Fear, the very primal way of existing. Our ancestors feared being eaten by an animal, being killed by another tribe of well armed people, dying of famine or flood. These were survival based fears that made them more defensive and protective. Here I am, decades away from those survival situations, yet immersed in the same prototype of fear, even when no animal is preying on me outside my door. That instinct of self-preservation still exists, thereby fearing and acting reactively with anything that threatens my boundaries, the boundaries that exist solely in my memory and imagination.
For many of us, our worst fears are not those of getting murdered, taking a bullet, being robbed or dying of no food. Rather the fears of the modern day survival. Here are some, to name a few, the fear of not being approved, liked (includes social media), fear of being judged, a failure, inadequate, unattractive, unsuccessful, unrecognized, unemployed, rejected and unloved. And we keep feeding our invaluable life energies to these fears, transact and conduct our activities solely fear based. How much ever one may deny as to how fearless they are, our choices and decisions still come from an undercover fear based programming. Reality does not exist without perception. Nothing exists unless it is being observed by the observer. Let that sink in! And so what we call as ‘Free-will’ should be questioned. How much are our choices well informed, to be called fearless?
There does not exist a life to be called a Fearless-life. Fear is a part of our defense mechanism, and it is purely for mere survival, for example may be to keep the body intact and to protect us from any danger that might physically challenge us. But in how many ways have we allowed fear to penetrate into every aspect of our life, in a very meagre attempt to self-preserve is really amusing to watch. Fear incapacitates us. We don’t try anything new for the fear of failure. We don’t have enough courage to speak our truths for the fear of not being approved. We don’t let go of the people who are unhealthy for us due to the fear of abandonment. We don’t let people in for the fear of rejection. We don’t expose our true selves for the fear of being judged. Life is more than just survival. One will never experience the joy of living, if they constantly preserve themselves with a wall built of fear. Above all, fear stops us from experiencing love. Because love and fear can and will never exist together.
To walk in the direction opposite to fear, needs a lot of courage, love and embrace of the self. We are all beautifully damaged in our own ways, from childhood traumas to social media garbage. There exists no individual, unless he unplugs from all the tribal conditionings. And there exists no individual under the umbrella of life. That untamed, free spirited life lies beyond the terrain of fear. It is just on the other side!