We Are Afraid to Dance

We've stopped tuning into nature's rhythms and have started making random noise

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Photo by Olivia Bauso on Unsplash

What is fear but clinging to the illusion of safety? A misguided attempt to control the uncontrollable rhythms of life. An attempt to hijack the performance of music meant to be danced to.

Instead of letting life’s rhythms move us, become part of us, become vibrations we groove to, we act as if the orchestra must be making a mistake. We tell them they’re playing the wrong notes, yet never in our wildest dreams could we begin to understand the awesomeness of the universe’s instruments.

Attempting to make these wonderful rhythms conform to our selfish desires, is one of our most profound follies. In comparison to nature (Or God or the universe, it’s up to you) , we are not even a toddler banging at the keys of a grand piano. We are not even a pig attempting to strum the strings of a harp. The inanity of our criticisms of music beyond our grasp, beyond the depth of our understanding, must be man’s greatest mistake.

We do not appreciate life’s rhythms. Appreciation would take us much further than our attempts to fit such awesome music into a box of our liking. Appreciation is a type of understanding more powerful than the attempt to control that is the “logic” this society attempts to deploy. We ruin the notes by rearranging them. We sully the sound by trying to make sense of it.

We succumb to the fear of the unknown by refusing to accept our powerlessness in the face of life. We obsess over control. Of our environment, of the people around us, of ourselves. But safety is only an illusion. Fear is only an empty wish for control that we will never have. Frankly, that we do not need.

I guess fear can be appropriate in certain situations when avoiding the dangers of obvious death or bodily harm. But it seems to me that many would rather skydive, bungee jump, or any other of a million things humans have invented to distract us from the fear lurking deep in our hearts. We distract ourselves with constant stimulus, rather than be honest with ourselves. We overcome our fear of death, but not our fear of life.

Does the fear of life trump the fear of death? We will throw ourselves off of buildings, fly across the ocean in a piece of metal that floats on explosions, but we will refuse to surrender to life’s randomness without fighting tooth and nail.

There seems to be more fear of emotional pain than physical. The proposed pain of rejection is a greater motivator than the chance of acceptance. Our society has brainwashed us with negative reinforcement. We are intensely aware of what could go wrong when exposing our vulnerabilities. We are painfully ignorant of what could go right.

The risk of shattering the already brittle sense of confidence we have in ourselves tears us asunder and renders us incapable of choosing the beauty of connection, the righteous power that results from open and honest communication. We never witness the beautiful music that could result from letting go of our need to control ourselves and others.

Instead, we dance our awkward dances, attempting to create our own notes that cut across the wondrous melodies life has already provided. We move outside life’s natural rhythms, eager to prove our worth to society while simultaneously taking ourselves further away from the greatness that exists inside each of us. We innately know how to dance to the universe’s beautiful orchestra of randomness, but our desire for control has buried our intuitive dancing feet under an avalanche of rules, logic, and faux rational thinking, creations of our human insecurities. Products of our deep-rooted fear.

Our insecurities have manifested into this need to control, to “organize”. We are great at wrapping our dysfunctions with decorative paper and bows. What we’ve normalized as beneficial, actually takes away from our ability to enjoy life to the fullest. We become so attached to this insane human idea of being in control, motivated by our fear of the unknown, we fight against the unyielding flow of the universe in the present moment.

We second guess experiences as they happen to us. Asking ourselves how could this happen, this isn’t right, this is wrong, I don’t deserve this, etc. But instead of asking ourselves “What if?”, we could ask ourselves “What is”?, so we are no longer fighting against the reality that we are currently experiencing. Being judgmental simply arrests our forward progress.

We judge because we do not trust ourselves to be able to handle life’s random peaks and valleys. We judge because we must stress ourselves to constantly keep our guard up, otherwise who knows what would happen.

But that’s the exact point, who knows what will happen? Miss Cleo’s service was cut off long ago. The mistake of judging from a place of fear, in an effort to control the uncontrollable rhythms of life, causes us stress that wreaks havoc on us mentally and physically.

So what is fear, but clinging to the illusion of safety? Does being afraid stop life in its tracks? It might stop you from moving forward in life, but the universe will keep right on whether or not you approve.

So how about we stop being afraid, and start being accepting? We’re along for the ride, whether we like it or not. Might as well grab a window seat and see what sights there are along the way.