Facing our fears

The Lord of the Rings is one of my favourite books, and Jessica and I have been watching the movies that Ed & Jami own. It's a grand adventure embarked upon by unwilling heroes whose courage to face their fears, weaknesses, and inadequacies are exactly what make them succeed.

Sam: It's like in the great stories Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? ... Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?

Sam: That there's some good in the world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.

By definition, adventure involves risk. It's why we love adventure and why we (sometimes) avoid it.

We have all had to face our fears a little on this trip: lost luggage, foreign food, language barriers, large birds, biting insects, large hairy spiders (yes, that is a tarantula!), snorkeling, etc. I wonder which Cathy thinks is worse...the underwater creatures that she can see or those she can't! :-)

Of course, it is easy to trivialize someone else's fears. Personally, I (Dan) have had to face my own fears of ineffectiveness or inadequacy. But at the same time, I have been given plenty of reminders of the the opposite...like this quote by Mariann Williamson:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."