The Nature of Fear

This painting represents fear in its many forms.  How ironic that a symbol of devotion has become a symbol of fear.  My roommate confided in me that whenever she passes Muslims she feels a pang of fear.  She watches the news often and works for an international organization so is constantly exposed to the stories that name Muslims as the source of our ever mounting fear of the outside world.  She fears that the men are glaring and plotting because she is running in shorts.  She pictures them throwing acid on her face.  All images that the news has been feeding us.  I read a definition of fear the other day that really touched the truth of its self justifying nature.  "Fear disables us from taking the focus off ourselves and drives us to function in a dogmatic manner cutting us off from the exterior world that consequently becomes threatening and worrisome.  It forces us to interpret the information we are receiving in a way that justifies, supports and amplifies our feeling of fear.  Without contact with reality, it is impossible to feel empathy."  When we allow fear to control us, we lose the ability to connect with the world around us and remain closed in a dark reality.  We are unable to feel empathy because we are too consumed by our own desire of self preservation.  We feed ourselves more and more information about this source of fear and rationalize our sensation of it.  Our mind reels over images of this false reality and it becomes solidified into our consciousness.  We have successfully convinced ourselves that the threat is real and present without it actually existing in our current surroundings.  Stuck in this dark place, we lose site of the humanness of those around us.  Naming a cause for our fear makes us feel like we can some how control it.  If we can stop this one group of people, we can end this suffering caused by this negative emotion.  But somehow the fear continues through centuries, through generations.  The name of its source changes but the nature of the suffering remains constant.  Putting an end to this one group will not put an end to our fear.  With our vision blurred by this self constructed fear, we cannot see that in the present moment we are safe and well.  We have no reason to fear others.  Without fear we are able to see the needs and those around us and see that they too are struggling with the same dilemma.  Put down the armor that fear has built around you and embrace the love present in the here and now.