Beyond fear and laziness

Many years ago, I watched Waking Life. Today, this question from the movie popped randomly into my mind 🙂

So what are these barriers that keep people from reaching anywhere near their real potential? The answer to that can be found in another question, and that’s this: Which is the most universal human characteristic – fear or laziness?

The answer is both. And neither.

What stops people from reaching their full potential is lack of will. Surely you can remember a time when you were past your fears and laziness, had the tools, but had to push really hard, and still had no will.

But where does a lack of will come from? It comes when one is not listening to their inner voice. When one doesn’t let go when they need to. Or when one doesn’t control when they need to.

So if one doesn’t listen to their inner voice, if one doesn’t listen to their spirit, they go against their will. And then they have a lack of will to do things.

Listening to oneself is hard because it means facing discomfort, and it also takes a lot of effort. And when one truly listens to oneself, this will inevitably lead them to love. And loving oneself is hard, because it means loving everybody.

So. Fear, or laziness? The answer to that can be found not in another question, not in philosophizing, but in love. Actual, experienced love, not stories or philosophies about love.