[All That Matters, Kölsch]
“I teach you the superman. Man is something that is something to be overcome. What have you done to overcome them?” Nietschze– from Thus Spoke Zarathustra
This post will publish on a day of which I will have one less year to live. I will commemorate this by the celebration of overcoming fear (a constant). We are nothing, if not our decisions. How do we face ourselves and our fears? The new or the old?
Two philosophies juxtaposed- one with god and one without- talking to emotions but especially fear- both ending in the same purpose:
- [Invocation, from Jai Uttal’s Khirtan album “Khirtan- The Art and Practice of Esctatic Chant”]
- The yogis of old recognized that one of the big components of the human being is the heart, the center of emotions. We can tune our body like crazy, we can become super smart but what about the emotions? They seem to rise and fall, they seem to go like waves of the sea, we never know what’s going to happen with our emotions. We try to control them, we try to suppress them, but the old yogis knew that wasn’t the way. They knew that these emotions were a crucial part of bringing the human being to divine consciousness, they knew these emotions were not a mistake and they said rather than getting rid of them, use these emotions these are your fuel, these are your energy, this is what god gave you to speak to god and they created bhakti yoga.
- The Art of the Impossible:
- If god is dead and there’s no divine meaning to life, then we need to make meaning on our own. This is the will to power- the existentialist mandate. We take responsibility for our choices- we act, we create, and we alone bear the responsibility of our creation. (on Nietschze, the original peak performance philosopher)
- Fear is the most common emotion- been afraid for so long. It’s what you do with that fear that makes all the difference. If you are interested in impossible, then you are interested in challenge and if you are interested in challenge – you are going to be scared. The emotion is fundamental- it’s what we do with it that makes the difference.
- The big point – fear is a constant- if you don’t learn how to work with this emotion, it will certainly learn to work with you. If you can take that energy to focus- then a potent force to grit skills.
Our emotions are the neurochemistry for what we feel, and therefore our potential for what we can achieve. I have a readiness to take this fuel of fear into a practice of constant curiosity and bhakti (duty, devotion and discipline).
To face the fear of the old, we must face the fear of the new- what better way than through traveling to some place unknown.
Traveling is a way of connecting the dots exploring new terrains while curiosisity is is a way of moving lightly from one idea to another in a conceptual landscape. At some fundamental level then, curiosity is a manner of traversing space. Curiosity travels.
And so with this, I adamantly embrace travel as curiosity and curiosity a way to face fear. More than ever I welcome more and more of these random views, wanting to capture through photography this idea of Nepantla and even newer concepts still to be discovered. Will you walk with me?
I complete this particular series on Mexico City from Jan 2025 and look ahead to embark the rest of this year to London, Los Angeles, Portimão, Lisbon, Alkmaar, Amsterdam, Chicago, Saõ Paolo only to begin again in Mexico City at end of the year where I can only hope that my walking (and thinking) have surrendered all (including fear) to the universe in gratitude for everything that I owe to those that I love.
p.s. A midway anecdote below for the personal journey the last 6 months and a reminder that through it all, I am ready to be done today (Feb 18)- with patience- as this is scheduled for posting March 20. Time- forever my friend and nemesis.
ofallthespaces 