Some are terrified by chaos, while others draw strength from it.
Take the black kite, for instance. This bird of prey, part of the hawk family, glides effortlessly on warm air currents, shifting direction with ease and diving like a stone to snatch its prey.
It eats just about anything: mammals, birds, reptiles, frogs, live fish, insects, mollusks, crustaceans, and worms. It even goes for household trash and carrion, which is why British soldiers nicknamed it the “shite-hawk.”
But it has another name—“fire hawk,” earned because of its attraction to wildfires. The bird circles near the flames, picking off creatures dazed by the smoke. It even spreads fires further, grabbing burning twigs and carrying them to new spots.
The black kite adapts to any environment, and that’s why it’s free.
Notice the ambivalence in how people perceive it. On one hand, there’s disgust (“shite-hawk”), and on the other, admiration (“fire hawk”).
When we meet a free person, the same mixture of feelings arises.
He will do, with ease, what would never cross our minds. And even if it did, our inner tyrant wouldn’t allow it. That’s why we feel like a knight on a chessboard, under the gaze of a grandmaster.
What do we feel when we meet someone who is absolutely free?
That's right, awe. That overwhelming sense of reverence, admiration, fear, respect, humility, and submission to something greater, something we cannot comprehend.
No wonder so many want freedom, yet so few are ready for it. Philosopher and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm once said: “Tyranny scares us less than freedom.”
Freedom is a risk, which means responsibility, which means discipline.
Sincerely yours,
-Alexander
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As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.
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