Walk out of the cage

“Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.”

Jim Morrison

There comes a time, in a life of a person, when fear of disaster and defeat becomes so great that he is almost overwhelmed. And then, there are just two paths to take. One leads to flight: to flee is safe, and simple. It doesn’t take anything but to move away. Most people take that path, and that glimpse of greatness, that made them so afraid, is lost. That path leads to mediocrity.

The other path is harder. It leads directly to fear, and through it, beyond. It leads into the jaws of one’s own demons, to look directly into the eyes of everything that frightens us. But that path leads to overcome one’s limits, and reach what could only be imagined before. It leads to improvement, to personal growth.

Few people ever take that path, but when one learns how to walk it, there is nothing that can not be achieved. To learn to face one’s own limits is the most difficult lesson of all, and the more fruitful. Eventually, when one keeps true to himself and his dreams, there can be no fear of defeat, as he can accept all that life brings, from joy to sorrow, with the same heart.

When it comes to love, though, things get even harder, because it is never a matter of personal choice, but it involves the will of two different people. Two people who choose to face life together and grow the same way. Many people live together as they were alone: they hide themselves in social institutions – coupling, marriage, raising children – but they don’t even try to grow, always worried about floating as they are and not fall down. They search haven in stability, habits, safety, and they often lie to others and themselves not to lose what they have become so bound to, the crutch they have built not to walk on their own. And so they kill their souls, and waste their lives.

A love relation can not be maintained, but it has to be destroyed and rebuilt in every moment. It’s something living, an entity born of two souls who become one without losing their own identity. It is a gate for enlightenment. How many people ever manage to go through it? How many don’t even try to do it, frightened by its complexity and greatness?

Tonight I am sad, because I see mankind is caged inside its fears. What can I do, when even if I open the cage, they will be afraid of stepping out? I guess they deserve to rot inside their holes. 

But for myself… will I ever find my gate for enlightenment?

"A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave."

 Mohandas Gandhi