1/26/15

Fear of the Unknown II - Standing up to Fear

     I was going to write my second "Fear of the Unknown" post about some heady thoughts I've been contemplating around the role of imagination in fear and how culturing it through TV alienates us from the wild outdoors...
... when I had a dream last night.
           The dream woke me up,
                because it came to the ultimate ending.

     Even as I write this, my mind is dodging it, asking why I need to write it. And the answer is that I need to face my own fear. Out loud. With courage and honesty. As Thoreau said, "How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live."

The dream was simple:
     The people of the earth -- us -- passed the no-turning-back deadline to prevent catastrophic global warming.
     And so the melting of the polar ice caps accelerated.
     And I climbed to the top of the highest of the hills with my family
     as the waters rose,
     and we held hands and sang,
     until there was no more.


      I have no thoughts about this now.  Only that I am still an optimist, and I believe in the earth's beauty as the eyes into God's soul. But I'm standing up, with my fear naked beside me, and I don't know what will happen.
      Stand with me. Let's face our fears and not deny. And in that naked place, let the soft and gentle morning light begin to warm us. Then let's get to work.



  

1 comment:

  1. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Libby. I would like to stand with you to the best of my soul's ability.

    And--I asked for and received a copy of Naomi Klein's book *This Changes Everything* for Christmas, and I've not yet summoned the courage to read it. I know I'd rather read it with companions (at least that's my current excuse!), but I also know that fear and grief are not far away.

    Sukie

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