The Human Condition

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Recommended: Short note on fear

The Human Condition

Death does not surrender to science or to rationality; therefore, some people resort to irrational behavior when faced with the fact they may die soon. The fear of death, or, specifically, the anxiety of it, can cause various reactions. A number of people may reach out to love ones for support and comfort while others may run away. These differences in behavior, fight or flight, are a result of a natural human response to fear. Fear affects many people on a daily basis from fear of failure, fear of rejection, or fear of death. This fear may cause certain people to work harder and conquer their fear and overcome it; however, this anxiety that accompanies fear may cause others to surrender to it. Fear is a very powerful emotion that has the ability to make some people prisoners in their own body. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” conveys a story of prisoners chained in a cave incapable of moving. The people in society that are chained by fear are very similar to the prisoners in Plato’s cave. Furthermore, the prisoners are forced to view shadows that appear on the cave wall in front of them. Due to the shackles, the prisoners are unable to move their heads to see behind them; therefore, the prisoners believe the shadows of the cave as reality. This story helps to acknowledge that many people may accept these chains by surrendering to fear, hence never reaching true enlightenment. These “prisoners of fear” may not reach their true potential due to fear of failure; consequently, fear will keep a vast majority of people chained to unrewarding, unfulfilling lives. Through the characters Carter Chambers and Edward Cole, Rob Reiner suggests the different ways that fear can act as a chain in his movie The Bucket List,...

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... rather than a fear of failure.

The fear of intimacy involves the unwillingness for people to open up and reveal their true selves; therefore, many people do not experience everything life has to offer as well never fully discovering their purpose. The fear of commitment is very different from the fear of intimacy; two people could be married or friends for years and never know each other emotionally, intellectually, or spiritually (cite). These fears of intimacy in Carters’ life have acted as chains that have kept Carter from maintaining a successful marriage with any of his four wives and/ or a flourishing relationship with his daughter. When Carter and Edward are getting ready to jump out of an airplane, near the middle of the film, Carter states that he has been unsuccessful with all four of his marriages because he liked being married but loved being single.

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