Honesty and Fear

 "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. 

  

Listen live to The Frontier Beyond Fear Blog Talk Radio program Saturday at 1 PM PDT/4 PM EDT:  Honesty and Fear  (The program will be available at the same link afterwards, too).

How is being fearful related to honesty?  How can fear not only impact what people share with us, but how we accept the information, and how we share things ourselves?  How can we be more discerning by becoming more aware of our own relationship with fear? 

What is the distinction between discretion and dishonest omission?  We can still be discreet and authentic, in appropriate circumstances.  How can we honor this in others and in ourselves? 

How can we come to understand that all paths to authenticity are essentially a lifelong journey?  We can realize we are imperfect, even while increasing our conscious intent to be authentic and empathic. 

Greater awareness can help us, in every way, as well as respect for ourselves and one another.  This also leads to more courage, which can help us immensely. 

When we are intimidated or disabled by fear, we are unable to see things with clarity.  This can often lead to harmful or hasty choices, for ourselves and our societies. 

What is a better path forward?  How can we discover it?  Host Susan Larison Danz reflects on these important topics.  It is very likely she will also introduce another passage from history or literature as a part of the exploration.

The Frontier Beyond Fear is in its 11th year, with over 400 episodes.

 

Forest Path photo by Susan Larison Danz.

Continuation

"Life is like riding a bicycle.  To keep your balance, you must keep moving." ~ Albert Einstein

I must admit I almost skipped another night, but realized I'm not ready to skip another night, just yet.  It can be difficult sometimes to decide if we are being too "rigid", and sometimes, yes, we are.  It has everything to do with balance.  

As I write, I'm listening to a live radio interview about Artificial Intelligence, and I have only been partially listening, and they are exploring if we are living in a simulation or "a digital world".  They just decided this is probably "the real world".  What IS that, truly?  What is Real?

And why is there inevitably this assumption that "advancement" is necessarily technological?  I've written about this before, but it is entirely unproven (as assumptions often are).  Just because Humanity is in a technological "phase" doesn't mean it's one that tends to last.  

Wouldn't you love to see the "survey" of civilizations that have existed?  How many are technological?  How many survived that phase?  How many combined technology with greater "gifts" of being aware?  How many rendered technological advancement obsolete?  How many wrecked their world?  How many fixed it?  

Somewhere, this is known.  

How will it all turn out on Planet Earth?  

We'll either awaken, or not.

 

 

River photo by Susan Larison Danz.

 

Awareness

"Awareness is all about restoring your freedom to choose what you want instead of what your past imposes on you." ~ Deepak Chopra 

Lately, I have come to have a greater appreciation of this term "Awareness".  Often when I have used the term "Consciousness", or especially "Expanded Consciousness", I really mean Awareness.  

The more advanced a society is, the more it values Awareness.  Awareness has nothing to do with industrial or technological advancement.  A society could live in a pristine forest on some distant planet and be more Aware than any of us here. 

Awareness also implies honesty.  There can be differing perceptions of a topic, but when a society is intent on honestly exploring truth, and honestly conveying it, Awareness is treasured. 

To advance as a civilization, we cannot do it without valuing expanding Awareness.  It's really that simple.  Anything less will go the opposite direction.  

 

Seeing the Stars

 "My God, it's full of stars!" ~ 2001, A Space Odyssey

Today, on The Frontier Beyond Fear broadcast, I reflected upon our mystical relationship with the stars and with Nature, exploring what it truly means to "advance" as a civilization.

Listen to the podcast here:  Seeing the Stars

 

 

Photo Credit: NASA

 

Daring to Look

 “And Lot's wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human. So she was turned into a pillar of salt. So it goes.” ~ Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

 

We are often told not to "look".  We are told this is "better" and "for our own good."  But we actually do need to look, and we need to do it more often.

My dinner is cooking (again).  The Planets just started on Classical radio.  Once again, that is perfect.  This part, the first part, reminds me of Rome.  Now, there's a place and a time to look back to.  

Rome rose.  And Rome fell.  

Dare we look?

The piece is very discordant in this particular part, highly forceful and dramatic.  

Now it's becoming more mysterious, and more open.  

That's Spirituality.  That's Beauty.

Do we notice it?

We want to better understand how the darkness originates.  It's unhealthy to deny it.

But far too often, there are those who will tell us not to look for the Light.  "It isn't there," they say, "so don't bother."  

But when you look for it, let me tell you, you will find it.  

Dare to look.

 

 

Sunset photo by Susan Larison Danz

Silhouette

“There is strong shadow where there is much light.” 

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I walked in where it was warm, and lingered a while.  Outside it was Beautiful - yet winter.

The walls were filled with photographs of summer.  Mountains and waterfalls, flowers and birds.

I happened to look up. 

Winter had added its own contribution, rivaling the rest.