Fear

What it is

Fear is the soul’s response to believing something untrue. Beneath every fear lies a mistaken conclusion that feels real until it is brought into the light.

Why it matters

Fear points us toward the places where healing is needed. When we understand the underlying untruth, fear naturally begins to dissolve.

From Bones

~1~

Another equally impactful hindrance is our fears, which we generally don’t put in the same category as faults. What we fail to realize is the harm our fears do, both in our own lives and in the lives of others.

Our fears work to tarnish our inner light of love and understanding. After all, when we are in fear, we are not in truth. So on this path of purification, we will not only come face to face with our faults—our character weaknesses—we will need to face all our fears. (Chapter 12)

~2~

All of us have fear in us, even those of us who are not outwardly lazy. It’s a basic human condition to have fear, and we need to give ourselves space to express this. We need to work with trained people who can allow our fear to have its say.

When we do this, we’ll find it holds two basic elements.

First, there is the childhood situation we found to be so painful. The result was that we cut off our feelings so we wouldn’t have to feel that. Second, and even more importantly, we became afraid of experiencing the fear that we cut off.

The real harm lies in this fear of the fear. Because it creates a self-perpetuating motion that multiplies whatever is denied.

When we deny our fear, this creates a fear of fear, which leads to the fear of feeling the fear of fear, and so on. (Chapter 2)

~3~

When we drop directly into our fear, the fear will quickly give way to another feeling we’ve denied. And that will be easier to bear than its denial—which is the fear.

And that’s easier to bear than the fear of the fear. (Chapter 2)

~4~

If we’re going to cling to the edge of the abyss of our feelings and not jump, let’s at least know we’re doing this and get curious about why.

That’s better than denying our fear and pretending we’re not afraid.

It may seem counterintuitive, but we’re more in touch with ourselves when we admit our fear than when we deny it. By facing our fears and challenging their validity, we may notice that the real reason behind the fear is our shame, as well as our pride.

Because what’s the formula for creating fear? Denying our shame and pride…

This denial creates a pressure that we experience as fear.

In turn, our fear compels us to concoct theories to justify why we’re afraid. (Chapter 2)

~5~

We won’t realize that the fear is not real—it’s truly an illusion—until we feel it and go through it. (Chapter 2)

~6~

What we don’t realize is that if we were to see ourselves as we really are, we would see that there’s nothing to fear. (Chapter 5)

~7~

We must never lose sight of this truth: Everything we suffer from in life results directly or indirectly from our shortcomings and our fears. If we had no shortcomings, we would have no fear. And our fear and insecurities are what make us so miserable.

They spoil everything. (Chapter 12)

~8~

How then does our self-will connect with fear? If we’re sheltering a mountain of self-will—often extra-powerful because it is lurking in our unconscious—we’re going to live in perpetual fear that we won’t get our way. (Chapter 13)

~9~

When we put ourselves on a pedestal, thinking we are so very important, we fear that people around us won’t grant us what we want, which is to be put on a pedestal.

Only when we’re ready to stand on equal footing with others will we be free of this fear. (Chapter 13)

~10~

Regardless of how eager we are to detect our no-current, and no matter how much we want to grow out of it by working in concert with the help of our yes-current, if we have a deep-seated fear of change, this is telling us that our no-current is still active.

It’s there in proportion to the size of the problem we’re working on.

The only way past it is through it. We must face our deepest fears and the misconceptions that pin them in place.

We can never succeed by going around them. (Chapter 15)

~11~

Now, as we move forward in taking on our negative intention, there’s something else that’s important to keep in mind. That in our unhealed psyches, we unconsciously want whatever it is we fear. Further, whatever we experience, we also unconsciously want.

All these teachings are built upon these unalterable facts. (Chapter 17)

~12~

Meditation can be a valuable tool for working with our fears. And who doesn’t have a few fears? The most universal fear is the fear of death.

There is an inner wall that separates us from the process of life that continues beyond death. We can actually remove this wall if we are willing to fulfill the necessary conditions. Then we can experience the truth of eternal life, right now, while we’re here in the body.

But this means we’ll have to give up everything that keeps the ego in its state of separation. This includes our self-will, pride and fear, and our belief that we are somehow different from others. That either of us can be important, but not both…

As long as our ego is running the show, we will fear death, even if we delude ourselves by not looking at it. And it shows up in many different ways. To remove this, we’ll have to play fair with life.

No cheating. No setting ourselves above anyone else, nor feeling like we’re below others. For our fear is a condition of our ego.

We know this but have chosen to forget it. (Chapter 18)

~13~

We get taken in by this illusion that we must never be inadequate. This leads us to reject self-responsibility while continuing to wish to be free.

In addition, we believe we must never err. Through our fear of making mistakes and our guilt for being inadequate, we make ourselves miserable. And all of this—truly all of this—is based on illusion…

Realizing that the world is not arbitrary will free up so much energy that, until now, has been uselessly running on fear. (Chapter 19)

Continue with: Feeling • Self-will • Lower Self