Steps Toward Freedom

Hope and fear are two sides of the same coin.

One cannot exist without the other.

Whoever hopes also fears that what they hope for will not happen.

If they attract the object of their hope into reality, fear follows: the fear of losing it.

Conversely, whoever is afraid secretly cultivates the hope that what they fear will, by some magical or divine intervention, never come to pass.

Even if it does happen, there is hope that it will end quickly, painlessly, without cost and forever.

Both fear and hope arise from a sense of lack.

A lack of love, partnership, children, money, abundance, health, connection, success, recognition, worth or safety. It is the feeling that the present moment is not as it should be and that, through hope, it will become right at some future time. Or that things are right now, but will be lost and we will be unable or too weak to manage that loss.

An effective way to step out of this endless alternation between fear and hope is presence: presence in our HERE and NOW.

Those who have consciously begun their journey of self-awareness know that there are many gateways into presence: conscious breathing, meditation, connection with our inner energy, attention to one or all of our senses, active listening, connection with nature, observing nature or animals, and more. There are also many ways to remain in this field. Whichever way we choose, the qualities we need for this remarkable journey are shared: faith, devotion, commitment, curiosity, surrender, enthusiasm and acceptance.

Let us remember that hope and fear are signs that we have left our NOW and are traveling into a future that does not exist. By focusing continuously on it, we lose or squander the value, feeling and gifts of the present moment, our precious NOW, the only moment in which life takes place.

Let us remember the words carved on the grave of the gifted and enlightened Nikos Kazantzakis, one of the most important writers of the twentieth century:

“I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.”