Sunday, April 3, 2011

What are your foundations?

Do you have things in your life that are your foundations? By this I mean are there aspects of your life that underpin your grip on reality, your ability to be who you are, and perhaps even your sanity?

How many people in Japan were loosed from their metaphysical moorings as they watched their entire lives washed away in dramatic fashion? Charlie Sheen is another example of a person that seems to have lost his way.

So much of modern life is based on structure. Seemingly every situation has a prescribed set of behaviors deemed appropriate for it. Rituals exist to try to guide people along life's transitions, but what happens when people forsake these rituals, or circumstances thrust such dramatic change upon them that there simply aren't any social supports to fall back on?

This is a question and a theme that has been on my mind lately. Sometimes I wonder whether we don't all have monsters lurking inside of us, chained up by the restraints of society and our perception of what is real. TV is real. Those intense feelings that you're experiencing? Maybe they're unreal? Because if society doesn't have a nice little box with a label to put them in, then what are they?

Monsters aren't frightening simply because they threaten physical safety, but because they challenge a victim's fundamental notion of reality. All of the structure that the person's mind has relied on for guidance is suddenly shattered like plate glass. The monster tries to seize control of the victim's mind.

I've seen real acts of heroism and bravery. It doesn't take a sword and magic to be a hero. What is heroic is looking into the face of a terrible monster, knowing that it is in control, accepting its control, and by doing so taking away its control on a more fundamental level. People who can do this realize that true foundations of inner strength can be indestructable if they are built strong and deep.

Here's hoping that none of us are confronted by a terrible trial; but that if we are that we are able to confront it heroically.

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