Fear - Our nemesis!
Hello all,
Namaste! Hope all of you had a great week where you were able to take the next step towards your own story called life. Last week we discussed whether truly we have free will or not. This week I was planning to write about walking the path of faith. But then it struck me before that we have to discuss a constant companion we all have in our life- Fear. Without tackling that subject it doesn't make sense to write more about the path of free will. So, let us discuss the concept called fear today.
Fear: So, fear! What is it? According to Wikipedia, "Fear is a feeling induced by perceived danger or threat that occurs in certain types of organisms, which causes a change in metabolic and organ functions and ultimately a change in behavior, such as fleeing, hiding, or freezing from perceived traumatic events." So, fear when it takes hold of us fully, can even change our metabolic and organ functions, and bring changes in behaviors. Many times as humans we are under the knuckle grip of fear. What is the reason for this fear that many times burden us, humans?
We have discussed this subject before in many posts. We discussed a snippet of it in the post 'Collective Unconscious.' What is Collective Unconscious? We humans have been living on this blue planet for now many thousands of years. Before when we were cavemen, we had to protect ourselves from the elements of nature, wild animals, bees, insects, and more. That struggle for survival brought the emotions of 'fight or flight', where we had to be always aware of our surroundings, aware of the leopard ready on a tree to pounce on us, or the lion that is crouching in the bushes to make a meal out of us. This awareness many times brought an underlying fear along with it. This fear was needed in those days for our very survival. Without that, we would be the burger for a lion or a tiger.
Then once humans started to settle down as agriculturalists, they had to deal more and protect themselves against natural elements, protect their farms from animals like elephants, bison and from other humans who had ulterior motives to loot, steal, or kidnap their woman. Again here fear was a major emotion that helped humans to survive. After this stage came the stage of small countries, and principalities, where the kings or monarchs had to protect their subjects and kingdom with sheer force and war.
After this came the world wars, holocaust, all the civil wars, Iran-Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syrian wars. So the humans as a race have gone through many hard times while having a life on this Earth. According to Psychologists like Carl Jung, all these hard and harsh experiences remain as subtle memories in the human psyche as a whole, and this memory is given the name 'Collective Unconscious'. Fear is one of the substantial emotions involved in this. Anger may be another one. But as this post is about fear, let us concentrate on that. So fear was very much needed as an emotion for the survival of us as a human race, but then it also brings with it the disadvantages.
Disadvantages: Now what are the disadvantages that fear bring? Even though fear is a healthy emotion to have to keep us safe from an imminent death or danger, it also keeps us rooted to the status-quo in our life. We called this the 'comfort zone' in modern professional language. What is this comfort zone? Again according to Wikipedia, " A comfort zone is a psychological state in which things feel familiar to a person and they are at ease and in control of their environment, experiencing low levels of anxiety and stress. In this zone, a steady level of performance is possible." Okay, so in this state a steady state of performance is possible. But is it the optimum?
What if the optimum is outside of this comfort zone, but just before being in danger? What if the comfort zone keeps us doing the same thing day in and day out, keep us in a rut and put us in a mentally stagnant position? Then does it really give us growth as a soul or as a human being? There is a quote by American writer, Jonathan Tropper, "The only difference between a rut and a grave is depth." As a human being, every one of us is on our slow walk towards death. Should we put ourselves in a shallow grave called rut, even before that? Shouldn't we embrace our life by overcoming the challenge of the fear or the comfort zone? In the comfort zone many times even though we may be doing physical work; our body, our mind, or our brain is not getting stimulated.
Namaste! Hope all of you had a great week where you were able to take the next step towards your own story called life. Last week we discussed whether truly we have free will or not. This week I was planning to write about walking the path of faith. But then it struck me before that we have to discuss a constant companion we all have in our life- Fear. Without tackling that subject it doesn't make sense to write more about the path of free will. So, let us discuss the concept called fear today.
Fear: So, fear! What is it? According to Wikipedia, "Fear is a feeling induced by perceived danger or threat that occurs in certain types of organisms, which causes a change in metabolic and organ functions and ultimately a change in behavior, such as fleeing, hiding, or freezing from perceived traumatic events." So, fear when it takes hold of us fully, can even change our metabolic and organ functions, and bring changes in behaviors. Many times as humans we are under the knuckle grip of fear. What is the reason for this fear that many times burden us, humans?
 |
| Fear of the unknown. Who knows where the path leads! Image courtesy - Pixabay.com |
We have discussed this subject before in many posts. We discussed a snippet of it in the post 'Collective Unconscious.' What is Collective Unconscious? We humans have been living on this blue planet for now many thousands of years. Before when we were cavemen, we had to protect ourselves from the elements of nature, wild animals, bees, insects, and more. That struggle for survival brought the emotions of 'fight or flight', where we had to be always aware of our surroundings, aware of the leopard ready on a tree to pounce on us, or the lion that is crouching in the bushes to make a meal out of us. This awareness many times brought an underlying fear along with it. This fear was needed in those days for our very survival. Without that, we would be the burger for a lion or a tiger.
Then once humans started to settle down as agriculturalists, they had to deal more and protect themselves against natural elements, protect their farms from animals like elephants, bison and from other humans who had ulterior motives to loot, steal, or kidnap their woman. Again here fear was a major emotion that helped humans to survive. After this stage came the stage of small countries, and principalities, where the kings or monarchs had to protect their subjects and kingdom with sheer force and war.
After this came the world wars, holocaust, all the civil wars, Iran-Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syrian wars. So the humans as a race have gone through many hard times while having a life on this Earth. According to Psychologists like Carl Jung, all these hard and harsh experiences remain as subtle memories in the human psyche as a whole, and this memory is given the name 'Collective Unconscious'. Fear is one of the substantial emotions involved in this. Anger may be another one. But as this post is about fear, let us concentrate on that. So fear was very much needed as an emotion for the survival of us as a human race, but then it also brings with it the disadvantages.
Disadvantages: Now what are the disadvantages that fear bring? Even though fear is a healthy emotion to have to keep us safe from an imminent death or danger, it also keeps us rooted to the status-quo in our life. We called this the 'comfort zone' in modern professional language. What is this comfort zone? Again according to Wikipedia, " A comfort zone is a psychological state in which things feel familiar to a person and they are at ease and in control of their environment, experiencing low levels of anxiety and stress. In this zone, a steady level of performance is possible." Okay, so in this state a steady state of performance is possible. But is it the optimum?
 |
| Our Comfort zone. But growth lies beyond it! Image Courtesy - Pixabay.com |
What if the optimum is outside of this comfort zone, but just before being in danger? What if the comfort zone keeps us doing the same thing day in and day out, keep us in a rut and put us in a mentally stagnant position? Then does it really give us growth as a soul or as a human being? There is a quote by American writer, Jonathan Tropper, "The only difference between a rut and a grave is depth." As a human being, every one of us is on our slow walk towards death. Should we put ourselves in a shallow grave called rut, even before that? Shouldn't we embrace our life by overcoming the challenge of the fear or the comfort zone? In the comfort zone many times even though we may be doing physical work; our body, our mind, or our brain is not getting stimulated.
Think back, when each one of us was a kid. How vibrant were we? How twinkly-eyed were we when we were investigating a butterfly, a cat, or even a new place? Why? Because we were encountering a new thing, which we have not seen before. Our mind was brimming with the possibilities of finding or learning something new. We were not worried whether the butterfly would die, the cat would scratch us, or we would get lost in the new place. We had no fear and we were just plain excited by the possibilities. But that also is not a good attitude to have. Indeed we could have got scratched by the cat or could have got lost in the new place. But shouldn't we embrace that attitude of a kid, but knowing the dangers and keeping it in mind, take calculated risks? To take calculated risks, we need to overcome the fear factor.
New possibilities: Now let us look at a few leaders of this world. If Mahatma Gandhi had been terrified of the enormity of the feat, India would have never got Independence. Martin Luther King Jr. if had not become the leader of the civil rights movement, African Americans would not have enjoyed the civil liberties today in the U.S.A. and would have been living even today in segregated neighborhoods. Nelson Mandela if had not been brave enough to fight against the 'Apartheid' in South Africa and hadn't spent twenty-seven years in solitary confinement, South Africa still would have the apartheid. Abraham Lincoln if had been afraid, even today African Americans as a community would not have got their freedom. George Washington if had succumbed to fear, there would never have been a country called the 'United States of America'. These are the world leaders who overcoming or bringing their fear of unknown under control brought a great social change in the world. This was in the realm of social structures.
Let us look at technology. If Steve Jobs had been fearful, Apple would have stayed a mere thought. If Bill Gates had been afraid, home personal computing would have been just an idea in his mind. Jeff Bezos had not persisted in his thought about Amazon and given into his fear of the unknown, Amazon would never have taken shape. Same way Facebook, Twitter, Walmart, Uber, all the Biotech companies, startups, silicon valley business ventures, everything started as an idea in someone's mind. But it is not enough to have an idea. We also should have the guts to pursue it, after controlling or overcoming the fear. Otherwise, the fear would not allow us to do anything. We would be rooted to the same spot throughout our life.
Now about our life as humans. If we had not overcome our fear of wild animals, nature and more we would have still led the life of cavemen and hunter-gatherers. For every single step we took as a human race we had to overcome the iron grip of the 'Collective Unconscious' that is in a mental conditioning we have to deal with.
Astrology: In Astrology, fear is signified by the giant planet, Saturn. Wherever Saturn is placed in our Vedic chart, that is the fear we have to face and overcome. For a person having Saturn in the first house, they would be fearful to interact with others as a person, as the first house represents the Self. If it is placed in the tenth house, the person would be fearful to take any steps towards their career. But Saturn as a planet shows us our fear by holding a mirror against us. It is up to us whether to overcome the fear or succumb to it. Even here our own free will is very much at play. So Saturn by virtue of keeping us fearful asks us to grow as a person, develop character, determination, dedication, persistence, and overcome our fear. Saturn also represents lethargy, laziness, and constriction.
So only with the characters described before we can overcome the bad habits. Saturn in higher vibrations represent the character, determination, dedication, persistence, while in lower vibrations, fear, lethargy, laziness, and constriction. Also, it is through determination, dedication, and persistence, we can build whether a social change, a new social order, a new organization or a company. To make matters worse, masses or social classes are represented by Saturn and the big organization or enterprises are again signified by Saturn! The same planet represents the weakness as well as the strength to overcome it. What a paradox!!
Philosophy: Now as per the Vedic Philosophy, each one of us is born here in this physical plane to work out our duty through our Dharma; prescribed work as per our true nature and it is not the every day work as a human society we consider. Only by doing our Dharma we can come out of the cycles of Karma. So in such a case if we are fearful, how can we work towards getting released from the cycles of Karma?
The 'Bhagavadgita' (Song of God) from beginning to end is fully laden with the task of doing our prescribed duty or Dharma. In such a case where even the divine is singing the elegance of the prescribed work, should we be fearful to do it? The underlying purpose of the Dharma itself is to bring up the evolution or knowledge of the soul. In such a perspective would ever the Dharma be realized in the domain of the comfort zone? No! It would not be, because the nooks of the comfort zone, we as a soul already have mastered. There is no growth or evolution of the soul here.
The growth or evolution lies in the 'zone of the unknown.' To do work in this zone we have to leave our 'fear of unknown' behind. Otherwise, from a soul perspective, we are wasting a life we have been entrusted. There is a sloka in 'Bhagavad Gita' discussing this fear aspect. In the chapter on 'Liberation and Renunciation', sloka 8, (Chapter 18:8) discusses this,
Dukhamityeva yatkarma
Kayaklesabhaya tyajeth |
Sa krutva rajasam tyagam
Neiva tyagaphalam labeth ||
Meaning: Due to the fear and anxiety of bodily discomfort (Remember mind also is part of the body and fear comes from mind) that work (Karma) which is renounced, that renunciation doesn't bring any satisfaction/benefit to the renouncer or to the work that is renounced.
So here it has been pointed out that the underlying emotion is fear. A person is not rejecting the work because he/ she has already learnt the work and can now move to the next level of evolution. But here the person is leaving the work undone due to the fear of the work or the task involved (fear of the unknown). That is not okay. In such a scenario we are letting ourselves be rooted in place, whether with our own Earthly life or our evolution of the soul. As we have already discussed in the post, 'Everyone is an Arjuna', if we take ourselves as Arjuna (Arjuna is the warrior prince in Bhagavadgita/epic Mahabharatha), and Krishna, the divine ( innerSelf/ intuition/ Universal spirit/ source energy or whatever we prefer to call it ), is telling us, the soul, fear doesn't bring us anything, whether in this life or after this life.
To start with itself, in Bhagavadgita, Krishna, the divine starts with telling Arjuna (us, in esoteric sense), "Oh, Arjuna (Soul), become brave, take up the bow (talents, passions, interests), using your arrows (mind, focus, concentration), kill your enemies (fear, guilt, shame, anger, arrogance, ego) and win your success (fame, honor, wealth, compassion, universal love, and more).
So, should we as a soul, as well as a human being be afraid of the social, mental and psychological conditioning we have and succumb to fear? Or should we controlling/overcoming our fear march towards success and victory? Let us elaborate with an example.
The thirty-second President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), led the U.S. during the torturous time of 'The Great Depression' with his trademark domestic legislature, 'New Deal.' This was to help the nation to start rebuilding, make jobs available and later bring economic prosperity to the people. No other President would have thought about taking such a step to rebuild the country, when there was absolutely no wealth and poverty was rampant. The new deal brought back prosperity, wealth and a way for the nation to come out of the depression. We can choose either the fear to root us permanently to a spot or make it as our fuel for the greater things we vision for our life. Let us finish with a quote from FDR- "Only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you next Friday! 😉
Next week: Guilt, shame and doubt - Fears galore!
Note: Images from Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay.com.
Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance ; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried".
All rights reserved to the author (SwaroopaStargazer) and SwaroopaBlog.
To my Blog readers: As all of you know, the European Union has passed laws regarding the collection of the user data. This is just to inform all my EU blog readers, I just use Google Analytics, which Google provides, to look at from where readers are reading my blogs. I also use Specific feeds to use their service for subscription list. I don't collect or intend to collect user data to sell or provide to third-party applications. Regards,
SwaroopaBlog.
Philosophy: Now as per the Vedic Philosophy, each one of us is born here in this physical plane to work out our duty through our Dharma; prescribed work as per our true nature and it is not the every day work as a human society we consider. Only by doing our Dharma we can come out of the cycles of Karma. So in such a case if we are fearful, how can we work towards getting released from the cycles of Karma?
The 'Bhagavadgita' (Song of God) from beginning to end is fully laden with the task of doing our prescribed duty or Dharma. In such a case where even the divine is singing the elegance of the prescribed work, should we be fearful to do it? The underlying purpose of the Dharma itself is to bring up the evolution or knowledge of the soul. In such a perspective would ever the Dharma be realized in the domain of the comfort zone? No! It would not be, because the nooks of the comfort zone, we as a soul already have mastered. There is no growth or evolution of the soul here.
The growth or evolution lies in the 'zone of the unknown.' To do work in this zone we have to leave our 'fear of unknown' behind. Otherwise, from a soul perspective, we are wasting a life we have been entrusted. There is a sloka in 'Bhagavad Gita' discussing this fear aspect. In the chapter on 'Liberation and Renunciation', sloka 8, (Chapter 18:8) discusses this,
Dukhamityeva yatkarma
Kayaklesabhaya tyajeth |
Sa krutva rajasam tyagam
Neiva tyagaphalam labeth ||
Meaning: Due to the fear and anxiety of bodily discomfort (Remember mind also is part of the body and fear comes from mind) that work (Karma) which is renounced, that renunciation doesn't bring any satisfaction/benefit to the renouncer or to the work that is renounced.
So here it has been pointed out that the underlying emotion is fear. A person is not rejecting the work because he/ she has already learnt the work and can now move to the next level of evolution. But here the person is leaving the work undone due to the fear of the work or the task involved (fear of the unknown). That is not okay. In such a scenario we are letting ourselves be rooted in place, whether with our own Earthly life or our evolution of the soul. As we have already discussed in the post, 'Everyone is an Arjuna', if we take ourselves as Arjuna (Arjuna is the warrior prince in Bhagavadgita/epic Mahabharatha), and Krishna, the divine ( innerSelf/ intuition/ Universal spirit/ source energy or whatever we prefer to call it ), is telling us, the soul, fear doesn't bring us anything, whether in this life or after this life.
To start with itself, in Bhagavadgita, Krishna, the divine starts with telling Arjuna (us, in esoteric sense), "Oh, Arjuna (Soul), become brave, take up the bow (talents, passions, interests), using your arrows (mind, focus, concentration), kill your enemies (fear, guilt, shame, anger, arrogance, ego) and win your success (fame, honor, wealth, compassion, universal love, and more).
So, should we as a soul, as well as a human being be afraid of the social, mental and psychological conditioning we have and succumb to fear? Or should we controlling/overcoming our fear march towards success and victory? Let us elaborate with an example.
The thirty-second President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), led the U.S. during the torturous time of 'The Great Depression' with his trademark domestic legislature, 'New Deal.' This was to help the nation to start rebuilding, make jobs available and later bring economic prosperity to the people. No other President would have thought about taking such a step to rebuild the country, when there was absolutely no wealth and poverty was rampant. The new deal brought back prosperity, wealth and a way for the nation to come out of the depression. We can choose either the fear to root us permanently to a spot or make it as our fuel for the greater things we vision for our life. Let us finish with a quote from FDR- "Only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
 |
| FDR- "Only thing we have to fear is fear itself!" Base Image Courtesy - By Elias Goldensky (1868-1943) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you next Friday! 😉
Next week: Guilt, shame and doubt - Fears galore!
Note: Images from Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay.com.
Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance ; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried".
All rights reserved to the author (SwaroopaStargazer) and SwaroopaBlog.
To my Blog readers: As all of you know, the European Union has passed laws regarding the collection of the user data. This is just to inform all my EU blog readers, I just use Google Analytics, which Google provides, to look at from where readers are reading my blogs. I also use Specific feeds to use their service for subscription list. I don't collect or intend to collect user data to sell or provide to third-party applications. Regards,
SwaroopaBlog.
Disclaimer: This is a personal blog. The opinions and viewpoints shared here are that of the author/owner only. Even though the author/owner will try to research well before posting the information, the author/owner of this blog does not make any portrayal of the accuracy or correctness of the content on this blog or the links provided. The author/owner will not be liable for any omissions or inaccuracies occurred. The author/owner will not be liable for any damages or losses due to the use or display of this blog. These terms and conditions can change at any time. This blog is purely for informational purposes only.
©SwaroopaStargazer and Swaroopa, 2017- Eternity.
©SwaroopaStargazer and Swaroopa, 2017- Eternity.
![Base Image Courtesy - By Elias Goldensky (1868-1943) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FDR_in_1933.jpg){kind=link}
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