In a somewhat introspective moment not a few minutes ago, I was considering all of the things I fear. I fear spiders, falling from heights, enclosed spaces, most insects/bugs/flying things that aren’t birds, rats/field mice, cougars, panthers, most snakes, some lizards, death, failure, pain, bad cooking, Richard Simmons, etc. I realized that some of these fears cause me to change my behavior – ever so slightly – to avoid the thing which I fear. For instance, pain. I will go out of my way to avoid even the slightest pain. Even the perception of pain is enough to get me to change behavior to avoid something that may not even be there. This is even if the pain is slight, short, quick and practically nonexistent.
I run away from bugs, spiders, etc. I fear them even when they are dead and can do no harm to me. I avoid them even when I know they cannot harm me, and are likely to try to avoid me just as much – if not more – than I avoid them. This causes problems when your new house has tons of spiders trying to get in. I count myself thankful that I have a cat that enjoys chasing, killing and eating spiders.
All of this thought about fears got me thinking about how these phobias traps me and limits me. This in turn led to thoughts about what it means to be free, and how we can never REALLY be free if we are fearful. Fears bind us and prevent us from doing certain things, living certain ways.
There are times when I wish I weren’t so fearful. I sit and imagine how wonderful it must feel to TRULY be free, to have no fear and be able to do anything. I imagine it to be an exhilarating experience.
Of course, the process one must go through to tackle ones fears is….. harsh, to put it lightly. It’s been suggested that to truly be free of your fears you must face them head on, experience the thing you fear. I’m just not so sure I can do that. Richard Simmons is a scary dude!
I think Franklin D. Roosevelt had it right in 1933 when he uttered those famous words above. Really, what we should be afraid of… is fear.
Perhaps you can think of the issue in more positive terms; fear isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It keeps you out of potentially harmful situations (ex. death via spider bites, jumping out of an airplane and splattering on the ground). Of course, it can often become crippling, and I suppose that is the fear to attack head-on…
I’m not sure fear could ever REALLY be considered a good thing.
I think we tend to rationalize it by saying as you do, that it prevents certain things from happening (like spider bites, or jumping from airplanes). I think we can safely avoid all of those things without fearing the actions that would cause them. For instance, I can avoid a certain spider because I know the consequences of it’s bite – not because I fear the spider itself. Likewise, I can avoid jumping out of a plane because I know death awaits – it’s not fear of falling that keeps me in the plane necessarily (i.e. I would willingly jump out with a parachute). You don’t necessarily have to fear something to avoid it.
One could argue that fear is what gives governments power. They prey on the fears of their constituents in order to drive forward their agenda. At least, that’s what the Bush administration did.
I hear a little V for Vendetta theme in there also:)
Valid arguments about fear. I suppose there could be a difference between a little bit of knowledge and common sense versus openly fearing something. It’s interesting the different fears that people have, for instance, mice. I had mice as pets as a child but many people are terrified if they see one running in the open. Or, I’m terrified of tornadoes but there are people that chase them down in the name of science and adrenaline! I don’t know that anyone can completely eradicate their fears, but learning to move forward in spite of them is an enviable ambition!
I still don’t like spiders though…