The 2 scenarios below are from the post 'Risking Happiness':

1. I give to and take from the moment in the active hope that it will propel me into a larger, deeper future. Or ...
2. I hibernate in the moment from the paralyzing fear that my future will be deemed inadequate.

Two weeks ago I admitted spending more time of late in scenario #2 above, than in scenario #1. I examined my hesitancy to take risks, discovered that the judgments being handed down to me were from me, and ended the post 'thinking about' the value of innovation vs. the fear of risk.

(Note - by paralyzing fear, I am referring to stagnation, fear of risk, and lack of empirical growth; not a fear of everyday social interaction / work / life.)

Throughout this site I have encouraged everyone to question everything. I have discovered that living this philosophy may at times induce one to question oneself to the point of numbing uncertainty or paralyzing fear (as defined above). I have extended these thoughts to the following question: If I recognize/acknowledge/understand that I do not have all the answers and that I know very little, then what have I got to lose? If I am to play the fool anyway, the audience should get their money's worth; right? It seems appropriate to insert here this excerpt from the previous post 'A Fool for Happiness':

"Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Fools
I will fear no folly; for thou art fools with me.
Thy nod and thy laugh, they comfort me.
We preparest a stable disparity in the presence of mass obedience.
They disjoint our heads with feckless toil; yet my thoughts runneth over.

Surely I shall follow Wisdom and Truth all the days of my life,
and I will seek the house of Happiness forever."

It is up to you to decide if thou art a fool with me, or if thou art they.

I want this discovery to be liberating but it will not be until I make it tangible through behaviors. I have verbalized assault plans to significant others in order to hold myself accountable. I intend to conquer this fear of risk through positive, ethical actions in the active hope that the result will be empirical growth through innovation. And if the result is that I am deemed a fool, then I have not lost ground. It is more truthful to be recognized as a fallen fool than to blend in as a faceless phony.

Now I need to walk the walk; or trip and fall on my face, as the case may be ...