We never really look at fear because we are frightened of it. At the core of all human beings, we find that most of their activities and choices are the result of fear. Some are afraid of something that has happened in the past and do not want it repeated in the present or future. Others are afraid of something or other with their phobias, or germs or height. Some are just afraid of life or change.
The core of the human brain must have a sense of security. In this process of demanding security it has attached itself to religious and political beliefs or some personal ideal. Attachment to beliefs put together by thought keeps the brain caught in the web of fear. Anxiety and fear go together, for the anxious are afraid of what might happen in the next moment, and are crippled with panic and their own self-absorption. Wanting to have meaning and purpose in their lives yet unwilling to face their own inadequacy, they blame their brain chemistry or heredity.
In the world of psychiatry it is evident that the doctor-patient relationship is based in fear. The shrink is a product of his education, because he/she identifies who he/she is with their study. They look at their patient through the eyes of what they agree with, based on who or what they studied. Therefore their mind is prejudiced and what they analyze in their patient is a projection of themselves. They seem to know what is best for the patient. There is then a danger of paralysis and the growth of fear: for every one thing you get correct you also could analyze and get one thing incorrect.
People increase their fear when they strengthen their opinion of anything. Opinion about what food you like or car you want to drive is one thing. But opinion that just strengthens the self and sets up conflict erects a wall of fear and limits your understanding of fear or any other mental problems.
Human beings cannot come to terms with one single problem and that is that knowledge is the problem and we think that through knowledge we can escape fear and anxiety. Knowledge about anything brings a false sense of security in regards to our self. We are living things and therefore going through a transformation. Knowledge only brings security when it is involved in technological matters. Even in the study of matter, we are still discovering new things that will shape how we look at the world. Yet we have such great difficulty looking at our own self. Self is fear and that is why so many fear death because death is the ending of self and all its petty little beliefs, ideals which maintain its self importance.
You can know a thousand reasons why you are afraid but that has nothing to do with changing it. All the main human psychological traumas have their roots in fear: jealousy is fear of losing the person or thing that gives you pleasure and false security; greed is the fear of being without or not having; and envy is the fear which builds our discontentment with what we have, and wanting to be envied covers up our fear of being nothing. We criticize others because finding fault is easier than looking at ourselves and taking responsibility for a situation. We blame others because fear likes to think I’m better than you and loves to relish in the mistakes of others so it can hide its own blemishes.
Fear is always the emotional content of thought and is rooted in the future. Unless I am willing to examine the truth of my life and fear in it, I will be forever caught in its grip. The grip of fear holds most human beings hostage and the pain of going into it cleans the mind of all the garbage that fear creates. The structure of fear is put together by thinking and needs thought’s appetite to be active. The activity of thought is always around itself, even though it wants to be separate from itself as a means to be secure and permanent. An aging mind that is caught in the grip of fear only has energy for routine, and has stopped learning. It has lost its passion and zest for live. To see all this and perceive the truth and the false of it is to cleanse the brain of all fear. In this meditation the brain is occupied with the deeper questions and learning of life. Then fear is set aside and deeper questions arise. A brain caught in fear is a superficial brain, and rooted in its self-centered, self-created disorder. In the perception of the false, disorder is brought into the light. Light contains no fear but only love. That love is not the love of something or someone. It is love without motive of direction, which is freedom.
