Fear

FEAR

I have been thinking a lot lately about fear and what a terrible and controlling thing it can be. Fear can be defined as an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. I think that this a pretty good definition for such a thing. Fear has been ingrained in us since man took his first steps on this floating rock of ours, it is an unavoidable part of the human condition. Oddly enough, the catalyst for this recent subject of thought was a movie I watched a couple of weeks ago, "The Croods." Yes, I am aware that this is a cartoon and in no way shape or form a historically accurate portrayal of our ancestors or their way of life. However, it is my opinion that the mantra that this family lives by is: "Never be not afraid." This mantra seems to have been passed down both consciously and subconsciously through every generation of human beings since the dawn of time. This is absolutely understandable if you ask me.

How terrifying must it have been to be a caveman! Think back to such a time, instead of four constructed walls and a roof they had caves. The closest thing to electricity being delivered to these early dwellings might have been a bolt of lightning striking a tree near the cave entrance. Running water meant living near a creek, river, lake or ocean. Clothes, if worn at all, were likely the skins from the animals they hunted for food. So much of what we take for granted now hadn't even been formed as a thought back then! Everything was brand new, and so much of what they experienced on a daily basis must have been petrifying! Imagine the first deafening crack from a bolt of lightning striking close enough to cause their hairs to stand on end and eviscerate a nearby tree. Although they obviously hunted, they were by no means the top of the food chain. They were probably more likely to be killed and eaten by a creature than to kill and eat it. They had rocks and pointy sticks and eventually fire to fend off would be predators. Would you go up to Alaska and hunt bear with nothing more than a pointy stick, a rock, and maybe a makeshift torch? I strongly doubt it. Over time they formed tribes and learned their own ways of defending themselves and communicating. Inevitably, they would cross paths with other tribes who did not communicate in the same way as them, again, another terrifying experience.

What did all this fear do? They feared the animals that were predators and threats to their way of life, this caused them to hunt and kill these creatures, to find ways to keep them at bay. When they came across other tribes they could not communicate with what did they do? They fought and killed them if they were perceived as a threat. They feared thunder and lightning, but couldn't defeat it, so what did they do? They withdrew from it, took shelter. I could go on and on about the things that scared them and they in turn tried to kill or withdraw from, however, I think that I have made my point fairly clear. Since the dawn of mankind, our fear of the outside world and one and other has dictated the majority of our actions in dealing with these fears. Fear bred violence, killing, hatred and anger right into the very fabric of our souls. For the naysayers, I understand that to some extent fear kept us alive. However, it must be said that fear and danger are two completely different matters, debatable another time perhaps.

It goes without saying that we are quite obviously no longer in the Paleolithic era. However, it once again is my opinion that fear is still a predominate decision making factor in each and every one of our lives. Modern times dictate that we no longer need to live in constant fear of animals or other marvels of mother nature. We have developed enough as a species to mitigate the dangerous risks associated with these things. Instead, we now let fear have a much more crippling effect on our day to day lives. As I mentioned, fear has been ingrained into the very fabric of our souls. Much like any addiction we feel the need to latch onto it. It's always been there, since the dawn of mankind, without giving it a second thought this seems to create in each of us a desire to feed it. It will never occur to most of us to stop doing so, to let it go.

Just because modern fear has changed and doesn't necessarily pose a physical threat to our safety doesn't make it any less real. The most common modern fears that come to my mind are fear of failure and judgment. Our fear of failure and judgment is so paralyzing it tends to dictate that we perpetuate the same amount of minimal effort we're accustomed to exerting in order to keep our personal, social, and religious perceptions of failure at an arms length. Too often we sacrifice our happiness, and that of others to maintain the comfort zone that is not failure, but is not true happiness or success either. It is these very fears that tend to prevent us from attempting to change things in an effort to improve our own lives. We are so scared of failing and being judged as a failure that rarely do we step outside our comfort zones to take charge of our own lives and emotions. Obviously something's working, we don't live in pure terror each day, so why change things? The thing is, not living in absolute terror and being truly happy are drastically different things. I challenge you, if you are reading this, to step outside your comfort zone and let go of one thing you are afraid of. Be it forgiving yourself for something that you are ashamed of and thusly scared of being judged for, telling someone the honest to God's truth about the way you feel, or anything that you are scared of in any way shape or form. It's actually quite freeing, go on and try it. What are you so afraid of?

Much Love,

Phil