Fear

I am sure, that my answer does not help much, for practical purpose of getting rid of the emotion (negative emotion) called ‘fear’.
But it is worth looking at it, from the state of mind that we the ‘present day people’ have. May be we can come a bit closer to the issue, the aspects involved, and then perhaps, we may find ways and means of either adapting ourselves to the age old techniques, or try to remodel those techniques in a way that is more practical, to suit us the way we are presently.

Basically, we fear something that we don’t want to happen to us. Like death, injury, failure, disappointment, etc. But prior to that fear, there are two stages. Resistance and jealousy. Something that does not stay in those two sieves are the items that usually drop down below the fine mesh, and get precipitated! We are not afraid, at least initially, of being poor. We are envious of the rich, and then we may become jealous, and if it does not work, we start hating the rich. We become afraid of the rich only when we see that the rich can snatch away something else too from us, which we like to have, or we already have, using that money power!

What I liked about the question was that it asked about the fear itself, and not the source or problem that causes fear! That takes the question within, towards the ‘inside’ of us. To turn inwards, hunt for that fear, isolate that ‘fear’ and then face it, and then find out how it goes ‘away’ (where to?) is a very funny, abstract, fuzzy thing! (It is amusing to observe how children ‘slowly’ get used to those Diwali fire crackers, those that suddenly burst with a sound! There is a small length of sizzler that lights up, slowly burns out, taking the fire inwards, nearer towards that ‘actual’ packed power of powder, and then it ‘always’ takes us by surprise when the explosion happens! We do a lot of convincing, persuade the children to keep their eyes open, ears unplugged, and try to muster courage to ‘watch’ it and enjoy the thrill. They nod their head after great appeal, but when it actually happens, they wriggle free their arms out of our grip, plug their ears, squeeze their eyes tightly shut with eyelids compressed, and await for that fateful moment to pass by! I look at this example, because it is typical and unique. The fire crackers are not ‘exactly’ something that has passed the stage of ‘envy/jealousy/hate’ and then comedown as an object or source of fear. In fact they love to again go through the process (but of course with eyes closed, and ears plugged!). So elusive is that problem of driving out the fear! It is possible to explain the ‘process’ that happens in that child, which grows up and finds it easy to light the same cracker holding it between tips of fingers! This time, the problem of parent is other way around, to warn of the possible misfire, and health hazard! But the details of psychological phenomenon that causes the transformation is too elaborate and almost redundant. We have better ‘fears’ to deal with in our daily life!

Some items, about which we are clear that we cannot do anything about, right from the start, go down straight away, to evoke fear. We are afraid of, for example, the Policemen usually (that is what makes them suspect even the innocent people most of the times!). That is why the ‘authorities’ are now struggling to repaint the image about police in our minds (those people-friendly approaches etc). We nod our head and when we actually confront them in a ‘situation’ we just do what those kids did about fire crackers, close our minds, logic, emotions, etc and try to run the hell out of their view! Trust takes a long time to build up indeed, and gimmicks don’t work! Yeah! Trust, when it deepens, way beyond all its known forms, attributes, and meanings,……. simply dissolves all negative emotions, and we become ‘pure’!

Psn(28th October, 2010)





http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101017204010AA5TRTJ
How exactly fears go away when you face them?
how exactly that process works? I'm very curious cause I think that's one of the most common, but unsaid, things people gotta live with and don't know what to do about them.

My answer:
On 23rd March 1931, three people were hanged for being too patriotic to India. They had smile on their faces. (It seems, some diary of one of the officers who supervised the hanging officially, even mentioned that he witnessed a third type of death!). These three people had accepted the fate cheerfully, and welcomed death. They had no anger or hate for the people who carried out the death sentence, because they were only 'obeying' orders. (The dramatised version also states that many such people who faced patriotic death during freedom struggle, even pose a challenge, saying 'If there is a rebirth, we would come to offer our lives a hundred times for the same struggle, but how do you hangmen, punishers propose or plan to meet us next time?'

Fear is within us, it dissolves when we accept the situation, its possibilities, deep within us. ( It is not easy, though it looks simple! For example, those fire crackers, when lighted and about to explode, look at the faces of children who anxiously await the explosion and sound. They are quite tense. Logical acceptance at mind level(as a 'thought') does not help. Acceptance has to be a living experience. It is a bit subtle. Till then, as you rightly said, "gotta live with".