There is nothing to fear, because we don’t have anything to lose. All that can be robbed from you is not worthwhile, so why fear, why suspect, why doubt?
These are the real robbers: doubt, suspicion, fear. They destroy your very possibility of celebration. So while on earth, celebrate the earth. While this moment last, enjoy it to the very core. Because of fear we miss many things. Because of fear we cannot love, or even if we love it is always half-hearted, it is always so-so. It is always up to a certain extent and not beyond that. We always come to a point beyond which we are afraid, so we get stuck there. We cannot move deeply in friendship because of fear. We cannot pray deeply because of fear.
Be conscious but never cautious. The distinction is very subtle. Consciousness is not rooted in fear. Caution is rooted in fear. One is cautious so that one might never go wrong, but then one cannot go very far. The very fear will not allow you to investigate new lifestyles, new channels for your energy, new directions, new lands. You will always tread the same path again and again and again, shuttling backward and forward – like a freight train!
Everyday Osho — 365 Daily meditations for the here and now by Osho
What does this mean:
“What we value and what we fear are within our Self?”
We have fears because we have a self.
When we do not regard that self as self,
What have we to fear?
– Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching
“I must not fear. Fear is the mindkiller. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
— Frank Herbert, Dune – Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.” — Amelia Earhart
Between birth and death,
Three in time are following life,
Three in ten are following death,
And men just passing from birth to death also number three in ten.
Why is this so?
Because they live their lives on the gross level.
He who knows how to live can walk abroad
Without fear of rhinoceros or tiger.
He will not be wounded in battle.
For in him rhinoceroses can find no place to thrust their horn,
Tigers can find no place to use their claws,
And weapons no place to pierce.
Why is this so? Because he has no place for death to enter.
— Tao Te Ching – Lao Tzu – chapter 50
There is very little that I still fear in my life. Most of my fears concern harming others inadvertently, or harm coming to others. For myself I really don’t fear much at all. We all fear loss to some extent, as much as we might think losing material things or even our lives would be unimportant. I think fear is a key to letting us know what we need to learn more about, and then we can decide if that fear is legitimate or not. I think we can be conscious of our fears, acknowledge them, and then work in awareness of them rather than hiding behind the fears or allowing them to control our actions. It’s important to fear jumping off cliffs — unless you know the water is deep below and you know how to dive, unless you have a parachute or glider, unless you know the way to fall and not be injured, unless you know the net or the airbag is there, etc. I think some caution is a good way to handle fear, precautions are better, and trusting yourself and being prepared to handle whatever happens is the best.
One Response
I’d love to say that I have moved beyond fear, but that would be a bald face lie. I suppose what I fear the most is change, though I rationally realize that change is the one constant of the universe. The reason I fear change so much is that I have slow reflexes (physical/mental/emotional) and my delayed reactions often land me in trouble.