Fear Factor

Power and love, are definitely essential to our daily lives, and absolutely necessary to making any change to our lives, or any instances in our daily lives that we want to change—including the world around us. However, in order to bring power and love together to “walk” successfully with power and love balanced simultaneously; we need to step beyond the boundary of fear before that boundary line. As Kahane quotes leadership author, Margaret Wheatley: “fear is fundamental to being human, and so we can expect that we’ll feel afraid at times, perhaps even frequently. We can withdraw or distract or numb ourselves. Or we can recognize this fear, and then step forward anyway...” (132). What we need to do is recognize the fear standing in front of us, in order to move past and place our power and love in place to work together.
On Kahane’s position: although Kahane came from a well established background and was very privileged, he was able to put himself and his background beyond that, and create a hunger for power and love by people throughout the world in his actions, as well as in this book, “Power and Love”. He was probably very afraid to put out this book, because he thought people would respond negatively, or nothing would come of it. He still published and wrote the book, by using the power and love to send out his ideas and become successful.
I can also empathize with this same type of ideal of pushing fear aside, and using my own power and love to create something successful, in relation to this colloquium class. At first, I was very hesitant and afraid to join the class, as I didn’t know what to expect in taking a Nutrition and Philosophy class. I never really paid attention to the things I ate in detail, and definitely did not think I was spiritual or in the right mind set to take a Philosophy class. I honestly, liked the topic most out of the other choices (It was also the only Monday/Wednesday class). I had my own power and love for myself to take this course, and try something new for a change. It turned out prosperous, as I gained a knowledge of not only healthy foods, but also a more open mind set for change. I was not going to let fear stand in my way.
Kahane’s “Power and Love,” steps beyond the boundaries of fear, and moves forward about teaching the lesson of the balance of power and love. It has already been established that power and love need to come together to make any change or take a big step. Both collaborate, as Kahane’s book points out, but pushing past fear first is one major step, that is often failed to be mentioned. Beyond fear, is just one long journey to lead to success with both power and love. This can only be accomplished by pushing past the boundary of fear, “stepping forward” (140).