Fear, and love.
If I were to list for you all the ways in which I have failed, from birth to now, it would take all day and then some. It's simpler to break the abstract memory of my own failures down to component causes and find the most major cause behind all of them; fear.
Simple, animal, lizard fear of failure has kept me up on nights I needed to be awake early; it's sent me running away from difficult responsibilities; it's clutched romantic partners closer than they felt comfortable; it has procrastinated when action was necessary.
If I were to list for you my triumphs, or you list yours, it would not take long. It's quicker, though, to explain that every time I have done what I should do, I have been motivated by love. Every time I've taken on a hard task and completed it, each time I've given hope with a good word, each time I've pulled myself out of a downward spiral, love has gotten me there.
From these two observations, summed as "Fear fails." and "Love wins.", one can take a third; fear and love are opposites. Often, we hear 'Hate and love are opposite.' or 'The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.', and these are tempting beliefs; but isn't hatred simply fear of what love would do to one?
When we are taught that some person will do us harm, we hate them even though we could have loved them. So, then, isn't that hatred simply love covered over by fear? The hate in the world is the product of the fearmonger. Would you have reason to be afraid of those you have never met, had you not been taught who to fear?
Simple, animal, lizard fear of failure has kept me up on nights I needed to be awake early; it's sent me running away from difficult responsibilities; it's clutched romantic partners closer than they felt comfortable; it has procrastinated when action was necessary.
If I were to list for you my triumphs, or you list yours, it would not take long. It's quicker, though, to explain that every time I have done what I should do, I have been motivated by love. Every time I've taken on a hard task and completed it, each time I've given hope with a good word, each time I've pulled myself out of a downward spiral, love has gotten me there.
From these two observations, summed as "Fear fails." and "Love wins.", one can take a third; fear and love are opposites. Often, we hear 'Hate and love are opposite.' or 'The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.', and these are tempting beliefs; but isn't hatred simply fear of what love would do to one?
When we are taught that some person will do us harm, we hate them even though we could have loved them. So, then, isn't that hatred simply love covered over by fear? The hate in the world is the product of the fearmonger. Would you have reason to be afraid of those you have never met, had you not been taught who to fear?
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