fear

I had a sudden thought the other night, looking at a swimming pool (though that particular body of water was at a perfect temperature). Imagining a cold pool, however, even icy-seeming, I realized I might feel a certain fear at the sensation of the cold water, as if it was a kind of pain, and that would make me consider it unpleasant.

I realized, however, that if I could embrace the wonder of the sensation of the cold water, and perhaps embrace even more through that - the weightlessness inherent in being submerged, the sudden availability to acrobatic movement, the tough of a girlfriend's smooth skin - then that fear which I had initially, reflexively blanketed the idea of "cold water" with might be transformed entirely - as Phillip Moffitt wrote in an entirely unrelated article I just read, "admidst all suffering there is joy."

Tangentially, something similar occurred to me while watching a horror movie - perhaps that is something of the fascination for going to a movie to be scared...that possiblity of tranformation of the emotion.