Reflections on Lent, April 7, 2014
John tells us that "perfect love casts out fear." Perfect love was shown in the cross and resurrection. So why do we fear?
I have come to see how controlled my life is by fear. Fear does not always come out as terror; it comes out as claws, in my case. I fear the loss of things and fight about them as much as I cower or hide. That has happened to me twice in the past few days, although in both cases the person deserved some assertive communication. My fear then makes me want to apologize for something that needs no apology.
Parker Palmer writes: We collaborate with the structures of separation because they promise to protect us against one of the deepest fears at the heart of being human--the fear of having a living encounter with alien "otherness," whether the other is a student, a colleague, a subject, or a self-dissenting voice within. We fear encounters in which the others is free to be itself, to speak its own truth, to tell us what we may not wish to hear. We want those encounters on or own terms, so that we can control their outcomes, so that they will not threaten our view of world and self."
These are incredibly wise words. I have seen that is a problem I am having with a certain situation.
I have come to see how controlled my life is by fear. Fear does not always come out as terror; it comes out as claws, in my case. I fear the loss of things and fight about them as much as I cower or hide. That has happened to me twice in the past few days, although in both cases the person deserved some assertive communication. My fear then makes me want to apologize for something that needs no apology.
Parker Palmer writes: We collaborate with the structures of separation because they promise to protect us against one of the deepest fears at the heart of being human--the fear of having a living encounter with alien "otherness," whether the other is a student, a colleague, a subject, or a self-dissenting voice within. We fear encounters in which the others is free to be itself, to speak its own truth, to tell us what we may not wish to hear. We want those encounters on or own terms, so that we can control their outcomes, so that they will not threaten our view of world and self."
These are incredibly wise words. I have seen that is a problem I am having with a certain situation.
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