Changing the world forever for better

by Eric Chaet

It has come to seem to me that fear is what is most to be feared, most awful, most to be avoided or transmuted when it is unavoidable, because of unprecedentedly intense, never-before-experienced (or faced & processed), impinging negative phonemena.

If you die, you no longer suffer — your agenda may not have been completely fulfilled, but you always knew you would fall short of the goal you set for yourself in order never to exceed it, &, so, fall off the cliff, into purposelessness, didn’t you?  Death, which is certain, is not to be feared.

Suffering?  You know you will suffer, only not how or how much.  I doubt that any suffering is worse than fear of suffering.  So, can you stop fearing suffering because it is reasonable to do so?  Maybe, gradually, on purpose, per strategy.  As: the Buddhists, the Stoics.  I don’t pretend to be innovating, only organizing available ideas to advantage, I hope.

When you are suffering from fear or for any other reason, you do what you can to alleviate it, wisely or unwisely, in a panic or more deliberately, assisted or not, or interfered with.

So far, you have managed to reach this point in your life.  You’re not just crying for your mother, & that’s just as well, because she is otherwise occupied, or gone.  You have had great adventures, & even occasionaly intentional achievements, however infantile they may seem to you at the moment, if you have matured beyond them, or imagine you have.

Yes, you have reached this point in your life, &, eventually, you will die.  Meanwhile, this point is your ship in an uncharted sea in a storm on a voyage of discovery & purpose.

Can others hurt you?  Certainly.  Some probably will.  Are they hurting you already? Yes!  

Since you were born you have both gained from other’s contributions to your well-being, & been in trouble as a result of others — others have been taking what you needed more than they did, or at least as much, by force or cunning or carelessness, or by the inertia of the current prevailing paradigms of beliefs & behavior & material & social infrastructure — what you had more need of, what you could have made better use of.  You have probably done the same, sometimes — even now — to others.

It’s worse & more obvious under some circumstances — under Hitler or Stalin, the invading Mongols or conquistadores or Incas or Aztecs or Arab or Turk warriors of the Caliphates or this or that set of barbarians or narcotraficantes or local mafias — or less than utterly genocidal bombardment.  

Plutocrats & mandarins have more control over you than you would enjoy, & exact tribute, whether you realize it or not — & most of your fellow sufferers punish you psychologically if you even mention it, or don’t respond enthusiastically to the flag or to current popular songs or holidays, because it would puncture their normal, neurotic self-esteem.  

There’s not enough competent help that you can afford, & too much deluded or pretended “help” not only offered but forced upon you — & then comes the bill!  (I hope I’m not one doing such, or, if I am, that I catch myself, & take corrective action!)

Others can, are, & probably will be hurting you.  It’s not terribly profitable to fear it, tho.  And probably you’re not number one on the hit list.

All along, you have been becoming more capable of defending & relying on yourself — tho part of that is realizing how little able you are to defend or rely on yourself, right now.  

If only you don’t get stuck in fear.

You have been doing something advantageous, along with making whatever mistakes you have been making or wallowing in.  Do more of what you have been doing that is advantageous, develop it as wisely as you can.  Are you questioning if it is wise?  Good.  It’s probably not as wise as it might be if you keep questioning & transforming it — goal, priorities, method — advantageosly.

First, tho, of course, comes homeostasis.  Your body, mind, soul can only survive & operate within a certain range of circumstances.  You need air & potable water, nutrition, a certain temperature range, there is just so much physical & psychological abuse you can tolerate, you need a little joy, at least, now & then, you need some encouragement if you are to survive criticism, withholding of resources, & being treated as a resource to be exploited.  Notice:  right now, you are surviving, however unsatisfactorily.  

You may even have achieved, & you may even be achieving something of greater value than you are receiving in return.  Good job.

You aspire.  You tend to that.  Sometimes you’re frustrated, sometimes you advance.  Sometimes, you become aware that your goal, even if achieved, if not wrong, is insufficient.  That awareness is progress.  So, you adjust your thoughts & efforts.  This is beyond homeostasis, & will be continually interruputed by the necessity of re-establishing & maintaining homeostasis — til death.

You do what you do, whatever others think.  They can’t be aware of what you are creating, until it’s created, & it never will be completely created, at least not for more than a moment.  Also, you must tend to relations with neighbors, however lacking in understanding, sympathy, empathy, usefulness — & especially with useful people, more so to the extent that they are unusually useful — it’s folly & a crime to pretend that they are less extraordinarily useful than they are (tho they are still developing, too) — & especially with potential allies at whatever stage of development they may be.

What you are achieving is a mere drop in the bucket, in the ocean of catastrophes?  So, you develop your drop as best you can, forgiving yourself for what you can’t do, surviving (homeostasis) — & achieve other & better & more — that is, more & more effectively, yet with wisdom, with compassion, tempering your instinctive, passionate reactions to circumstances & your appetites, which know no reason — not per dogma, but strategically — that is, to your greatest advantage.

Succumbing to fear is called cowardice.  We’re all born helpless, & never become completely competent.  The universe is enormous & mysterious, & there are a lot of people with a lot of purposes & not always wise or as capable or useful as they imagine — & not always intending to be of use to you.  Courage is an element of virtue.

Virtue & efficacy — neither ever perfect, always to be developed — only homeostasis takes priority — are required for the success that is becoming who you can be, in the midst of plenty to be feared — without fear.

Eric Chaet

Wisconsin, USA