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Originally Posted by Angela  Yeah, I think the traditional definition of vulnerability is really charged. I just looked up the origination of the word: vulnerabilis: Latin for "wound" and it just so happens the same base as "vulva."  Danger, Will Robinson!
If we admit to a willingness or capability of being wounded or entered, then it feels like an invitation for others to hurt us or take control over us. That doesn't feel good. I may be willing to be vulnerable, but I don't want to let anyone know I'm vulnerable, cuz they might hurt me! 
I wonder if we focus on the kind of courage and willingness that we here are talking about, if we could take the charge out of the word and create something really inspiring for ourselves. |
Just before I read this I was reading the other posts and thinking about something Deepak Chopra said (I forget which book) about vulnerability - how you're vulnerable when you fall in love and are open to change - your boundaries/defences drop enough for you to feel merged with another. Also in intimate sex you're vulnerable but it is (can be) wonderful, transportative. So moments of vulnerability remind us that we're not closed off and separate - that we're part of it all, part of each other. A lot of people are scared of that - really scared - and they build their defences (toxic personalities, addictions etc) to protect themselves. Or they don't know that that is the Truth (that we are all one) and this is what makes them scared?? This was definitely me for a lot of my life.
There is a power in people who allow themselves to appear vulnerable - it freaks people out. Staying with your negative experiences (sadness, fear) allows them to be processed rather than be pushed away to resurface in a more dangerous form (mental health problems, violence, physical illness).
Hmm, by this way of looking at it we owe it to ourselves to be vulnerable...