Fear

Living organisms have an innate aversion to death. In humans, this fear is partly rooted in a biological basis of the preservation of the body. Even moreso, it is a fear rooted in the death of the ego, the sense of self. Ego anhillation presents an even more compelling aversion.

Ego is the sense of self.

Rejection, failure, shame, or anything that would undermine the integrity of the ego, which not only establishes our self worth and self identify of who we are and what we are capable of, it establishes our self in relation to a social world that affirms the value of that self.

The ego orients and contextualizes our place in the world, and allows us to intelligently navigate society in a meaningful way, that allows for self preservation.

The only way to grow, to expand your capabilities, is to go beyond your limitations.

Going beyond limitations, into the unknown, into a situation where we lack knowledge and understanding, places you into a place of uncertainty, of metaphorical darkness and chaos.

The only way to illuminate the place beyond and make it known is to go there. This is terrifying, because it involves risk.

The ego’s role is to order the way in which we see the world, and evaluate possibilities that will aid in our survival.

In order to grow, and attain mastery, the ego must collapse, and with it all the ideas of what is possible or impossible, knowable and unknowable.

The ego must go beyond its “self”, it’s ideas about the way things are, in order to expand into something greater.

You cannot grab hold of the new when you are holding onto the old.

Letting go of the “old” means letting go of everything you thought you knew, in order to embrace new experiences that instruct us toward something greater than what we were.

Struggle is essential for personal growth.

Struggle is pain, and pain is a primitive instinct that is programmed into our being as something always to be avoided.

But if it doesn’t challenge you, it cannot change you.

Most fear is rational according to the prevailing ego who is fearful.

But it underestimates its potential to adapt to the unknown.

Change occurs due to inspiration or desperation.

Evolution requires change.

Sometimes you get to pick your challenges. Sometimes you do.

But the only way to adapt and gain strength to overcome obstacles that are perceived to be impossible or insurmountable is to confront that fear, and act in spite of it.

Once you have courage to step into the darkness, you illuminate it, and embrace whatever reveals itself, and figure out whatever you were unprepared to encounter.

This process, while sometimes easy, is most of the time uncomfortable, and challenging.

By persistenting, and making the unknown known, our ego can become stronger, and more adept at handling difficulties.