The Unknown

We do fear the unknown. This is most obvious. However, how can we learn, if we do not try to understand the unknown. I had a friend recently tell me that he does not know what things are like here and that he gets anxious anticipating what things could be like. That is certainly understandable. I was quite hesitant and reluctant to try this new place out. A weird thing called love sometimes ushers us into the unknown. We can never truly understand, how different cultures live if we are not around them. I hope I'm not repeating myself with this last sentence? I almost feel as though a similar sentence was penned by me, already. Honestly though, it you are a fatalist, this was already supposed to happen. It was etched in stone my departure from my hometown and onto this unknown city. It was out of my hands if I am a fatalist which, to a large degree I am. I believe that everything happens for a reason. Even when the reasons are painful. The painful lessons and the jovial lessons, both in great measure, point to something. It is life trying to show us something. Sometimes it's not until much later that these courses our life takes bring us toward the light of understanding. Many times we are left in the boat with no oars. We don't know what lessons we are being shown and perhaps they will not become fully realized until we meet on judgment day?

To learn more and be shown more, we have to venture to the unknown. We have to explore the unfamiliar. We have to meet these strangers. To immerse one's self into a different culture keeps us from becoming quick to judge the other. It is so easy to think of ourselves as so much more different than the other. We all come from the same clay and the same Hands made us. Why not try the unknown? If it does not work, we at least tried, and hopefully learned from our endeavors. Fearing the unknown, and repeating and staying with the known, keeps us bogged down by the repressive wand of complacency. I am not saying that anyone is wrong for not heading out onto a new path. It's F@#%$#$ scary! It is unfamiliar and at least we know what we are getting with the old path, the familiar one. What I wanted to communicate to the man without sounding like a fucking elitist was that hey, trust me, you will enjoy a brief visit here! There are innumerable offerings! So much to show, so much to give, so much to ingest. Life is so short, and no matter what path I am led to, I can say that my thirst was quenched on many different levels. I absorbed the benefits of this place and they were many, and I learned from the ills of this place and they were few.

James