Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The Courage to be

Unless you are a realized being, pain is an inherent part of life. Quote on quote "bad things" will always happen to us. We will make "mistakes" and hurt ourselves and others. Who we want to be and who we are will drift apart. To put in short, like Hayden so eloquently, we will fall. If you kayak you must swim, if you ski you must crash, if you live you must fall. Pain is an inherent part of the human experience and no matter how hard we try we will never, ever be able to run from our problems. Yet the pain can be so great that we may not feel capable of facing them.



It is funny actually, what may feel like falling is in actually just realizing that we are already on the ground. It doesn't feel good, but that hard slap to the face deserves to be appreciated. I cheated on a girl once. When I finally realized what I did, what really struck me was not that what I did was a self-serving, selfish thing to do but instead the realization that I was selfish and self-serving.

Before we can start walking again, we have to stand up. But standing up can be so hard. Where am I supposed to find the courage to look myself in the eyes again and accept myself as something that I do not want to be? I'm with Nietzsche here, "what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger" but I would add, only if we have the courage to accept our situation, otherwise, the pain will kill you and it will be impossible to learn. So now I know when I fall there is no choice: stand up or die.
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 17, 2009 at 7:13 PM

    Stand up or die...this is great!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JakeFebruary 18, 2009 at 7:10 PM

    if not physically, emotional death, i.e. identity crisis, existential dissatisfaction

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 21, 2009 at 11:24 AM

    Its the most painful when we realize that we are not really as who we think ourselves to be.To know that we are maybe not all that fabulous and that flawless.That the path we have taken is not leading us to who we want to be.It kills when we finally hear the voice in our head.The realization that we had drowned it for so long is painful.And especially when you're at an age when you are supposed to have pretty much got a hold on your value system...suddenly, this very foundation shakes us up and leaves us disoriented.We may be flawed somewhere.But we have to accept ourselves and live with oursleves inspite of it not being who we want to be.It so difficult to break free.When you set out thinking you're going to change this world,leave a mark coz you are fabulous and extra-ordinary.But when you have gone a certain distance,..to realize that you need to go backwards searching into yourseles.
    But this place is so amazing that its too precious to give up.So no matter how many times we fall,we have to stand up.

    ReplyDelete
  4. JakeFebruary 22, 2009 at 11:02 PM

    yeah man

    ReplyDelete

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