Down and down we go
...myself included. Found this at Whiskey River a moment ago and it seems to define the battle (regardless of its nature) each of us has to face at one time or another.
"Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."
Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
12 comments:
The powerful desire to stop fighting gravity.
Sighing, I sort of wish that my vertigo was that. Unfortunately, I have meniere's syndrome, so vertigo is just part of my daily existence.
Zhoen:
It is seductive. I've been drawn in that direction a few times, but something always pulls me back.
:)
Maria:
I have a friend who suffers with Meniere's. She sometimes is house-bound with it, and becomes depressed. You have my empathy and best wishes.
:)
Letting go is the most difficult thing of all. I'll be sure to tell you when I get the hang of it :-)
Thought provoking.
For me maybe not so much a desire to fall but a curiosity as to what it would be like.
And then a shiver at the reality of what it would be like.
Maybe that's why some avoid trying to climb too high so that we don't have too far to imagine falling.
It's all in the imagination.
Susan:
Please do! I need all the help I can get. :-)
:)
AWB/John:
Not everything is in the imagination, but I take your point. There is much in our lives that we can control, provided we approach the situation from a different point of view, a different mind-set.
:)
thought provoking...
:) ribbon
Ribbon:
Thank you for visiting. I found the quote though-provoking, too.
:)
I sympathise with Maria but for me (as an ex-rock climber) vertigo is an unbearable itch in the soles of my feet when I carelessly allow myself to imagine a precarious situation associated with tall buildings. Always man-made structures, never cliffs or rock-faces. I had some apprehensions about seeing the film "Man on a wire" about the Frenchman who strung a cable between the Twin Towers and then walked the walk. Even the fact that he was narrating the film didn't allay these sensations. Good film, though.
BB:
What was the name of that family of high-wire walkers from the 60s and 70s, from Italy, I think? I used to watch television accounts of their daredevil escapades and had a similar sensation, only in the pit of my stomach. Scared the daylights out of me.
Visited your blog again and saw the photo your brother sent of the Fairy Steps and that flake that came crashing down and sandwiched you between its pieces. How many of those nine lives do you have left, anyway?! That's a terrible way to make history, friend.
:)
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