Tuesday, March 17, 2026
The physical is like a tinted window. The suspicious become curious of the reflection. If paranoia gets the best of you, you run from the reflection. If paradise gets the best of you, you’re drawn in for a closer “look.” Lean in, the universe will let you in (on a secret).
Getting close to fear is like cupping your hands and leaning into a darkly tinted window. You may be slightly afraid, but drawn in. As St. Paul insinuates, we look dimly into the mirror; one day we’ll see face-to-face. That’s why people “face” their fears. They look right into the barrel of a gun. They walk right into the heat of battle. They understand the inflammatory condition—a valley called “the shadow of death.” Few traverse this shadow. Not many people are this “stupid.” Reality is a blazing glory and who can see it? Only those willing to close in.
If you want to see face-to-face, you’ll first peer into the darkness with a heightened sense which resembles fear, but it’s awe and curiosity in disguise. Do you really want to see the sun? First, look into the darkness. Cup your hands. Lean into the “mirror” and “see” the presence behind and before you. But first, lean into fear, not on your own understanding—which says, “Flee!” Disbelieve in compulsive fleeing. Sit in the blackest black until night vision arises. You’ll “see” the folly of absence. Fear is an illusion that the darkness has its own power.
The only way to bring fear to a close is to close in on it. The only way to paradise is through the valley of paranoia—a thin, reflective shadow that seems to separate you from that which is never separable, but maybe simply forgotten. Anxiety and paranoia are not walls, but illusions that dissolve the moment you creep in. Paradise is on the other side of the tinted window from which you are tempted to flee. Get closer until you’re no longer scared of your own reflection.