Fear

Everyday the news gives us things to fear. Apparently, even politics promotes fear within us by wondering who will control who over what? But, with politics, if we are honest about it, the fear is not about what's right for our country but what's right for us, and our fear of losing it or not gaining it. I want so and so to win because I want what they represent for me. Fear makes people attack and I'm seeing (reading) a lot of it, lately, because of our fear of the unknown. 

Over many years of helping people overcome things they fear, I've learned that it can be a very strong, controlling emotion and difficult to let go, especially if we're trying to do it alone. Of course, no one should have to and therein lies part of the cause of the pain we may inflict on ourselves, or others. There's no doubt that our sense of fear is due to programming, possibly eons of programming. Sometimes people use fear to control. Sometimes the fear controls us out of a current or past life memory. There are many reasons, including not wanting to be gullible either. At times, a sense of fear or dread can help protect us. It may cause us to lash out at others because of our need for self preservation. 

It's similar to putting our hand in fire and being severely burned and someone wanting us to do it again. Memory takes over and says, "that is not a good thing to do, I know it will hurt." If we don't have that experience or memory, we may not have a sense of dread to stop us. Which is why some learn from pain and some may take more than once to learn. It might take several incidents to build a strong memory in our mind/soul. If someone tries to force a hurtful experience on us, especially if we sense trouble, we may attack them in order to protect it from occurring again. We may not only yank our hand away from the fire, but punch someone for insisting we do it. ;)

However, this is a reaction based on what we see and understand in a current life. An unexplained or uncontrolled fear can become an attack on ourselves. It can become an obsession, due to a possessive emotion from past life memories, or due to being controlled by an unseen being. Which is another reason why we want to attack others. A need to lash out at anyone to deal with our fear. They become our scapegoat. If there's no scapegoat, we may become the persecuted, inside and out, by self-inflicted pain due to phobias. In politics, lashing out at another may be due to a candidate's fear of losing. In gangs, it's due to a fear of death. Fear starts a chain reaction of anger leading to more fear. Understandable. 

Which is why, as I said above, fear - or a feeling of dread - is an important part of our character. It warns us. However, too much or not enough of anything isn't good. That's what creates the painful experiences we have in life. Balance is important in anything we do or feel. Getting out of balance should also give us a warning. The road we take has many lessons. Learning to recognize that we've gone too far, either way, is one of them. We can learn from other's mistakes by being observant or we can learn from our own by not. Either way, we'll, eventually, learn what we need to, including how to recognize and deal with our fear or dread. Hopefully, controlling it instead of it controlling us. 

Can you imagine if all our fears could be put aside with one word - knowing? And in that knowing, we'll know how to react without fear and with respect. Maybe that's too easy or the answers aren't fast enough. Yet, I would think that it's better to find out why or what we fear, and deal with that, instead of projecting it onto others, causing pain and suffering, or even onto ourselves,  because of these unresolved fears. Unless living in fear is preferred. I hope not.