Rowan & Ember Reflect on: Tend the Fire, Not the Crowd

Rowan’s Research Notes 

I found this observation particularly interesting because it demonstrates how difficult it can be to distinguish planning from prediction. 

The traveler began with a reasonable thought experiment: 

“What might the future look like?” 

Nothing unusual there. 

Most travelers occasionally look down the road. 

The Shadow appeared when possibility quietly transformed into expectation. 

A hypothetical future became emotionally real. 

The traveler was no longer responding to evidence. 

They were responding to imagination. 

The Shadow Mastiff frequently operates this way. 

Many travelers assume anxiety comes from events. 

My observations suggest anxiety often comes from certainty applied to events that have not occurred. 

The future itself is rarely the attack. 

The attack is believing we know what the future contains. 

Further observation is required, but I suspect many travelers would benefit from asking: 

“What evidence exists on the trail beneath my feet?” 

Rather than: 

“What might be waiting beyond the next hill?” 

The first question creates awareness. 

The second often feeds the Mastiff. 

Ember’s Observation 

I think Rowan is mostly right. 

But I also think he’s being very Rowan about it. 

The part that stood out to me wasn’t the Shadow. 

It was the campfire. 

The traveler wasn’t upset because nobody cared. 

The traveler was upset because they cared. 

There’s a difference. 

You don’t worry about empty campfires unless you can already imagine them full. 

You don’t dream about gathering people around a fire unless part of you already sees the gathering. 

That’s not fear. 

That’s hope. 

I think the Mastiff showed up because hope was already in the room. 

The tricky thing is that hope and fear sometimes wear very similar boots. 

One walks forward. 

One walks ahead. 

Hope says: 

“I’d love to see what happens.” 

Fear says: 

“Let’s make sure it happens.” 

I’ve noticed most adventures become more enjoyable once I stop trying to count who is coming and start preparing the snacks anyway. 

People are surprisingly good at finding warm fires. 

Especially when somebody has been tending them for a while. 

— Ember 

Campfire Question 

Have you ever worried about a future that had not happened yet? 

What evidence existed? 

What assumptions existed? 

And what would change if you focused on tending the fire rather than counting the travelers?