The Thoughts of We

One of the most common themes running through George Orwell’s ‘The House in the Sun’ is that of the fight between hope and fear. The title refers to the battle going on inside a human’s mind against the backdrop of total collapse. Throughout history, people have lived in fear of disaster. Why are we so afraid?

The reason that we’re afraid is that we live in an ignorant state of self-awareness. What we tend to fail to recognize is that the only thing that can stop us from completely failing is our ability to rise above our base fears and become consciously aware of our capabilities. If we didn’t possess the ability to rise above those base fears, then how could we hope to control the behaviour of others, let alone win over the enemy within ourselves. So why do we live in the constant struggle against fear, instead of being fully aware of our own weaknesses and vulnerabilities?

The answer is that, like all the other emotions we’re confronted with throughout our lives, fear too is a choice. It can be learned, nurtured, and eventually controlled – but only when we become fully conscious of our fear, vulnerability, or lack of knowledge. We have all got a little vulnerability, all of us have a little fear, and we have all got a little fear – perhaps even more than we need. In these times when hope and security seem to have taken a giant leap forward, when we feel like we’ve been given a second chance at life, the fact is that there is always another chance to learn and grow, to fight and get away from our own fear – but the first chance isn’t always best.