“The foundation of all mental illness is the unwillingness to experience legitimate suffering.”
“Religion is a defense against the experience of God.” (C. G. Jung)
Being injured has put me right back in the body. There is little space for lofty thoughts when you are in acute and even chronic pain. But nothing is all bad - we learn from everything.
Often I think of myself as a bit of a coward. I watch those big wave surfers and just can't imagine taking off on those monsters. Or perhaps I can and that's what scares me. Unless we have evolved our consciousness to a fair level, we are all afraid of something. Or more correctly - we are all afraid of the same thing. Even those guys.
I have come to think that fear is held in the body. This holding of fear in the body causes us to be sick and injured. But psychological death is a fear for the ego - when the ego fears its own death it can make us crazy and paranoid.
Some people take huge physical risks and the rest of us are in awe. But a big wave surfer fears not being able to take off on a big wave. His fear is an ego-fear.
This occurred to me watching a documentary about a big wave surfer. He broke the law and it looked like he might go to jail. His biggest fear was being locked up. This was death to his ego. He feared inactivity, silence - maybe almost as much as most of us would fear the big waves he surfs.
Big wave surfers who face big physical risks are protected by their big egos. I say that in an analytical, not a judgemental sense. They are courageous, there is no denying that, but because death of the ego is necessary to evolve consciousness, they will have to face that psychological fear one day.
Facing our biggest fear is something we will all inevitably have to do. Some of us take big psychological risks. These are more subtle, more difficult to pin down, and perhaps they are just as terrifying as a big wave.
Sometimes they are the same thing.
Photo: me aboard the 42 ft yacht I crewed from Fremantle to Adelaide.
9 comments:
Well my ego must be small as I only take off on tiny waves in comparison to those big wave guys. Analitically speaking of course. Oh and you are still just as cute now as you were then!
Analytically I mean!
Thanks RamSnake.....big heart though, and you still take off on some decent waves.
Irrational fear can be deadly on the well being of a person and can also inhibit society to such an extent that it can stifle freedom of expression.
Looking at the photo I think you must have been going ashore, your footwear was hardly yachting slippers :)
Yep, you're right Mr Heron. Photo was taken as we were provisioning I think. It was a long time ago.
Great Photo ...
What Ramsnake said!
Thanks ST. I found that English duffle coat, complete with Union Jack label, from a warehouse Op Shop in North Freo for $1- in a pile of smelly clothes as tall as me.
Someone said, one surfer's 6 foot is another's 10, or something like that. Also a guy did a thesis in Hawaii on big wave surfing part stating that it was possibly homo-erotic...caught some flack for that. Plus some big wave legends have been found wanting in the racist bigot stakes. Alot of fear for me was not knowing how I would react in a given situation, surfing has taught me to calm my mind, I know what's going to happen most of the time. You can take it easy or you can take it hard, either way you're going to have to take it ;-)
But courage, I have seen people I love facing their death, and large waves faced pale beside grace, for me.
Thanks for your comment Merc. I am at present trying to retrain my mind re eating it, even in smallish waves. Anything taller than me seems big! So that is good advice - to stay calm and face it. Probably really good advice for dying too.
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