When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be.
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world and am free.
Wendell Berry
What Worries You / Keeps You Awake at Night?
Re: What Worries You / Keeps You Awake at Night?
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Rowls
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Re: What Worries You / Keeps You Awake at Night?
I started this thread because we are designed to be fearful.
It is evolutionarily programmed into us and there's nothing we can do about it.
We all like to imagine we are inspired by love and happiness and a desire to do good. Love is the greatest. So said Saint Paul. Love is a powerful emotion, for sure, and certainly the most powerful of the pleasant emotions.
Sadly, love fades. Well, at least the love of eros at least.
Fear, on the other hand is omnipresent.
It seems hideously pessimistic but it is true. Fear is the biggest driver of human behaviour. It has to be - it's what keeps us alive. I think if we can rationalize and speak of our fears we can put them into proper context, even maybe overcome them for a while.
The guy* who first realized this and realized how to put it into practice made himself a millionaire. He worked in advertizing (natch) and realized that fear doesn't even have to be real for it to wield its power over us - the idea of fear itself is enough. The same applies to the "solution" to fear - it doesn't have to work practically for us to buy the product, we just have to think it will make us safer. Have a little think about this when you watch the adverts on TV - they might talk of "love" but the vast majority of them have fear embedded within them.
Take the sale of SUVs is an ideal example. They're actually a little less safe than smaller cars, for various reasons. But because they're larger and give you an elevated driving postion, people feel safer. This is the key to their popularity. The reality is trumped by our emotional response.
There is a LOT of fear out there right now and we've somehow delegated responsibility for feeding our fears to a selection of amoral algorithms (can you guess what one of my current fears is?). Just think of all those modern fears:
Illegal immigration
Brexit
The polarization of society
Racism
Transphobia
Homophobia
Critical Race Theory
Covid
They're all legitimate concerns but when we are fearful we are at our most pliable and most primed to be manipulated.
It's good to rationalize our fears every now and again. Fear will live with us all our lives but it is our duty to keep it in check.
It is evolutionarily programmed into us and there's nothing we can do about it.
We all like to imagine we are inspired by love and happiness and a desire to do good. Love is the greatest. So said Saint Paul. Love is a powerful emotion, for sure, and certainly the most powerful of the pleasant emotions.
Sadly, love fades. Well, at least the love of eros at least.
Fear, on the other hand is omnipresent.
It seems hideously pessimistic but it is true. Fear is the biggest driver of human behaviour. It has to be - it's what keeps us alive. I think if we can rationalize and speak of our fears we can put them into proper context, even maybe overcome them for a while.
The guy* who first realized this and realized how to put it into practice made himself a millionaire. He worked in advertizing (natch) and realized that fear doesn't even have to be real for it to wield its power over us - the idea of fear itself is enough. The same applies to the "solution" to fear - it doesn't have to work practically for us to buy the product, we just have to think it will make us safer. Have a little think about this when you watch the adverts on TV - they might talk of "love" but the vast majority of them have fear embedded within them.
Take the sale of SUVs is an ideal example. They're actually a little less safe than smaller cars, for various reasons. But because they're larger and give you an elevated driving postion, people feel safer. This is the key to their popularity. The reality is trumped by our emotional response.
There is a LOT of fear out there right now and we've somehow delegated responsibility for feeding our fears to a selection of amoral algorithms (can you guess what one of my current fears is?). Just think of all those modern fears:
Illegal immigration
Brexit
The polarization of society
Racism
Transphobia
Homophobia
Critical Race Theory
Covid
They're all legitimate concerns but when we are fearful we are at our most pliable and most primed to be manipulated.
It's good to rationalize our fears every now and again. Fear will live with us all our lives but it is our duty to keep it in check.
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Rowls
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Re: What Worries You / Keeps You Awake at Night?
If anybody is interested in a literary recommendation then please read the short story, Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams.
You can read it for free at the link below:
https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/medi ... dreams.pdf
If you've never read it before, it's only a short story of 8 pages so won't take much more than a few minutes. I think it fades in its conclusion but that possibly because the opening passages are some of THE finest writing in the English language - of all time. I don't say that lightly. It is pure genius.
Like all good writing, it speaks clearly of the truth of the human condition and leaps off the page with its resonance.
It's by Sylvia Plath. I hope you enjoy it.
Sweet dreams fellow Clarets.
You can read it for free at the link below:
https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/medi ... dreams.pdf
If you've never read it before, it's only a short story of 8 pages so won't take much more than a few minutes. I think it fades in its conclusion but that possibly because the opening passages are some of THE finest writing in the English language - of all time. I don't say that lightly. It is pure genius.
Like all good writing, it speaks clearly of the truth of the human condition and leaps off the page with its resonance.
It's by Sylvia Plath. I hope you enjoy it.
Sweet dreams fellow Clarets.
Re: What Worries You / Keeps You Awake at Night?
Mines quite simple.
Wondering where the next three points are coming from.
Wondering where the next three points are coming from.
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Rowls
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Re: What Worries You / Keeps You Awake at Night?
Cr_st_l P_l_ce
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ClaretDiver
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Re: What Worries You / Keeps You Awake at Night?
I can finally sleep soundly at night now...this morning I received final confirmation that I have got the job and I start on 14th Feb next year....ClaretDiver wrote: ↑Wed Nov 17, 2021 3:59 pmAt the moment it is the final rubber stamp on my application to join the Ambulance service....something I have wanted for a while...I have just jumped the final hurdle so waiting on the final tick in the box and I can breathe easy.....I know this is insignificant given some posters circumstances but it's a big deal for me....
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