FROM FEARDOM TO FREEDOM

EXPOSING THE ILLUSIONARY NATURE OF FEAR

There is a fear which is instinctual, a fear that serves us. When we are in immediate danger or there is a threat to our mortality, fear is experienced which gives rise to ‘fight or flight’ behaviours to keep us alert and safe from harm.

There is another kind of fear, commonly known as a phobia, which is so deeply ingrained in our psychology often as a result of a past experience. Although we know that we are not in any real danger, we can’t easily overcome it.

We are very alert to both these two kinds of fears and we understand that one is logical and the other is not.

There is also another kind of fear that I want to talk about that is not so transparent, one which is totally invented in the mind. It influences the way we move, how we experience ourselves and how we experience life. It is a fear that if believed can render us unable to change, thus disabling us from stepping out of our comfort zone, even when we are dissatisfied with remaining there.

When we have negative or critical thoughts about ourselves, this kind of thinking gives rise to fear in a different cloak. Frequently we will respond by finding a quiet place to shrink and hide, other times we may run for the hills and try to escape these thoughts by some means of distraction, possibly by drinking, eating or going out. We may turn our focus and attention to other things that we see as our strengths, and then engage heavily in them, it could be sexual pursuits, our jobs, we use lots of different things for distraction and to feel good about ourselves. With all these response behaviours, what we are actually doing is running away from these negative thoughts and ideas about ourselves. We are being driven by fear, because we have become identified with the thoughts and ideas about ourselves as created by our conjuring minds. Our unquestioned belief in these lies make us feel bad and lesser than the next person, as we judge and compare.

Another response behaviour is to fight or deny. We think we can overcome these thoughts, and so a battle ensues. We say, “I will beat this, I will not be held hostage by these awful thoughts”. How on earth do you think that by fighting with your own shadow you can ever eliminate it. It’s a shadow (a thought), it is not real, it is not something you can conquer. Especially when you believe the shadow is actually you, in which case you are trying to conquer yourself. Do you see how insane that response behaviour of fight or deny is?

When we start to observe and understand the mind and the complete web of untruths it fabricates, only then do we start to become more at ease and more curious to know the truth of who we really are and expose the lie of ‘Feardom’. When this truth is realised we are instantly liberated and freed from the illusionary havoc of mind. NO longer are we slaves to non-serving thoughts and constraining behaviours.

Thoughts are not permanent, they come and then they go. We get rest from unpleasant thoughts by engaging with other thoughts and activities. However, if the illusion of fear is not seen through, we will always be revisited from those self-critical thoughts until we eventually go beyond them. We can never fight our thoughts in battle or by camouflage as this is temporary also. Life is full of lessons and until we see through the illusion of mind and learn the lesson, then life will keep repeating the illusion of fear.

Fear can be your friend if you understand that it is alerting you to those thoughts that don’t serve you. It can be viewed as life, lovingly trying to wake you to see that these conditioned thoughts are untrue. When you become free from the repetitive thinking of mind you move beyond fear and the lesson is learnt. The moment we don’t run, the moment we don’t hide, the moment we don’t fight, the moment we just stay here with whatever is showing up, then that is the moment that Feardom transfigures into Freedom and illusionary thoughts and ideas of mind have no power over you anymore.

Being in our own skin and sitting with ourselves may at first seem difficult, it takes courage when we feel unsettled. Remain still and aware of whatever your experience is, acknowledge your feelings and thoughts, but don’t engage with them, just be present in the now. Observing gently what is, your experience of life will become transformed and peace will be revealed. It happens all by itself with no help from you. All you need do, is be willing to shine the light of awareness, observing ‘what is’ and accepting the now. The more you shine the light of observation on fear, the less grip it will have on you, until eventually it dissolves. Don’t expect this to happen all at once, more often it’s a gradual unfolding of earnest conviction in not turning away. What I will say, is that at first you may find it uncomfortable. But, hasn’t the experience of these unhelpful emotions and negative thoughts continually repeating themselves been difficult enough anyway? Do what you have always done, and you will get what you have always got, remaining stuck in the repeating pattern of mind and emotion. So, I invite you to give this practice a try.

We have spent a lifetime accumulating all of these conditioned thoughts, feelings and behaviours. So be gentle and don’t expect a quick fix. However, anyone who faces the reality of ‘what is in the moment’ will go beyond fear into freedom. I say this, as what I speak of has been known in my experience, I have suffered many disabling thoughts and feelings during my life, I have seen through many falsehoods and now travel lighter through life, liberated and free.

Explore for yourself. What does not being lost in thought and being totally present mean to you?

The more we explore for ourselves the more the understanding deepens within us and we realise these thoughts are not reality. The one that is aware is the only reality, everything else is a day dream that may or may not be enjoyable. Accept you have thoughts, but know that you are not your thoughts, you are here whether there is thought or not. You are the awareness of thought. Do not engage with thought, just watch and you are free.