Safe Within Danger

Last night I found out the place I'm subletting starting May 1st is near a dangerous place in Berkeley, replete with drugs, violence, and desperation. As you can imagine, I flipped out. I started contemplating how I could get out of the sublet — perhaps subletting my sublet, if you will. Anxiety had me in its grips all day today as I couldn't stop feeling afraid. In my mind, the danger I could potentially experience was a given, practically a guarantee: "You're going to live near a dicey spot so of course you can expect some bad stuff to go down."

Tonight during my meditation my spiritual teacher came to me in a vision and said, "You could be in the most dangerous place in the world and still be safe." I didn't want to share that tonight, would have preferred to write about how ignorance is NOT bliss, but this issue of safety felt more important.


I feel really safe when I’m in child’s pose.

How often do we cruise through neighborhoods expecting bad things to happen to us? How often do we stay away from places because they're "not safe?" What if safety is not merely an external affair and instead included an internal element as well? What is our safety was not dependent on the outside world alone and was more about our internal world?

I'm not saying to put yourself in front of a firing range and assume you'll escape unscathed because you "feel safe," but maybe there's a relationship with the idea, "When it's your time to go, it's your time to go." Perhaps safety is like that too; when something "bad" is supposed to happen, it will. And maybe I can be safe in the most dangerous of places because there's the divine element I'm not factoring in. I've heard of many stories were people were in dangerous situations and called on angels, Jesus, their guru, etc. and the attackers became dazed and walked away. In fact, that happened to my own brother.

Perhaps instead of assuming I'll be raped, murdered, or mugged because I'm living next to a sketchy park, I can embrace the idea I'm safe anywhere and everywhere because my safety is dependent on owning my power, being in an assertive state, and calling in my divine help as needed. I don't know what I'll do about my sublet situation, but I'd love to really feel I can be safe in dangerous situations, and I have that wish for others.

I dream of a world where we all feel safe all of the time. A world where we trust we'll be taken care of. A world where we ask for divine intervention and then receive in. A world where we feel safe even in the midst of danger.

Another world is not only possible, it's probable.

3 Comments

  1. Erika on April 29, 2013 at 9:42 am

    Hmm, this is very interesting. It actually reminds me of a quote I read a little while ago:

    "Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."

    Like you said, I don't think we should be neglient with regards to safety, but I do sometimes think that life has a way of leading us into situations we might not otherwise be led to because of what it appears to be on the surface. Maybe that sublet is exactly where you need to be at this time of your life — for reasons that will only become clear in retrospect.

    I do hope you are safe and everything. I also know you are trusting the universe and a situation like this forces you to. I'm in a similar position right now in my life where things are super uncertain and up in the air and a part of me is scared, but that calmer, peaceful, trusting part is ACTUALLY winning out. I feel a little crazy in some senses but I also feel like I'm building towards something wonderful. 🙂

    • Rebekah on May 5, 2013 at 10:25 pm

      I love this. Thank you for sharing.

  2. Making Sense of the Senseless on November 24, 2013 at 10:51 pm

    […] a defensive pedestrian). It allows me to believe I really am safe and protected. That perhaps like I wrote about in May, I can be safe within danger because this incident was not preventable. That maybe higher power is […]

Leave a Comment





This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.