Trust the gods within,
Accept given boons.
Illusion is reality’s border:
Pierce fear to go beyond.
In your meditations, you will meet gods. These gods are nothing more than the holiest aspects of your own mind; they are not other beings. Your inner gods will grant gifts of knowledge and power. You can trust your gods. They will never betray you for you cannot betray yourself.
Such trust dissolves fear and regret. You will find a resolution to your inner conflicts. The gods will direct you to forward to the very border of reality itself. On the other side is vast profundity, the ultimate nature of existence. But the border can be crossed only if you have resolved all fear and regret.
All fear comes from our sense of self. When we stand at the border of reality, we are afraid that we will lose our identities by plunging in. We are afraid of being destroyed. But we came from Tao in the first place. We are Tao. To return to Tao is not to be negated, but to become one with the entire universe. True, we will no longer be who we are now, but we will be one with Tao. In that state, there is no need for fear.
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
It’s perfectly rational to be afraid of some things, particularly things that are likely to kill you, like falling from a great height. It’s also rational to fear the loss of someone close to you, since that is such a huge emotional loss. The problem comes when we let fear overwhelm us to the point that we can no longer respond to life, or when we create irrational fears that are really obstacles to the things we want to accomplish in our lives. If you aren’t sufficiently afraid of the things that can truly harm you, you become something of a thrill seeker, deliberately needing a new challenge to threaten you and provide an adrenalin rush.
So fear is a useful emotion, but only to a point. When you find fear overwhelming you, for whatever reason, it’s important to understand what you’re really afraid of. For me, my greatest fear was abandondment, especially after losing a parent. What I get from the Tao though is the understanding that since I am part of Tao, Tao can never abandon me. So now I’m no longer afraid of people abandoning me, and in fact, find myself quite comfortable just being alone and by myself again. I don’t choose to be alone constantly, but am quite happy when I am alone.
Understand your fears, and then work to overcome them. Start just facing that fear for a brief time, in your mind, until you can face it in the real world. Then work little by little to face that fear and stop avoiding the situations that cause you to have that fear. Over time, your fears will start to fade as you move to be more with Tao all the time.
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