Meditation: Fear

Fear is defined as an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. A phobia is defined as an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something. There is no doubt that fear is the most powerful emotion that exists. In my last blog I wrote about how the news media uses fear to control the masses. Fear is a very valuable emotion. It is fear that keeps us safe and from making very risky decisions in our every day life. When fear develops into a phobia, then it can become a real problem in our life. It can make a person helpless and unable to move. The most common phobias include, heights, flying, death, darkness, public speaking, spiders and confined spaces. There are other ones, but you get the idea. This is the best example that I have seen, that shows how powerful fear can be. I knew someone who was a smoker, who had smoked for over fifty years. I can’t say this person was a heavy smoker, but at least a pack a day. When the person developed chest congestion, an x ray showed a spot on the lung. Immediately the person quit smoking for the next 6 months. The 6 month x ray showed that the spot had disappeared. The next day, the individual starting smoking again and continued for the next 10 years, until cancer developed someplace else in the body. It is amazing what fear can make a person do, and what fear can keep you from doing.

Fear can lead to the emotions of worry and anxiety. How are we going to handle this powerful emotion? There are various strategies and plans that can be helpful. Some are more practical than others. You can always avoid fears. The best way to deal with the media. This is looked upon sometimes, as the cowards way of handling fears. Like most labels this is not really true. Sometimes avoiding a fear for a finite period time, gives you time to realized that you may be able to overcome it. Looking at something from afar, so to speak, can give a different perspective on the problem. Getting away from something for awhile, and then going back to it, works as a very good problem solving method. It is used for many problems, why can’t it work for a paralyzing fear. Another way of handling fear is imagining you are doing what you are fearful of, and seeing this in your mind. That is where the fear is originating, and if you can see overcoming the fear in your mind, then you may be able to overcome the fear in the real world. There are other psychological methods to overcome fear. They range from experiencing the fear in a safe environment, cognitive-behavior therapy, virtual reality, and good old medication. I am not going into detail of the various methods, but there are many methods to handle the problem of fear.

How did fear get so powerful? As discussed earlier fear is the one thing that can keep us alive. That’s why we don’t jump off building, walk leisurely across interstate highways, and think we can out wrestle a bear. There is true power in saving one’s existence. Fear is a necessity, where other emotions are not. However this emotion then seeps down into the very fiber of our being, and keeps us from performing the simplest of task, or really enjoying life. As powerful as fear is there are other emotions, anger, lust, sadness happiness, and dismay that may get out of control or become irrational. However, when these emotions get out of control, there is some kind of action or movement. It may not always be the most appropriate movement or action, but none the less something does happen. It is only fear that seems to be so paralyzing. There is no question that meditation can help this. However, the biggest factor on why people do not meditate, is fear. Fear of what they are going to find inside. Fear keeps people from even doing nothing. Does Nike give us the answer when they say “Just do it”. Oh, if it could only be that easy. I do know that a bad plan is better than no plan, which is what fear will cause. Roosevelt said it best when he said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. I do not think there is a solution to fear if you are not meditating, but I do not believe that meditating is a guarantee to overcoming fear. This powerful emotion at least for now is the ruler of the world. The solution has not been found, but when it is found, the world will be a better place.