Just a little uncertainty
Can bring you down
And nobody wants to know you now
And nobody wants to show you how
So if you're lost and on your own
You can never surrender
--Corey Hart, Never Surrender
"Surrender is the answer."
"I don't think so."
"When you kneel down to things greater than you, you know true peace."
"And why does kneeling equate with peace?"
"It's the letting go. The rest. The not-having-to-fight. You can't do it on your own. You must know that. You need someone to carry you in the end. And you can only get picked up when you surrender."
"So, when you surrender, the burdens go away."
"Yes!"
"I see. But don't you lose a lot more than burdens when you kneel?"
"Nothing that you need. Nothing that you miss."
"That's only true if your pain is so huge that it totally eclipses everything else."
"What else? There's only confusion and self-destruction. Who needs those? When you let go of those, you have only rest."
"But having full responsibility for your life is not just a burden. You have the power to create your own world, your own reality."
"You don't create reality."
"We create reality all the time. Computers are real, aren't they? They have fundamentally changed how we experience life."
"I suppose."
"But it can be hard to follow your heart. You can get all sorts of push-back."
"Push-back?"
"Sure. It might come from others. They may judge you. They may try to knock you down for following your own path instead of theirs. Or, it might come from yourself. You might harbor traumas, self-hatred. Or you might deeply doubt yourself."
"You don't know the power of surrender."
"No, I think I do. It's the perfect state of the known. The certain. The predictable. But the price is control over your own life."
"You're just being stubborn. I understand. You're not ready to let go."
"Or, maybe you're frustrated that I'm not doing what you're telling me to do. Or that you want me to stop doing what's bad for you."
"Some day you'll choose to be truly happy. You'll choose to accept your place in the world."
"I sincerely hope I don't."
"But you will."
"I'm a person who needs to make my place in the world. Not accept the one handed to me. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it really hurts. But I wouldn't have it any other way."
(*For you personality type aficionados out there, this is an imagined conversation between a rational and a guardian, two types which can be polar opposites.)
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15 comments:
nice train of thoughts on the topic, you gave me a lot of ideas with this masterpiece :)
Keep up the wonderful work Jason.
Cheers!!
I love how you write conversations. i am always so drawn in.
For the record, I'd be the one on my knees, cause I tried walking all by myself carrying my own life and letting go is just... simpler. Not to mention less painful :)
Philosophical and vaguely sinister. I could see this being protag/antag dialogue in a much longer work. This one was fascinating!
It doesn't matter what you write Jason - it's always a masterpiece!
This is no exception.
I can understand both sides of this conversation. I can see myself on both sides depending on the situation.
I don'r approve of surrender...
LOVED that conversation. It all boils down to the follower and the leader-do you want to lead, or follow? That's the sense I was getting from it. Beautifully done. :)
I dance to my own music. Not always well but...
Chatterbox, a pretty intense topic.
Tabitha, that is so wonderful to hear. Seriously. I write dialogue so I'm drawn in, so I love hearing that it translates. And sometimes I really envy the power of surrender.
Laurel, I like that thought. I think with the lyric opener and Corey Hart's song, it does feel like a dark conflict.
Margaret, I'm always so honored when people enjoy my explorations here. You're a very valued reader and co-explorer! (And fine writer in your own regard.) :)
Bernita, it's easy to sense the fight in you. An admirable trait to say the least.
Oddyoddyo13, in many ways it does boil down to that. Those who are comforted by surrender do run the risk of aligning with, or being directed towards, rules and concepts that ultimately benefit someone else.
Jean, a dance is a dance. :)
A conversation I often have with myself.
If my dogs are really tired, swollen and hurting and I stand up is that the same as kneeling? Give up nothing, incorporate everything. It is all reality.
Petty Witter, I wonder which side tends to prevail.
Walking Man, no, I'd say that's not the same thing. I can't see you surrendering.
Surrender..? Easier said than done.
Its one of those concepts you stomp your feet, bang your head and curse yourself thinking why didn't I think of it before? I'd love to hear an idealist and rationalist converse. One can do so much with this. You also have Aine for gathering intel over the subject matter. :P
Terri, some of us just can't. We'll surrender when we're dead.
Aniket, oh, I could write the rational/idealist 22 volume set. ;)
And I promise to buy all 22 of 'em.
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