The One Fear We Can’t Control
Everything else we can sublimate
As Mercedes O'Leary has written, we fear the unknown. More specifically, we fear that which has not yet manifested.
But what I’ve found over the years is that something I once feared, when it actually happens, becomes known. So, it’s not so scary anymore. At least this has been the case so far.
That doesn’t mean I’ll like it. It doesn’t even mean that it’s not so bad. It could really suck.
But life has been a series of things I have had to deal with, and this is just the latest. It may be a pain-in-the-ass, but it doesn’t scare me anymore. I’m too busy learning about it and coping with it, to have room for fear.
At this point, fear serves no purpose. It certainly doesn’t help me. I need all my faculties clear and undistracted, insofar as this new situation allows.
But now we come to the Catch-22: Dementia.
This is our Achilles’ heel, because it steals away our ability to perceive accurately and to think clearly. In the case of this evil genie, the afflicted person needs the help of someone he can trust. He can no longer rely on his own mind to pull him out of it.
