Dec 04, 2015

 

Fear (3)

“There are but Two Emotions:

Love and Fear”

                              Elisabeth Kubler Ross

Love and Fear

The full quote from Elisabeth Kubler Ross discusses the truisms that all positive emotions come from Love, and all negative emotions come from Fear. Where are we? If the media and many of the talking heads that constantly berate us were to win, we would live in Fear, bury ourselves in caves, and hide the rest of our miserable lives trembling in anger, hate, anxiety, and more fear. No one can Love and be fearful, for Love is the emotion that causes a person to dash into the street to save a child that wonders into the street, heedless of potential harm. A person filled with fear would turn away from the situation and pretend they did not see the problem.

Fear is one of our Instinctual emotions, rising out of the ‘fight or flight’ portion of our being, and is part of our being to help us avoid potential harmful situations, like stepping into oncoming traffic (unless a portion of Love overrides that fear by a greater need such as that small child). Fear helps us avoid danger, and came out of the survival era of our long ago past of living in the caves. So in itself, fear is a good thing, as are all emotions created in us by God, as fear is part of the defensive system we have built in us from our birth. But too often our fears are not only in true potential dangers, but rest in our imaginings, promoted by our anxieties, encouraged by our insecurities, and furthered by those wishing to exploit us.

“Fear Always Springs

From Ignorance.”

                                      Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wherein lies fear, love is locked out. The two emotions are opposites of each other, to the point that it has been said that there is only one emotion, and it is love/fear, that is, fear is the absence of love; and all others lie in the spectrum between the two extremes. Fear stems from the unknown, while it is amazing the chances we take on known situations that are much more dangerous that all the terrorists acts in the world, let alone in the United States.

In the past 2 weeks or so around 130 were killed in Paris, 3 were killed in Colorado, and 14 killed in San Bernardino and we seem to be deathly afraid some how, someway, we will be attacked anyplace we go. But almost none of us are afraid to climb into our auto and dash off somewhere without giving it a thought. But in 2013 there were 32,719 killed on the roads of the United States. Flying is far safer than driving; but I know some that are so terrified of flying that they will not fly anytime, anyplace. Yes, they would prefer to drive.

There are over 310,000,000 guns in the United States in 2009, and only increasing since, and there is a huge outcry if anyone dare attempt to restrict guns anywhere. But in 2013, there were 33,169 deaths directly due to firearms, excluding those due to legal intervention, or by the police. That is 1.3% of all deaths. Can you imagine the hue and cry if terrorists had killed 33,000 in this country? But we, as has been sadly said, are our own worst enemy, killing more of our own than all wars put together, with the possible exception of our civil war, which if added to the totals would be among the highest death totals per population of all the world.

And so it is with our fears. When they become the normal way of life, we accept them and go on with our life. It is amazing to see the people in the war torn sections of the middle east sitting drinking in the local gathering place, as if nothing unusual is going on, and but a short distance away a way is being fought.

“To Conquer Fear

is the beginning

of Wisdom.”

                              Bertrand Russell

Questions to Ponder

How does fear, especially fear of the unknown, control your life?

Does familiarity of items like automobile rides and guns, breed a kind of contempt for the dangers that lie therein?

How does that apparent disregard of common but dangerous situations fit in with the fear of the much lower danger in terrorist’s attacks in your own life?

Meditation

My Most Holy Wisdom, I give myself into the protection of your Being, so the fears in my life will diminish, and I may become your servant in this world; not afraid to speak Your truths in the face of the outcry of the world in fear. I will face Your Love and breath it in, so the din of fear that permeates our air will not penetrate into my mind, and I can breath the purified air of Love that you give all of us, if only we look and listen to Your Voice.