The Problem with Fear

We are all afraid, all of the time. Sure, sometimes we feel safer than others. Sometimes we even believe that we can find safety here. We know, though, that it won’t last. On some level, we know that we compromise with fear every minute of every day.

The problem with fear is that we aren’t aware of its source. We think our fear is due to some external threat such as a disease, the bad guys, acts of God, etc. We spend every waking hour (consciously or not) defending against these myriad concerns. Defenses don’t protect us; they simply reinforce attack. Fear is always the result of a belief in attack.

Fear is an effect of the ego thought system, a delusional thought system dependent on attack and guilt. Fear is the result of a thought, a tiny mad idea, which we’ve given power and consequence. If we recognized for a second that a thought was the source of our fear, we’d change our mind, and Peace would remain.

Having identified with this thought system, however, we protect it as if our life depended on it. What we think is our life does. The only way to undo the fear is to recognize its source and decide against it. Within the ego’s thought system, we have no awareness that there is another way. (Remember, the feedback loop from a previous post.) That’s why we need help. We need a symbol beyond the insanity, beyond the closed thought system. Forgiveness is that symbol – whatever form it happens to take. The content of the symbol, i.e. that guilt is impossible and never justified, is the solution.

We can’t untie a knot until we stop hanging from the rope. Likewise, we can’t undo our fear until we stop hanging on to (or from) our guilt. Undo the guilt, and the fear will follow.