Fear

"Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. "
Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays (1950), "Outline of Intellectual Rubbish"British author, mathematician, & philosopher (1872 - 1970)

A fine morning with my son blasting through his jigsaw puzzle with much more vigour and precision than he (and his parents!) had managed last night. It strikes me as I watch him approach tasks that the absence of fear can be so liberating and empowering. Some fear can be useful, indeed essential for self-preservation especially where there is clear physical danger involved - one might argue that this is not fear but instinct, but let's call it fear. I suspect that the vast majority of fear that we feel is probably unnecessary and destructive.

How do we get to the heart of the matter simply and quickly? What if we focus on the result of the fear? What happens to the fearful person? Do they take right action? Do they take wrong action? Or do they take no action? I think these three responses to fear stem from the nature of the fear itself and ultimately from the history of fear in the person. Let's start with the fear that leads to right action. I am about to be hit by a car and I jump out of the way. Or a gunman is approaching me and I take evasive action. First question. Am I right to be afraid? Second question. Is my response appropriate?

Let's now move to a more sinister form of fear, one that is increasingly familiar in recent history. There is propaganda about a certain group of people in society - "they are out to get us, they want to destroy us all , they do this, they do that, they believe this ...". This leads to fearful beliefs and ultimately to violence and cruelty in the name of "self-preservation" - "we had to get them before they got us", "the end justifies the means". An example of wrong action?

Finally, how about the most common form - the fear that leads to no action, the fear that paralyses us and holds us back in our lives. We procrastinate, resist, "plan", "analyse" etc. But we don't actually take the required ACTION. We freeze before an exam, a performance, an important conversation, an opportunity to become involved in a key venture. We shrink from the light...

I have found that one useful approach to dealing with fear is to become very aware of it, to actually observe yourself and acknowledge the fear explicitly. You become very present and often will find that the fear immediately subsides under the glare of your attention. It seems like it can only thrive in darkness and obscurity, not when it is being watched and perhaps even savoured, like an exotic specimen of wildlife being filmed...

"I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are. "
Frances Moore Lappe, O Magazine, May 2004

"Let the fear of danger be a spur to prevent it; he that fears not, gives advantage to the danger."
Francis QuarlesEnglish poet (1592 - 1644)

"Fear is the tax that conscience pays to guilt. "
George Sewell

"Feel the fear and do it anyway. "
Susan Jeffers, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, 1988

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light , not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of god. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make and manifest the glory of god that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
Marianne Williamson, "Our greatest fear" from her book 'A return to love'