"A recognition, as the name signifies, is a change from ignorance to knowledge, and so to either friendship or enmity in those determined to good fortune or misfortune."
-Aristotle
It's what many of us seek to do. Understand the unknown, tackle the impossible paradox of existence in a often futile attempt to unlock the secrets of our reality, and indeed, realities in whole. Those that seek in good fortune, with attitudes humble, with need in blossom, devoid of the greed and thirst for power which drives so many seekers will find friendship in these mysteries; whereas those who seek in misfortune, for power, for the satiation of greed with self-need paramount will find enmity in that which they seek. Rather than befriend, they subdue, and in this binding, create for themselves a destruction. It is in the time before this destruction that they wreak havoc among the innocent, the unknowing. The reversal also stands posed.Those who seek friendship, find good fortune, and those that seek enmity find this readily enough in misfortune. Not so shockingly, it would seem the later type of these cases take the greater percentage in our reality, in this particular time, in this particular place.
"There now lay revealed such a horror as would have overwhelmed us had we not been prepared."
-H.P. Lovecraft
Fear. An unavoidable characteristic of humanity that many of us attempt to rid ourselves of. Always failing. You cannot take away a primal force of our race. Take away our fear, and we are no longer human. We are a monstrosity. Fear is present, in one form or another, consciously or subconsciously, in every decision, every action. Often times, fear appears to be irrational. But is it? It would seem that if one probes deeply enough, fear always has a causing agent. Be this known or unknown, it is present. Ignore one's fear at one's own peril. We should not attempt to discard our fear. To ignore it and pretend it is not there is a path to folly. We must embrace our fear, invite it into the houses of our body, mind and spirit. As a guest, with the rights and privileges of a GUEST, not a host. A host has the ultimate control in all things, a guest merely has the right to suggest. We should listen to and heed our fear's advice...not let ourselves be controlled by it. Feeling fear itself is a good enough reason to prepare for horror, at one level or another. Let us not allow ourselves to be caught off guard, and thus overwhelmed. Instead let us overwhelm the horror with our assurance and preparation.
"No! You were NOT as you are now!"
-Carlos Castaneda
Transformation...Something which will inevitably happen to all of us, most likely many times. From as large a leap as death, to deciding which cookie jar fits the refrigerator, transformations will usually happen to us every day. We need to change. Without change, the monotony of daily life would simply be to much for us to remain sane. Change is a necessity. Sometimes, when life grows weary, and we feel as if we just cannot go on, we instigate the change ourselves. Often times, we call this a VACATION. Something that removes us from the continuous methodology of things we do every day, be they in work, home or hobby. Without change we would simply break down. Self-promoted change is an action of self-preservation. You may just decide to take another road home from the office, using the excuse of seeing some new scenery. That's an example of small transformation. Larger changes are usually instigated by outside agencies, many times forced upon us unwillingly. In these cases, we fight against the change. We hate it. We loathe it. But we must accept it, or be defeated by the power of our own refusing will. Meshing with the unavoidable is as much a necessity for sanity as is the small change. A strong will is well, but the wise person knows when to turn that strong will towards a more productive cause, within the confines of the new being. We can fight against change, and fail. Or, more effectively, manipulate it from within and, if the change is found to be truly undesirable, transform ourselves. Fighting against oneself for too long will only drain the energy past a point of no return, leaving one without the energy needed to instigate a change. Accept the inevitable, play and experiment with your new self, secure in the knowledge that, if all else fails, you still have the option of moving to something new.
"I am astonished, disappointed, pleased with myself. I am distressed, depressed, rapturous. I am all these things at once, and cannot add up the sum."
-Carl Jung
"...to boldly go where no one has gone before."
-Star Trek:TNG
Two things very important to remember: We are individuals with personalities because we are more than the sum of our parts; There is always the unknown, always a new frontier to conquer, always another pathway to explore......