From the usual definition of fear—a distressing, unpleasant
emotion evoked by the dread of or threat of imminent harm—we’d assume people
don’t line up to pay good money to be frightened. But the lines outside haunted
houses and theaters showing horror films prove us wrong. We don’t like being
afraid but somehow are attracted to fear.
I wonder if this love of being scared isn’t hardwired into
us as human beings. Created as finite we exist as tiny creatures in an
expansive cosmos, and so live on the edge of a greatness that shocks our
imagination. Called into existence by God’s word, if God were to withdraw his
sustaining word we would tumble back into the nothingness from which we came.
And in a fallen world we live knowing that death shadows us, and every glimpse
into that abyss once again underscores our finitude. Not surprising then, that
biblical incidents where people experience the presence of God and his angelic
warriors find them struck down with fear (Isaiah 6:5; Daniel 8:17; Revelation
1:17). Nor is it surprising that a healthy fear of the Almighty is a sign of
wisdom and maturity, demonstrating an ability to rightly discern reality
(Proverbs 1:7; 1 Peter 2:17).
Thus the yearning for spirituality, for God, for meaning
that transcends the narrow confines of time and space includes a search for a
proper fear. We find this unpleasant response somehow strangely attractive,
needed to jolt us into a sense that we might after all exist.
Perhaps this explains the attractiveness of places like The Nightmares Fear Factory, a tourist attraction at Niagara Falls, Canada, billed
as “The World’s Most Frightening Experience.” It takes fifteen minutes or less
to walk through it, and at the corner in which the fear peaks The Factory has
installed a camera. They post pictures online (which you can see here).
My question is: why are these pictures so funny?
[Source: Thanks to Andrew Sullivan on The Dish, where I
first heard about The Nightmares Fear Factory.]
This entry was posted
at Friday, October 14, 2011
and is filed under
Humanness,
Humor,
Mystery,
Wisdom
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