Ahira's Hangar

At first glance, or first thought, I would say the opposite of fear is courage. I'm reminded of our Klingon friend Worf (Yes, I admit it, I'm a trekker). In one episode, the crew is being driven mad by the lack of REM sleep, they begin to become paranoid and fearful. When this starts to effect Worf he considers committing ritual suicide because he feels he is no longer a warrior.

"I have felt fear!"

But, then at second glance or second thought, I would say that not only courage is the opposite of fear, but so is love, joy, peace. We all live with fear, some of our fears are deeper and stronger and more debilitating than others.

My own personal experience with fear coincides with who I am. I always feared being hated. I always feared attacks, both verbal and physical. I always feared what I was, a gay man, and the misery it brought me. As a child, I feared my father's belt more than anything. He thought he could beat out my "sissiness". So, I know alot about fear.

I don't know much about it's opposites, however. At least I never used too. Courage, love, joy, peace...I had very little of those most of my life. There were times when I thought I may have been happy, or I may have found love. Those times were just illusions, though. My reality was fear. And now, there is the ultimate fear, the fear of dying. Good ole Death himself is staring me in the face now. But, he doesn't seem to scare me as much as I thought he would. Could it be because of finding Tracie in all her beautiful wisdom and love? Could that love be giving me the courage I lacked all my life to face this ultimate fear? In a word. Yes. Even though I have no experience of being on the recieving end of such love and joy and peace, somehow I know that my fears are lessened because of it.

So, Fist..I'm not sure that answers your question. But, it's the only one that I can come up with. And, I am humbled that you wanted my opinion. Thank you. <i></i>

Hello Shadow. Thanks for responding. I know it's hard for you to see things here.

I wanted your opinion for two reasons. First, you recognized Stephen's wisdom right off the bat, and clearly showed that you had it yourself.

The second reason is that your personal circumstances, I'm so sorry to assume, might give you some insight into it that most of us lack. You've talked about the fears of your life, fears that lived right up until very recently. And now you've been the recipient of what is perhaps the most beautiful love I've ever heard of. So you are in good position to tell us if love is, indeed, the opposite of fear.

But I think you're right, in that more than one thing can be fear's opposite. ____________
Highdrake's mastery of spells and sorcery was not much greater than his pupil's, but he had clear in his mind the idea of something very much greater, the wholeness of knowledge. And that made him a mage.<i></i>

Thank you for making that real big, Highdrake (Sorry about calling you "Fist" over here. heh).

Stephen wrote in one of his journal entries about Nathan James :

Quote:He eyed me carefully as his voice trailed off. “Scared you, didn’t I?” He asked into my silence. “No. Not much scares me.” I said back.

“Not even death?”

“No. Why fear death? I think most people fear the how of it, not the actual passing itself. I know the how of mine will be through pain. I fear that, can’t deny it. But, I don’t fear you, not at all. I hear voices in my dreams too.” I said to him.

Knowing the "how" of it for me used to be very frightening, as it was for Stephen. I know how AIDS feels and I've been close to the end now twice. But, I've come back, this last time, it was Stephen himself who sent me back. And yet, I don't fear it as much as I did years ago when I first found out I was HIV positive. I believe it is because I now know where I'm going, and the pain I am now experiencing, and have experienced, both physical and mental, will give way to love and peace.

So, this may be very simplistic, but I really think that love and joy circumvent fear. It may still be there, it may still hover around and spread its dark shadow over me, and yet, it doesn't grab hold of me anymore. There is just nothing for it to hang onto.

Tracie was listening to a song today called "Love's Divine" by Seal and I don't remember all the words, but one line was sung over and over...

"Love can help me know my name"

It is now here, at the end of me, where I finally know who I am, I know my name and I know I'm loved. And that is what will take me through the rest of all this. Stephen led me to his sister, and his sister taught me love. My fears, are all but conquered by that love.
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"Even the blind can see this light, what a glorious passing this is." -Stephen C. McKinney<i></i>

I was sorting debating making this a seperate thread. But I decided to put it here. So here goes...

As many of you know I am a big Buffy fan..., and the Buffy fan community has become in many ways a real community on the internet. Of course BtVS fandom grew in many ways with the net. Well, through Buffy I became a fan of the actress Amber Benson (who played the witch Tara Mcclay on the series). I saw her at a con last summer and I have over three hours of video on VCD, including her Q and A session, that were made at the 2002 Toronto Trek where she appeared as guest. And whenever she meets fans she comments on how Buffy fans have forged themselves into this community of like minds and how this is good thing.

Now getting to the point here, and I do have one. Amber fans on the net have their own posting board pub31.ezboard.com/bamberbenson Essence of Amber. I surfed over to this board earlier and found a thread that was started by a netizen, that came from a very dark, lonely ,fearful and potentially dangerous place. And the amazing thing, to me, was within such a short time, literally a few hours, there were at least a dozen or so posts attempting to give this lost person a little hope, light and some courage. (Supposedly one of the posts came from Amber Benson, herself as much one can believe it, but it was confirmed by the board's owner, a netizen known as 'Little Willow' who interestingly personally knows some of the BtVS cast) Well, anyway this post is rather long and really does not say much, and maybe is a little lame.

Last point, one of the posters offered a qote by Magaret Atwood (Handmaiden's Tale):Quote:I would like to be the air that inhabits your body for one moment only. I would like to be that unnoticed and that necessaryI liked this quote, too. taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
W/T forever, always
Plan C - http://planc.bravepages.com/main.html<i></i>

After a few days I've reflected on the situation I discussed above, and I perhaps have come to a conclusion. Now taking this to a slightly different track than maybe some of the others have taken. Opposite of fear, courange, strength (of body, will and character), love. Well....maybe the opposite of fear is community, the human sense of belonging. Of course, community is not so much an emotion. taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
W/T forever, always
Plan C - http://planc.bravepages.com/main.html<i></i>

Maybe the opposite of an emotion doesn't have to be another emotion? ____________
Highdrake's mastery of spells and sorcery was not much greater than his pupil's, but he had clear in his mind the idea of something very much greater, the wholeness of knowledge. And that made him a mage.<i></i>

I read this a counple of days ago and I liked it:
Quote:“You know, hate is not the opposite of love and love is not the opposite of hate,” he continues. “There are four feelings that are covering each other, like an onion and in the center there is love,” he says. “Fear is the first level, anger is the second level, pain is in the third level, and in the center there is love. If you get over fear you can feel anger. If you can deal with the anger you can feel pain. And, if you can let the pain go away and not setting your mind on it, only then you can feel love,” he said.
-pitch <i></i>

Thanks for the nice quote! Who said it? ____________
Highdrake's mastery of spells and sorcery was not much greater than his pupil's, but he had clear in his mind the idea of something very much greater, the wholeness of knowledge. And that made him a mage.<i></i>

Oh, it's a long story.
An aquintance of ours is doing a Phd in psycology and the topic is about spiritual retreats. As part of the Phd he did a field experience in a village called Pacha Mama in Costa Rica. The third chapter of his thesis is a diary that he kept while he was there. So to make a long story short, that qoute was by one of the residents in Pacha Mama. I don't think that the thesis has been published yet...
-pitch <i></i>

Ah! I forgot this one!

Fear is the lock, and laughter the key to your heart.

____________
Highdrake's mastery of spells and sorcery was not much greater than his pupil's, but he had clear in his mind the idea of something very much greater, the wholeness of knowledge. And that made him a mage.<i></i>