The World Beyond Fear

>I am standing in a Port Wine warehouse that is older than the United States. I am in Porto, Portugal, where daily life draws upon centuries of stories and wisdom. It is my first visit. I am here to learn about Port Wine. To absorb what I can of a culture I do not know, in the land of explorers. (Amerigo Vespucci, after whom our country was named, sailed both from Spain and Portugal looking for new lands.)
I walk by the River Douro, and think about these men (who included Gil Eanes). Gil—a daring and experienced captain sent by Prince Henry—tried and failed fifteen times to round Cabo Bojador, the Bulging Cape. It does not seem far down the West African coast on today’s map. But until 1434, it was evidently a technical barrier for sailing vessels. Worse than that it was the end of the world. The coast was nothing but cliffs and dunes. Waves were high, fogs thick. Gil Eanes reported that the cape was impassable, and then on his sixteenth expedition, passed it. He brought back to Lisbon flowers collected in the world beyond fear. Seldom has such a fuss been made over a few wild roses. (Story borrowed from The Last Old Place by Datus Proper.)

What happens in a world, where we live beyond our fear?

Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live. Dorothy Thompson

. . .without darkness
Nothing comes to birth
As without light
Nothing flowers.
May Sarton