To be clear, are you saying that your interpretation of the latter quote’s meaning (the one about being “open to the universe”) comes from the speaker’s explanation of what he meant by it? Or, is the quote all there was, and the explanation is your own gloss?
He definitely said a longer sentence, but I think most of the explanatory power came from what he was responding to, which I no longer remember the details of but which I remember as having the emotional content of “I am afraid to do X because I don’t know how it will turn out.”
He definitely said a longer sentence, but I think most of the explanatory power came from what he was responding to, which I no longer remember the details of but which I remember as having the emotional content of “I am afraid to do X because I don’t know how it will turn out.”