ADSactly Literature - Man and Fear
MAN AND FEAR
Hey, guys. I hope you're having a productive morning. Things at Steem have been tough these last few days. There is some apprehension and fear for the cryptographic movements that have been deteriorating wallets and economies. But fear is normal in human beings, it is one of those sensations that are with us from birth to death.
French writer and philosopher, Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, said: "There is no thing of which I am as afraid as of fear". Fear can not only paralyse a human being, it can also drive him to do things he would not do in normal situations. Some things can provoke individual fears, others global fears. In this case, we can say that there are many works of art dedicated to this natural emotion in any species and that it develops or loses in us as we grow.
Sometimes life beats us and frightens us mercilessly and puts us to the test with the worst that it has in store for us, but the idea is not to be cowardly, but to know that we are human and therefore there are things that surpass us such as that sensation of dread or shock. Today I would like to share with you some poems that talk about fear, to understand that many of these fears are the same and can be felt at any time.
Let's begin our tour with one of the most outstanding writers of Latin American literature, the Uruguayan writer and journalist Eduardo Galeano:
We inhabit a world ruled by fear, fear rules, power eats fear, what would power be without fear? Without the fear that power itself generates to perpetuate itself.
Hunger has fear for breakfast.
The fear of silence that stuns the streets.
Fear threatens.
If you love you will have AIDS.
If you smoke you will have cancer.
If you breathe you will have pollution.
If you drink you will have accidents.
If you eat you will have cholesterol.
If you talk, you will have unemployment.
If you walk you will have violence.
If you think you will have anguish.
If you are in doubt, you will have insanity.
If you feel you will have loneliness...
In this poem we see fear as a disease or pandemic that contaminates everything: surrounded and without exits, human beings cannot escape from fear. Life produces fear and there are many governments that generate it and use it to survive. There are also parents, societies that fear with their concepts, with their theories of what it should be to live: and do not get wet in the rain because you will catch a cold, and do not laugh too much because you will get wrinkles, and do not look so much at the stars because you can fall. Fear is the weapon of those who kill or die slowly: suicide. And the irony is there: living becomes fear, and we don't love for fear of suffering, we don't procreate for fear of not taking care of our children, we don't kiss or embrace for fear of showing our feelings, we live in a panic of dying and without realizing it, life is a great fear. Although fear is experienced by man as well as by animals, the animal does not anticipate death, the human being does; he is aware of his propi to death.
As I said in previous paragraphs, fear is a state that can induce you to react in a certain way and even help you get certain opportunities that brings action, but normal is to be paralyzed, hypnotized, you feel the tension before the threat. The Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda, has a poem that captures that feeling of intimidation:
I'm afraid -And I feel so he tired and small
that I reflect the evening without meditating on it.
(In my sick head there is no room for a dream
just as there was no room in the sky for a star.)
In this stanza you can see how the lyrical voice speaks of its dwarfed and nervous state in the face of fear. The man can feel that there is emptiness in his soul, a deep hole that hurts, that is made at each bigger hour. Empty inside him and empty outside, the only thing that beats and lurks is fear: a thousand fangs animal that bites insensitively.
In ancient times, most likely, man had to face permanent dangers from the threats of some predators, the lack of protection, the danger of looking for food. Many of these fears were associated with nature, with the spaces in which they lived. The fears of the human beings of those times do not differ much from those that affect the contemporary man, they live the same insecurities and uncertainties, only more updated. In this regard, the American writer Raymond Carver lets us know in his poem called FEAR:
Fear of seeing a police patrol stop in front of the house.
Fear of the telephone ringing in the silence of the dead night.
Fear of dogs even if they tell me they don't bite.
Fear of anxiety!
Fear of having to identify the body of a dead friend.
Fear of running out of money.
As I mentioned, fears are updated. It is no longer fear of animals but of other men who also harm and kill, of technologies that speak of tragedies and are modern bad omen birds, having money and not because we know the big difference. Today there is fear for the immigrant, for the black man, for the one who keeps it in the corners. For today's man it is a risk to live with others, we are infected with their customs and thoughts, so we live locked with doors and a thousand keys that do not allow the entry of any intruder.
Hence we find an extremely fearful human being, full of phobias, who asks for clemency in the face of fear. The Argentine poet, Marilina Rébora, leaves us a poem that speaks of this:
I'm afraid, sir, but not at night,
nor the shadow, least of all the darkness;
it is fear of the dawn shining waste
as fear of the world, when the world is populated.
I'm afraid, sir, not because I'm alone.
or sad isolation or secluded retirement,
I'm afraid of people, of the imposing wave,
the sway of beings in asphyxiating twist.
I'm afraid, sir, to face life
with so many demands, commitments, duties
Contemporary societies also frighten the life in many of them. The accelerated movement of people, vehicular congestion, the permanent transformation of the immediate environment, stress. We can feel overwhelmed before the big skyscrapers, the planes, the amount of lights that can leave us blind. This is how today's society generates fear.
To close this post, I would like to transcribe a text by Galeano and share it with you. The text is entitled The Art of Sending
An emperor of China, not knowing his name or his dynasty or his time, called his chief adviser one night and confided to him the anguish that prevented him from sleeping. He said, "No one fears me. Since no one feared him, no one respected him. And since no one respected him, no one obeyed him. The chief counselor meditated for a while and said, "There is no punishment. And the surprised emperor said that punishment was not lacking, because he sent to the gallows anyone who did not bow to his step. And the chief adviser warned him: "But those are the culprits. If only the guilty are punished, only the guilty feel fear. The Chinese emperor thought and thought... and came to the conclusion that the chief adviser was right. And he had his head cut off. The execution took place in a large public square, the heavenly square, the main square of the empire. And the counselor was the first in a long list.
What would politics and power do if they didn't play with fear? Also some economies and cryptographies. Remember: fear can immobilize you, but it can also make you take great risks.
I hope today's fear is fleeting. I also hope that you can join our server in discord and not be afraid to vote for @adsactly as witnesses. Until a next smile. ;)
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_Galeano
https://blogs.20minutos.es/poesia/2009/03/13/miedo-raymond-carver/
https://www.poemas-del-alma.com/pablo-neruda-tengo-miedo.htm
https://www.buscapalabra.com/poemas.html?palabras=miedo&cortos=no
WRITTEN BY @nancybriti
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Thank you!
If we allow it to "eat at us" - fear can be one of the most debilitating states of mind you will ever experience. Personally, I have battled with - and continue to battle with it - some days I win, and some not so much... but it is an ongoing journey of conquer.
Great piece @adsactly and some wonderful written shares too!
That's right, my dear, @jaynie. The fight against fear is daily, especially in our societies where every day we live in a battle. The idea is not to give up. Thank you for your excellent comment.
Fear has killed many life's and families. It has destroyed many life's and have even led to some people death. We must always try not to let fear to control us because the danger it always cause to us is dangerous than what we may imagine
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I agree with you, @adenijiadeshina: fear must not control us! If it does, we lose our chance to react intelligently to things. To live in fear is not to live. Thank you for your comment.
Fear is a terrible feeling of anguish at a danger or risk that can paralyze us or cause us to react in an unexpected and unthinkable way. I left a burning bus with a heavy box in each hand and ran until I saw that I was already far from danger. That's the fear, it moved me! Interesting selection of poems that speak of fear, @nancybriti, thank you for showing it to us and @adsactly for sharing it. To continue on the road, without fear. Happy day.
I'm glad your reaction was that: running and not getting petrified, @aurodivys! It is so unpredictable how we can react to fear and hence our uncertainty, our restlessness. Thank you for always commenting.
A universal theme of great relevance in these times, @nancybriti, although we know, as you point out, that it is inherent to the human being. Curiously, and paradoxically, in a modern civilization taken by the consciousness of invulnerability and the culture of self-sufficiency on many levels, especially in the scientific-technological, fear reigns in the most diverse areas of life. The titanism that characterizes us hides its face -bifronte at the end- of being unprotected or abandoned. With good reason, Jung indicated that man should not avoid his shadows, and perhaps fear is one of the greatest that has accompanied him since he felt alone in front of untamed nature and took refuge in caves. The literary texts that you select offer us a heterogeneous vision of those fears that we are and that accompany us, and perhaps a way par excellence to reveal them is artistic creation. Thank you for your post, @nancybriti, as well as @adsactly for publishing it. Greetings.
It's always a pleasure to read your comments, @josemalavem. Fear is one of those feelings that grows in silence, especially when we don't face it. Many of the things man has done have been out of fear. The light, for example, a great invention in the face of darkness! Like our ancestors, no longer in caves, man takes refuge in his houses and within himself. Sometimes globalization can frighten them! Thank you for always commenting.
That 4 letters word is to small yet it had a big impact to our life! Fear will always brings us to the place of nowhere! Once we let that word rule in our life we will be stuck, don't let that word pull as down rather fight for it and move on!
Too short a word, too big a feeling, @fredanderson. Thank you for commenting!
Exactly, fears are so terrible, bad to experience. Everyone experience fears too. I could remember when I was still at collage, we normally go to the school farm to gets some fruit and satisfy our taste, so it happened that my friends had already planned on how to trick me, so they got a toy snake and as soon as I jumped down from the tree they threw it close to me, all shouting snake! Snake!! and was on the run. I couldn't remember how I scale through a fence without the help or support of anyone or thing, which I normally seek for support when jumping.
Thanks @nancybriti for such wonderful article.
Thank you, @lilkeszi, for sharing your experience. Fear, in your case, made you draw strength and skills you thought I didn't have. The bad news is that we don't always respond in the same way and with the same intensity. Thank you for always commenting.
NICE POST. Describing fear from many angle, and we know everyone has fear, whatever. Somebody who brave in the water may be he afraid of height. Some one afreid of alone, darkness, crowd, even phobia of animal, or anything.
I just want to comment wthi this. I hope you accept it.
fear is something that makes us shiver
grind courage and run further
but the fear will continue to hunt and hit
until we will stop and face it
if we can conquer fear
then dare to catch fear
become capital to face the ferocity of life
bring the sick to be brave
at the peak of fear there is courage
connecting with increasing age
until the city will always look for fear
so that courage feels closer
Thank you @nancybriti
Thank you @adsactly
Thank you Steemit
warm regard from Indonesia
Thank you for sharing that poem, @rokhani. collects many truths. Fear is an animal that we must face because if not, it will continue to chase us and show us its fangs. Beyond fear, there is a quiet life. Greetings from Venezuela!
This is nice 🌹🌹🌹 check and repost mine too
An equally beautiful piece
https://steemit.com/poetry/@scrypta/affinity
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