Into the Unknown

Like I said in an earlier posting writing during this particular week has proven a bit frustrating. I just can’t seem to get caught up with anything, work, bills, etc.. So it goes. Thus I am dipping back into my archives for tidbits that seem interesting. The following was written to a friend who was thinking about moving from one locale to another. Moving from one city to another, or moving from one phase of life to another I think the text still makes sense and is of value.

“I was reading a small book that I have always found to be of worth. Like Siddhartha I go back to it again and again. Normally several years pass between the readings. However each time I put the effort into the reread I find myself with a new feeling about some aspect of my life. This time as I am perusing it I realize that it is most likely my fourth or fifth time through the text. Last night I came upon this passage. Thought you might like it.

In essence the writer created a philosophical text relative to the nuances of caring. Not surprisingly the title is the almost eponymous, On Caring. The author is Milton Mayeroff. In one larger section of the book Mayeroff takes time to talk about what he feels are the critical components of caring. These include trust, honesty, patience and several other attributes. The one that seemed interesting relative to you and your personal journey was courage. Here it is:

Courage is also present in going into the unknown. By following the lead of the subject matter or the direction of the growing child, I have no guarantee where it will all end or in what unfamiliar situations I will find myself. The security of familiar landmarks is gone and I cannot anticipate fully who or what the other will become or who I will become. This is the courage of the artist who leaves the fashions of the day to go his own way and in so doing comes to find himself and be himself. Such courage is not blind: it is informed by insight from past experiences, and it is open and sensitive to the present. Trust in the other to grow and in my own ability to care gives me the courage to go into the unknown, but it is also true that without the courage to go into the unknown such trust would be impossible. And clearly, the greater the sense of going into the unknown, the more courage is called for in caring.”

What followed was a bit of exhortation to take action. In retrospect my comments probably weren’t the most apt. All that was necessary was to lay out the text. Most of the people I know understand how to read and can figure it out on their own. Thus I am just posting this now without further comment. Take it if you need it, leave it if you don’t. (Thank Robert Hunter for that line).