~Which is it for you?
~Has it always been the way it is for you now, or has the terror-wonder balance shifted one or more times over the years?
My answers to the questions above would be:
~I think for most people that I know, life is more wonderful than it is terrifying. However, there are probably many, many people I do not know, for whom it is the other way around.
~For me, life is much more wonder-full than it is terror-filled.
~The balance has always been in favor of wonder for me, but not always to the same degree.
What does that picture say to you about wonder and terror? Does it look like a picture of someone taking in the beauty of a heavy snowfall of an evening? Or, does it look like someone caught out in a blizzard, maybe lost, as night falls?
What about this one? Do you think of a wonder-filled morning walk through the forest in the early morning hours, maybe just after a great cup of coffee? Or, do you think of a terror-filled trek through a deep forest as night closes in, hearing strange sounds with every step?
One more. When you see this picture do you think of the wonderful silence and beauty of the first snowfall of the season in the big city; or, do you think of the terror of being alone, all alone, in an unfamiliar place in the cold of the concrete and snow?
Carlos Castaneda has written this: “The aim is to balance the terror of being alive with the wonder of being alive.”
It is a delicate balancing act, for sure. If you can, tilt the balance in favor of wonder...for yourself. And if you can, for others, too.
Very thoughtful reflection.
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