Sunday, June 8, 2008

The Sum of all Fears

With gratitude to Tom Clancy for the title, content not included.



We often hear about "fear of itself".  I think the sum of all fears is that of rejection. We fear failure for we don't want to be ridiculted. We fear success because it will bring an expectation, a higher benchmark that may result in failure.

There is also the fear of the unknown, fear of being judged by our peers.  It is indeed a sad state of affairs that we are trapped in a momentous insecurity, the uncertainty of what will become and the rejection that may accompany it.

In yesterday's Bible Study, we talked about, our struggles as humans, struggle to be righteous by God, the struggle of reputation, that of __.

What is glaring though is, if we acknowledge, if we allow ourselves to be right by God and live by His words, it will bring love and compassion in us, ridding ourselves of these humanly ills, that of fearing rejection and a bad reputation. The refusal to accept God's grace.

This is further confirmed in today's gospel, when God said, He wanted to be known, to be loved, rather than receive burnt offerings. Ahhh, it is a strange world, we seek and yet we elude finding that eternal happiness, that contentment, because we refuse to give up that worldly malaise called pride, that self absorption that brings us nothing but pain.

1 comment:

lucienlachance said...

Fear is an interesting thing. It is a necessary evil that keeps us breathing, yet at the same time it is wasted in a material world that it should not be applied to. It is pride in one's self that can keep fear at bay. Confidence outshines any fear of rejection.

I see nothing wrong in pride. It is pride that makes us aspire to great things. Without pride, people are nothing. We would not have people striving for more or bettering themselves without it. A world without pride would be a place where everyone settled for mediocre and great things would rarely be achieved. The fact that pride is considered a sin is laughable to me. What is God, but something prideful? If he did not have pride he would not have worshipers. If he did not have pride he would not have created humanity to admire him and his power. So why, for a creature of God, should such a thing be a sin? If we are so like him, why should it not be permitted, and dare I say it, embraced?