The nature of fear. It’s relationship to actions and desires
Imagine living with absolute fearlessness. It would be an indescribably joyful experience of living in the moment. Fear has a powerful effect on us. There is nothing more effective in taking our awareness from the present.
Due to the presence of fear, we find it hard to embrace the mind. We brace ourselves when the mind takes us through past recollections and thoughts of the future. Fear is partly a habit. We condition ourselves to exist alongside fear. For some, fear is a motivating factor, and for others, it can be detrimental to achieving life’s goals. Action without fear brings out our inner strength, while fear limits our actions in accordance with the mind.
Action without fear brings out our inner strength, while fear limits our actions in accordance with the mind.
Fear is the mind’s most powerful tool. It is like an open drain that takes away happiness, leaving us with a feeling of being incomplete, whereas joy is like a continually running tap that fills us with the freshness of life and makes us whole and complete. There is an internal struggle for a balance between the two, fear and happiness. Another way of looking at this balance is through the lens of gain or loss.
Fear is the mind’s most powerful tool.
Fear is primarily linked to worries about loss. We hold onto thoughts and memories to mitigate this sense of loss. Fear of a loss impacts us more than happiness that comes when there is a gain through the fulfillment of desires. There is so much more to the experience of life when we are fearless. However, we lose this precious opportunity to experience and enjoy life by entertaining fear.
Fear is primarily linked to worries about loss.
Fear increases as our expectations go up. We expect to be happy, wealthy, healthy, and so on, if not now, at least in the future. It is also just as easy to imagine a future where we don’t have these things. This results in fear, which brings about suffering that manifests even before the anticipated adverse event takes place.
Fear increases as our expectations go up.
We rally all our mental energies around suffering brought on by our fears. We may look to sensory pleasures that can offer an anesthetic effect against such fears.
Fear is the root of all negative emotions, such as anger, greed, jealousy, lust, envy, etc. Fear in its raw state is not a comforting feeling. There is significant disharmony between the body and the mind, and the body responds by activating the cascade of the natural stress response.
The primary purpose of this stress cascade is to react to sudden and unexpected physical threats to life. However, the mind can also activate this cascade through fear. This is usually in response to negative interpretations of what is going on in the world around us.
We may be sitting in our home on a comfortable couch watching news that the mind interprets as disturbing. Depending on how deeply the mind is invested, it can trigger varying degrees of emotions of fear, anxiety, and unease along with physical manifestations of stress. There is constant feedback going back and forth between the mind and the body.
Fear lives in this endless feedback loop between the mind and the body. When awareness is tied to the mind and the body, we cannot escape fear. When there is overwhelming fear, we say, “Fear is paralyzing me.” Fear smears the entire mind with a dark quality. In that blurry and indistinct mind, imagination runs riot and we are incapable of doing and acting as before.
Desires are softer manifestations of fear.
Desires are softer manifestations of fear. While fear concerns loss of some kind, desires relate to a future gain. With regards to desires and fears, these two questions are worth pondering.
What do we lack now in the present, at this very moment that fulfilling desires will bring?
What can we truly call as our own that we fear to lose in the future?
Both fear and desires point to the future. It is easier to engage with the future through our desires than through fear. Desires turn us into seekers, while fear turns us into avoiders. This again comes down to loss or gain. We seek to gain through desires and to avoid loss through fear. Fear and desire motivate the majority of our thoughts and actions.
It is easier to engage with the future through our desires than through fear. Desires turn us into seekers, while fear turns us into avoiders.
Both desiring and fear distract us from the effort required to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves. If there is acceptance of our present state of existence and the world around us, the mind has little role to play. Acceptance will not just diminish our fears but will also minimize our desires. When acceptance is total, it is a path to fearlessness and desirelessness.
When acceptance is total, it is a path to fearlessness and desirelessness.
Desirelessness does not preclude action. On the other hand, we become more productive. We don’t lose precious mental energy in the expectation of a gain or loss. Here the ego may play a smart game. It will project our desires onto others. We may say we desire for the good of others, or we are trying to remove their fears, in other words working for others. The ego may then hide our desires and fear behind this veil of altruism.
If we are genuinely desireless and fearless, there is no need to fear or desire on someone else’s behalf. We work for the common good of all without expectation, fear, or desire. That is true action.
