Time, See What’s Become of Me

by Harold Rice-Erso

I recently had the joy of taking my 16 year old son Gabriel to a brilliant performance of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” – Edward Albee’s intense depiction of the way people live their lives and relationships from the perspective of fear. In this play, we see four individuals blaming each other and others for the gross unhappiness in their lives.

Not one of these four people takes any responsibility for the lack of love and lack of work success in their lives. They are angry, angry, angry. They defend, deny, and attack over and over and over again, in the name of honesty and what they think is fair. They do such damage when using symbols in this distorted way.

So many people don’t even realize that they are totally absorbed in fear. They blame their unhappiness, depression, anxiety, stress and their worries on other people. They blame society, the government, and Life itself. They are afraid to see life as it genuinely is.

Taking such a perspective, they believe that the power to make their lives better lies outside of themselves. They do not recognize that they have totally given up all power to manage their own emotions and to influence the events of their lives. Fear controls them. Fear dictates their decisions and actions and leads to fear in the people around them.

The three most important elements of transformation are awareness, awareness, and awareness. We must search out every story and thought and distorted symbol that leads us into fear. Fear itself is normal. It is an animal reaction to danger, but when a lie creates fear, then we waste precious energy and time escaping from happiness and love. We waste our lives blaming ourselves and others for our suffering.

We are the power of life itself. Time and circumstances do not ravish us. Our beliefs do. Seeing the truth of what we are is grace. It is a rebirth. It is transformation. I have given myself the grace of dying to my fears and my lies. I am fearless. I am the truth and the light. Let your fears die, and have the courage to join me in my timelessness.