There is much wisdom here, Slip. Fear is a natural human emotion designed, I think, to allow the development of our response to danger. The longer I live, the less immediate danger I find in my life, so fear finds me less often. When it does, I tend to witness it unemotionally at first, reserving response until I can observe all the details of the experience and make my choices. These days, fear is more of a signal to stop and do this, than an overwhelming emotion. But it took a good deal of fear to get me there, and I think that fear can be self perpetuating and almost addicting. One fear leads to another and pretty soon, what was a logical fear is succeeded by numerous irrational fears - fear of death, heights etc., just so we can feel the fear and that great release of hormones and adrenaline that comes with it. Survivalists and those that subscribe to conspiracy theories come to mind - something to fear around every corner. The end of the world is near (they tell us.)
I believe that when we are trapped in our fears like this, we are trapped in the belief that the outside world is the only reality and in control of our lives. Ever limiting. Only by facing and getting beyond this experience of fear, can we begin to see thing like you do. Part of this is understanding our own ability to create our experience, having trust and faith in life that it is good and we can succeed. Having a strong enough self concept to know that we can get through anything, and enough influence in our world to help make that happen. It is a shadow process. But it is only once we are through it, that we see we only feared our own shadow all along. I also admire your idea of appreciation. I too believe that the more we spend our time in appreciation of our experience, the less our experience will be something to fear (worse than it is). On Jul 16, 2:29 am, Slip Disc <[email protected]> wrote: > We must all face the fact that there is always the potential reality > that the worst can happen. I often look back through history to get a > clear picture of how humanity sometimes collides with horror and see > that death and suffering can just be a fleeting moment, and then life > moves on. I think of all those who suffered and died in natural > disasters and human atrocities, what pain they must have endured till > the end. Upon acceptance of all that, I see the future as being open > to any and all possibility and therefore fear takes the back seat, > fear won't accomplish anything except wasting the time you spend > living with it. > > Yes I know about fear being part of the survival mechanism blah blah > blah. > > Point is, I could be homeless tomorrow, living on the street > scrounging through dumpsters for a scrap of food or I could win the > lotto and become a multi-millionaire and all between those too > extremes. Be thankful for what you have because it can always be > worse than it is. > > On Jul 15, 11:43 am, gruff <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Industries and markets rise and fall on confidence. Confidence rises > > and falls on perceived instability. The keyword is perceived which > > frequently, having no relation to reality, causes skewed results in > > the marketplace and on the hearth. The antithesis of confidence is > > fear which even moreso rises and falls on perceptions. > > > So what do we do? Convince ourselves there is nothing to be afraid > > of? I think not. That's a foolish approach since there are very real > > threats in the world. Convince ourselves that we can handle whatever > > it is we fear? That sounds a bit better but still bound by lack of > > face to face reality to a large degree. My own method is to just put > > fear out of my mind and go blithely forth to whatever awaits if I > > must. That also is the playground of fools. > > > There has to be a mindset wherein one feels comfortable facing the > > unknown that is a rational confrontation, where one can feel the > > breadth and depth of the fear without caving under it's enormous > > threat and reacting instinctively, where rational analysis can reveal > > a truer nature of the perceived threat which may prove not be a threat > > at all since it seems most of the things we fear most are those we > > create in our own minds and hearts and exist nowhere else but there. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
