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thedarksiren2"I must say a word about fear. It is life’s only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unerring ease. It begins in your mind, always. One moment you are feeling calm, self-possessed, happy. Then fear, disguised as mild-mannered doubt, slips into your mind like a spy. Doubt meets disbelief and disbelief tries to push it out. But disbelief is a poorly armed foot soldier. Doubt does away with it with little trouble. You become anxious. Reason comes to do battle for you. You are reassured. Reason is fully equipped with the latest weapons technology. But, to your amazement, despite superior tactics and a number of undeniable victories, reason is laid low. You feel yourself weakening, wavering. Your anxiety becomes dread.
Fear next turns fully to your body, which is already aware that something terribly wrong is going on. Already your lungs have flown away like a bird and you guts have slithered away like a snake. Now your tongue drops dead like an opossum, while your jaw begins to gallop on the spot. You ears go deaf. Your muscles begin to shiver as if they had malaria and your knees to shake as though they were dancing. Your heart strains too much, while your sphincter relaxes too much. And so with the rest of your body. Every part of you, in the manner most suited to it, falls apart. Only your eyes work well. They always pay proper attention to fear.
Quickly you make rash decisions. You dismiss your last two allies: hope and trust. There, you’ve defeated yourself. Fear, which is but an impression, has triumphed over you.
The matter is difficult to put into words. For fear, real fear, such as shakes you to your foundation, such as you feel when you are brought face to face with you mortal end, nestles in your memory like gangrene: it seeks to rot everything, even the words with which to speak of it. So you must fight hard to express it. You must fight hard to shine light of words upon it. Because if you don’t, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you."
from Life Of Pi
by Yann Martel
I just looked on our libraries page, because I thought I might try to read this during my lunch hours this quarter. It sounds interesting. Unfortunately, it is out and not due back until like April or something crazy like that. ~8/
ah well.
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 07:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 07:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-07 12:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 08:17 pm (UTC)Fear is the mindkiller,
Fear is the little death
That brings total Oblivion
I will permit my fear to pass
Over me and through me
And where it has gone
I will turn the inner eye
Nothing will be there
Only I will remain.
-Frank Herbert, Dune
no subject
Date: 2005-01-07 12:18 am (UTC)~8)
You know, I finally finished reading all the stories in A Million Tiny Pieces (don't ask why, just nod and say, "oh, really?~;P) and I am really glad you introduced me to ExBe. I like their site, and the writers are awesome. I guess I'm just telling you thank you...that's all.
lost my mind???
Date: 2005-01-07 12:20 pm (UTC)Re: lost my mind???
Date: 2005-01-07 02:26 pm (UTC)*shrugs*
Looking for wisdom for you
Date: 2005-01-07 12:41 pm (UTC)Re: Looking for wisdom for you
Date: 2005-01-07 03:24 pm (UTC)Re: Looking for wisdom for you
Date: 2005-01-07 03:31 pm (UTC)Any of the things listed, if not controled, can kill you.