Fears

I read a book titled "O, Africa!" by Andrew Lewis Conn.  I hated the book but I forced myself to read it because I had received a promotional copy in exchange for writing a review.  I tried not to stress about what a waste of time it was to read this very unenjoyable book when there were so many others I genuinely wanted to read.  Finally, way towards the end of the book, on page 294, I was rewarded with some food for thought.

One of the characters said, "The thing you fear most is the thing that will happen."

Most people, when asked what they are afraid of, will say something like spiders or bats or maybe even waking up alone.  The quote works for those things and initially that was how I contemplated it.  Then I suddenly had a transcendental understanding of the quote - like a gift from God.

If there is a specific answer to the riddle-like quote - it is DEATH.  Most people don't admit it, or maybe have pushed it so far aside that it doesn't come to mind when asked, but I believe almost everyone fears death.  If not we wouldn't fight so hard to hang on to life.  Death is unknown and therefore scary.  We may have ideas about what happens after death - but we have no absolute, infallible, concrete proof.

Someone may not like spiders - but we are always bigger than the spider.
Nobody is bigger than Death.  Death WILL happen.
Sooner or later.  From the moment we are born, we are dying.

From time to time you hear of exceptional people who are ready to go to their celestial home and seemingly have no fear.  I've heard that faith and fear cannot co-exist.  Yet all humans are imperfect therefore nobody has perfect faith.  And from the moment we are born we are fearful - babies cry because they are afraid of the unknown, the shock of being born or wet or hungry and not knowing if the state will ever change.

It is a conundrum for me - faith and fear.