What FASCINATES YOU?
What FASCINATES you?
In case you’re curious as to what specifically I mean, I classify as fascinating those things that irresistibly draw my attention and interest.
I’ve had a lot of fascinations in my life. As a kid I was fascinated by space. I loved the Star Trek movies, reading coffee-table-sized books about the planets and the universe and the science of stars, building spaceships out of LEGOs and LOVING watching that alien space ship blow up the Empire State Building in Independence Day.
Later on in elementary school, I was fascinated by skyscrapers, then by America’s roller coasters, then by outdoor expeditions, especially the most terrifying climbs on the world’s tallest mountains.
Being fascinated is a great emotional experience. It’s exciting, even energizing. To live a fascinated life is to spend your time on the edge of your seat. To feel connected. To share something.
Fascination also seems to be the opposite of fear.
When we are afraid of something or someone, we pull away, but when we’re fascinated, we draw close.
I’m worried that our world seems filled up with increasing amounts of fear. We’re afraid of the economy and how it will affect our retirement or our job security. We’re afraid of technology and how it’s changing our brains. We’re afraid of our President’s Twitter feed and how it might affect North Korea’s bombs. We’re afraid of the increasing number of school shootings and what that means about our society. We’re afraid of our kids growing up and moving out into a scary and unfamiliar world. We’re afraid of our parents dying, and having to ourselves become people others look to for “wisdom” in a world we no longer understand. We’re afraid of people whose skin color is different from ours, afraid of people who practice a different religion, or who identify with a different political party.
There’s so much to be afraid of that fear can take up all our time, steal all our attention, and rob all of our peace.
What if fascination is the antidote?
What if fascination is a pastime that can be practiced? A skill that can be improved upon? A spiritual discipline that can help us recover joyful space in our brains and our hearts? A tool to build friendships with people or bridges across difference so that we can get to know and love the very people who could heal our deepest pain and who, through knowing them, might dispel more and more of our fear?
What fascinates you? Wouldn’t it be fun to talk about those things and share them with others?
Come join the conversation! We want to know what fascinates you and maybe as we get to know you, share a little bit about what fascinates us!
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