Fearing Uncertainty Kills Your Life
Many would say that the ultimate fear is the fear of death. This fear in yoga is the fifth and final klesha; abhinivesa. As I observe life around me, it seems, that many people, are scared of living, and I mean really living, with the heart exposed and the mind open. By not fully living in the now moment, we are dying all the time, and therefor, have nothing to fear!
Two components are required to live fully, an open mind and an open heart. Otherwise, we might call it existing, but not living. Because life is alive and to be of our aliveness we must be there, present, willing, and open, to meld the experiencer with the experience, which requires heart and mind to love one another. The battle between thinking and feeling must cease in order to harmonize with the harmony of life. Life is always in tune, playing perfectly, it is us who believe we can stand outside of it, with our baton, and conduct it.
Every time we weight down our future moments with thinking we know, or predetermining our likes and dislikes, or desiring to shape them in a most particular way, the limitless potential of that moment dies. The incessant want of certainty is the masked robber or even, killer, of our opportunity to flow as the most grand composition of all that is.
We fear uncertainty, so to fear death then, is the same as fearing life, each one, is unknown to us. But in life, it’s the ‘efforting' to know the unknown, that is our suffering. It’s the mind being completely lost and mantically trying to manipulate circumstances, to re-arrange moments, to finish a puzzle that has no border. We are looking for all of the straight edge pieces that do not even exist!
Let us not fear life or death. Let us skip down the middle of the street, belt out our favorite songs in the grocery store, tell our loves how much we love them, wear whatever the hell we want…like rain boots when it’s not raining, change our names, laugh even louder, and most of all, not give a damn what anyone thinks about any of it. For when we live within the confines of opinions, we are digging our own grave. We are willingly spending our own sacred time shoveling dirt, just to get into the hole and sit there, in the dark. The only one committed to holding onto that shovel, is you. So you must be the one to put it down, turn around and go twirl yourself into the light with an open heart. Be willing to dance your dance, open to love and to hurt, and ready, to feel your feet lift from the ground and fly right into the excitement of the unknown.
*This was inspired by my reflections on the kleshas. The kleshas are the five afflictions that the Yoga Sutras outlines as our afflictions or the reasons why we suffer. If you find this fascinating you might be interested in the past four blogs all about the kleshas of which I provided the links for. The first klesha, avidya (ignorance), the second klesha, asmita (egoism), the third klesha, raga (attachment to desire), and the fourth klesha, dvesa (dislikes).
I want to sincerely thank you for reading and blessing me and this subject with your precious attention. There is an overwhelming amount of information out there to choose from; so I am extremely honored to have received your now moment.
I love you.
Showering you in my blessings,
Andrea Dawn
