Fear, when one looks at it closely, comes from not being free.
You have done something wrong in the past. The thought of being found out some day is fear. Then the facade you have built around you with all your contrivance will come crumbling down. You don't want the real you to be seen by the world in full nakedness.
Fear is also in the thought of what is going to happen tomorrow. How do you forge ahead, become rich, powerful, famous, admired by those around you, envied for your never-ending success. Thought of never-ending success carries in it the never-ending fear of failure.
Can one be free of all these? Are you not curious to know how it will be when that happens?
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8 comments:
The fear of being caught or that of not achieving goals in life, I can imagine, must be paralytic for many.
To me, the fear of rejection, of loneliness and of helplessness (in terms of being dependent on others for one's well being), is absolutely petrifying!
Tuesdays with Morrie, addressed these very fears so very beautifully! The inevitability of it all , paradoxically brings comfort! It's all about perspective and attitude I suppose, or as a very wise friend once advised me,"shifting the lens to change focus." :)
Was just putting down some passing thoughts, my friend. Somehow I have been a little numb to the feeling of fear all through my life.
By some fortune, I belong and so have no fear of rejection or loneliness. But helplessness in terms of having to depend on others (am entering old age without a pension, not even the government's goodwill pension to journalists here since I have somehow not got myself enrolled in the scheme) can come to me in the days to come.
But who worries about the days to come? Ha, ha ha!!!
Then you feel like being free. It may be just a feeling, but i think I will take it my stride!!!
I think when we are ay yje brink of death, our life and priorities suddenly shift to the right perspective.
I lost one of my aunts the other day. With her death, I realised the emptiness I feel (though I haven't met her much once I moved away from home) ... but each time a relative dies, something seems lost, and a fear for the safety of the existing family comes to mind.
These days, when I get scared, I read Krishna's advice to Arjuna .. the one about our dharma being the most important. And then, it feels like the path is clear. And ultimately, when you have done your dharma, you are at peace.
I don't fear for myself .. but I fear for the loneliness I'll face if & when my folks may not be around ...
And then, when I look upon God as my only real confidantes in this life, and the lives to come, I feel much stronger. I read "Many lives, many masters" by Brian Weiss and this helped allay some of my fears.
Reg. your reply in the previous post, am so glad you have found an objective in life ... Am glad you are back to being active.
Do not fear .. pension or no pension, things will be fine. God will send his angels to help you when you are in need.
Thank you Deepa and my friend who signs anonymous!
You both speak wiser than your age would suggest.
Being here, now,...acting spontaneously yet meditatively, doing one's dharma, playing the ball as it comes to you, never falling to the temptation of hitting against the line...I think that is the way to play cricket.
You become a good player when you come out temptations. Success as we perceive it is a by-product. Sometimes the pitch may not play true and you may fall to a shooter, but that the thrill of life, its uncertainity. This is a mammoth flux, isn't it? We come from nowhere and fade into nowhere. The root of all fear is the fear of death. We want to perpetuate ourself and that is against the law of the gigantic flux in which we are moving.
Fear is faith in reverse gear.
Mind is a wonderful/terrible(Alas!!! perception! they are bi-sexual) thing with its never ending creative tendrils like that of a hydra and the visions them put out are like a relay race where you fear losing the baton called hope in life.
Well, one thing I truly believe in the proven fact - that is survival. It is in all of us to survive.
With better than jungle rules, it's kinda easy.
Rather than psychological alchemy on fear and spiritual way pointers to get outta fear, fear is slayed by living through situations.
Sometimes, in life..solutions to a problem is a byproduct of survival. You just need to stay on course.
Happy Cruising ..
mind is the issue, isn't it?
the visions that spring from it unceasingly, as you say, are like a relay race where one is always caught in the fear of losing the baton called hope [you have put it beautifully].
i was wondering whether it is possible to still the mind...then the relay stops; there is no baton to lose.
i think this is what they call meditation. once you have touched the condition of meditation and know the difference, you realise the other thing--the visions springing up from the mind--is unreal.
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