Feeling safe

Thank you for the superlative assessment.

We have a startle reflex that is adequate for any existential threat. In the absence of that threat there is no cause for fear.

Fears premise is, follow me and I will keep you safe. It's real intent is to keep you from going where you will and to wound your heart.

Prisons, fortresses, and insurance companies, which are all edifices of fear, have not kept us safe, they have only exacerbated fear and made us suspicious of one another and of the world at large. Genuinely we have a place in the world and there is no reason that we should feel threatened by it.

You are welcome to make your pitch for the fidelity of fear.

 

i think i'm about as safe and secure as someone can be in this world. i'm very grateful for what i have and where i live.

 

I have recurring dreams of bears climbing in my window and ripping off my limbs then gnawing on my torso

so no..i generally never feel safe

 

Losing health and physical ability cuts the options for feeling secure and safe way down. There is a vulnerability that is difficult to face.

 

It is the way we couch those phenomena in the narrative of our life that accounts for degree of difficulty. Frailty is part of the human experience in the beginning and at the end.

 

Yes, and when frailty comes before you have a substantial nest egg put away with which to sustain yourself in old age, there in lies the difficulty.

 

I don't want to take anything away from you that you are attached to. Have you reached that difficult time yet?

 

I'm not attached to difficulty. I am making a conscious effort to move away from the mindset that accompanies difficulty and insecurity. It takes a conscious effort though.

As far as the difficult time being reached, yes I have. At least for this first phase. I've come through and am at a plateau but I'm not naive enough to think that the cycle of struggling/overcoming is at an end. That goes on in one way or another for as long as we are alive. That is the process of growth.

 

I'm glad to hear it. Worry is a conscious effort as well although it may seem an easier one if it is a habit.

Our hopes and dreams may or may not materialize in time, but what will be done, is done.

It is true as long as we are able to create temporary conditions for ourselves, our lives are a series sensations, some of which we call pleasant and some not so. This is true regardless of our relative position in life, rich or poor.

 

This is true. For some, a feeling of safety and security is enough to call pleasant. For others, it takes much more to achieve a pleasant sensation.

 

My choice of lifestyle puts a lot more emphasis on adventure than security. That aside, yes, I feel very safe... I'm captain of my destiny.

 

I can't agree with that. Especially the "follow me" part bothers me. In my opinion fear is just a feeling/reaction that does not give you a push in any distinct direction. It is the nature of the individuals reaction to that feeling that is the crucial factor.

Without fear a person might approach ANY situation without even assessing its potential hazards.

 

Well without awareness of potential hazard, potential hazard could befall the unaware. Has nothing to do with fear. The instinct for self preservation is not an instinct of fear, but an instinct of joy.

 

Another way to say this is, fear says, follow me, I will keep you safe.

 

I seem to recall as a child watching an episode of He-Man where that was the end-of-episode moral/message.

And I agree with that, and you. lol Fear can be a healthy thing, but it can also be very unhealthy, it all depends on the situation at hand.

 

yeah, i feel safe right now, altogether too safe. i've felt safe for a while now, and also a bit like i'm stagnating, i need a little danger. i'm gonna take what little money i have left from my old job and fuck off to eastern europe for a while, see what i can find.

 

thedope:

I'm not sure how you can when others feel unsafe, but I appreciate it.

That would be nice if it was true. Facts are only facts because their interpretation has been resolved as such.

Grim realities do exist. I know you are courageous and are not preaching wilful ignorance, --- but it could be interpreted that way!

There are situations where the thinker is compelled to take action.

When, if not in time? Sounds like cause for fear.

All sense of security is a blindness when remembering it is commonly accepted that 'everyone dies'...

 

same:2thumbsup:

 

I feel the most safe when I put myself in the most danger. At that moment in time you have no choice but to just go with it and live in the moment. The worst kind of fear is expectation. Fear can also be reaction, but in that case one is too busy reacting to truly feel the fear. In that case fear ceases to be fear but instead a series of chemical reactions in your brain that causes your body to respond to the situation.

I feel the least safe when I am sitting at my house alone. A place that should be my safe haven, and yet I have nothing to do but to think, about media reports, about tragedies that have happened in other homes, other safe havens nearby. Last night I started thinking about Sharon Tate because I'm 7 and a half months months pregnant. Thats a horrible thing for a mother-to-be to think about but I can't get her out of my head. Every night I check my windows and think of a famous kidnapping case (i've long forgotten the name) in which someone came in the window and snatched a girl right out of her bed.

I would much rather be out in the world, putting myself in situations many other may consider unsafe. Only in that moment does the expectation of danger go away.

 

Nothing real can be caused to be unreal.

It is true. The fact that it is raining does not guaranty a rain out. Yes, we may resolve that it is raining, but that rain need never dampen our spirit.

Not at all ignorance but recognition of what is. Grim is a matter of interpretation, not of reality.

Certainly we may commit ourselves to action but we are never compelled to take any specific action.

Not because it is time but because time requires wise use to reach a desired aim. No cause for fear, the measure you give is the measure you receive

Not if it is commonly accepted. It is only blindness if you think it can be different.