“Security is mostly a superstition. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

Helen Keller

This is one of my favorite quotes of all time. As soon as I heard it, I knew that this would be exactly how I want to live my life. For the most part, I fulfilled that intention.

I recently found out that someone I know very well built a safe-room in his house. A wall pops out and behind it is a fully outfitted space that can keep a person successfully concealed for some time. He does not live in a war zone, is not in the drug trade or politics, and has quite an ordinary life. We’re talking a sales job in the deep suburbs of New Jersey, with lots of friends and solid family relationships.

It was one of the most shocking discoveries I’ve had in a long time. I remembered how he’s become increasingly obsessed about the world going to hell, and has started watching those ‘doomsday’ shows on cable TV. I recalled his reluctance to take risks, even fun ones. I remembered his vehement pleas about vaccinations, first aid kits, and exit strategies whenever I would travel somewhere distant and/or exotic. But this? To spend all the time (and money) it must have taken to build this room left me… horrified.

Perhaps this person has a secret life, and people really are out to get him, but I doubt it. Perhaps there is someone out to do me harm, either accidentally or purposely, but I doubt it. And to hide behind a false wall would never be part of my plans to deal with it.

Perhaps I’ve been lucky. I’ve lost jobs, friends, lovers and most of my family. I’ve lived a very human life of successes, failures, endings and restarts. I’ve accumulated enough personal data to undeniably demonstrate that security is an illusion. That I cannot prevent bad things from happening and I can only keep going. It’s all we have, isn’t it?

Safety is nowhere on my list of desires. When we protect ourselves from the adventure that is life, we close the door on powerful lessons, ecstatic experiences and opportunities to feel courageous. We say ‘no thank you’ to the universe’s offers of the unimaginable, unpredictable, the devastating and delightful.

When one of these offers comes knocking on your door, will you hide in a small dark room, or will you throw the door open and say YES!

Will your life be lived trying to avoid harm, or trying to create magnificence?