroying losing them to this cruel disease.
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ps...i loved the pic You cannot conceive the many without the one.
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i loved this...especially your fear section although i could relate to the superstition part re my irish relatives. fear has so much more to do with others than with ourselves once we look at it. is that a female thing? i wonder. You cannot conceive the many without the one.
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see my sig re fear When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
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My Mom was also very superstitious...always having a rabbits foot with her! Try putting a red sock in with whites.......maybe you'll be lucky like me....I never have to do laundry again!
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Unless you are planning a "Naked Friday"...Laundry is a good goal...Be fearless...Savor the flavor...
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