My unacknowledged, unconscious fears have simply stoked the flames of violence in me. Fear is a dangerous refuge. If I let my fears overwhelm me, I lose my way. But could I ever lose myself, since all paths lead inside where the Breath of Life lives?
Let us not be afraid. Let us dare to show and let us give, in our own way, our beauty to the world.
We aspire to freedom, but fear does not let us rest.
Are we not as scared to live as we are to die? Through fear I do not dare to dare!
When fear possesses me, I become Fear, deprived of all expression and all spontaneity, of my passion for life, of my plans. Surrounded by fear, I no longer exist. It empowers death over me and immobilizes my conscience: I empower all dictators. If I only seek the meaning of life for myself alone, then I am scared.
Our feeling of inability, overwhelmed by exaggerated demands, scares us and paralyzes us. Fear drives us to raise the bar ever higher, and then we find ourselves facing an ideal that we are unable to achieve. The feeling of worthlessness and inferiority drives us to compensate, just like “the frog who would be as big as an ox”—and puffs himself up until he bursts.
If I acknowledge my fear and I manage to identify it, a new strength is unleashed in me which allows me to take a stand against it once more. For a long time I held out, for fear of uncovering the truth. In the camps, accepting death made me feel detached, soothed, at peace, which allowed me to survive in the midst of shadows as if I were immortal, and to live each minute as if it were the last.
I give You thanks for the harvest of all that I have gone through.
You help me to knead my daily bread.
For each crumb, my heart praises You.