Phobia

Susan Jeffers said, “Feel the fear and do it anyway.” One feels free when he/she moves beyond the fears of the mundane world. The inherent indelible sentiments ingrained in the spirits of men is that of fear. The esoteric scientists would psychobabble bewildering the laymen to the very urge; for they are of the opinion that life throbs and blood flows in the veins due to the elemental oxygen. Well coming back to philosophical grounds such elaborate and concise definition proves to be a misnomer. The real test between a living entity and a non-being one is the feeling of fear. It is only the flower which fears being atrophied and not the rock sitting stolidly on the roadside.

Fear is your compass towards growth, says the antique wisdom. The ones who fear actually live, others merely vegetate. Where the heart is throbbing with life comes the fear of grave. Of what on the face of this earth could a corpse be afraid of? What comes in a package with fear is insecurity. The more successful a person becomes the greater are the chances for him to fall from his seat of prestige and consequently higher is his insecurity. A millionaire is tormented by insomnia but what about a ragged riff-raff? Fear is the emotions expressed at the very crescendo of life! Often it is our experience that the polarities go hand in hand complementing each other!

With the lust of life one realized death, with great freedom great responsibilities, the rise of sun is but followed by the gloomy night! Paradox is what life is! Yet the positives and the negatives aspect to it. Having already discussed the lighter side it is time to traverse through the darker one. Fear depending upon the outset of an individual takes the form of a daunting challenge or a dismaying obstacle leading to a debacle. The veracity of the avowal lies in the life of successful individuals. Steve Jobs, the owner of Apple, was unemployed and fired from his own company at the age of 30! Alert Einstein was regarded as a crackpot by his teachers. Bob proctor the teacher of ‘the secret’ at his inceptions was a mere nothing. All these people had a life full of fear. The fear of not having enough to eat, the fear of failing, the fear of not being competent enough. Only a man who in their shoes been, could tell us actually the tons of fear that these individuals went through. The mediocre mind in a seeming quagmire would yield, and let the ‘fate’ overpower him.

The reason that only 3% of the total population turns to be a success lies in the fact that they choose to live in a milieu of fear. “The secret of getting ahead is to get started.” The airplane burns almost one fourth of its total fuel just to get the balls rolling! Most of us are ready to take the giant leap which exposes us to insecurity. The very urge to be secure, or to be pragmatic and to ‘play safe’ is the deterrent. There is a lot of fear in going past the hardwired norms of the society, there is a great fear in not being a sheet of the herd. The unknown always seems to be indomitable from a distance. But “the moth who in the holy fired burned and became one color with the flame, only he could tell, who never to tell returned, what fire is.” (Bible) Those who fear, fear love a monotonous stereotypical life full of regrets!

Fear is also an element of relationships. The reason why the earth is bogged down with so many broken hearts is fear. The fear of being ditched, the fear of cuckoldry, the fear of intimacy and so on. Until the two individuals remain as two separate entities meeting on the surface no love can blossom. It is only when the two spirits weld together that the fear will dissolve. And fear being a negative has no existence – so you cannot just drive out with a magic broom! Fear is simply the absence of love! Of course there may be chances of the other cheating on you, taking your undue advantage or humiliating you, but one has to take the risk, of exposing oneself absolutely as he/she is. Only in the acceptance of the fear does one transcend it! Intimacy and love are but the shadows of this prime acceptance leading to external, serenity!

The interpretation of fear may be diverse. The total no of permutations possible in this universe are virtually infinite! But what could be the ultimate fear? The fear of death. All the toil, all the efforts are an attempt to live. But the ground reality has remained pretty much the same from untold centuries. Death knocks at the door and all is finished. When talking of fear it is the most important of the points to make!

Living the life to the fullest accepting the feat and going beyond it are all the preparatory phases to get ready to eat the last fear, death. The enlightened masters have ever been iterating the ultimate truth of the eternal self! Traversing the multifarious experiences of life both good and bad alike makes one eligible to face this final fear of death. For not overcoming this fear would mean a chance lost at this beautiful inn or gym whatever one may choose to say. And the vicious cycle of births and deaths continue! The last abode of the battle with fear ends at dropping the feat of fear itself in all its forms and avatars - the greatest of all the achievements, the achievement which ideally cannot be called an achievement!