Fear

There are two kinds of fear, instinctive and psychological. In instinctive, there is a sensation of danger to the senses. This releases adrenalin to excite the muscles and the body is ready to protect itself either by fight or flight. This is nature’s gift to us for our own protection. On the other hand, psychological fear is not from a danger to the senses but is made up by our minds. We call this stress or worry and it results from negative imagination.

Unfortunately, the body follows the same biological and mechanical procedure. There is a build-up of adrenalin and the muscles get tensed. Since there is no perceived danger, over a period of time, this adrenalin accumulates in the muscles leading to spasms, break down of system and finally diseases; also, a major cause of laziness.

The greatest disease in today’s world is ‘What will happen tomorrow?’  Most of our fear relates to future events, hoping for something to happen, or not. This is negative use of imagination and keeps us stressed and tensed. Psychological fear does not exist in nature, say, a rabbit sees a dog and dives into a hole but soon, it is going to come out. If the rabbit kept thinking whether the dog was still there or not – it would never come out. We suffer from all kinds of ‘cultivated’ fears such as snakes, spiders, heights, water, enclosed spaces, and needles. Add to that, the fear of failure and rejection.

Fear leads to violence and a whole string of negative emotions such as hate and jealousy. It gives rise to suspicion, especially when two people are laughing and we think they are ridiculing us.

One of the ways the guru teaches his disciple to overcome fear is by willing it away. Suppose, it is late and our child has not returned home; we are on tenterhooks. Now, we can visualise the worst that can happen and try and sense the pain as if it has already happened. Now what? We will experience our fears dissolving, the muscles relaxing, and a kind of unexplained joy, although the situation has not changed. Life is a mystery and many hidden laws go into the making of an event. By dropping worry, it is very probable that the event we feared might never even happen.