"Fear is the mind-killer. I will face my fear. I will let it pass through me. Only I will remain."
It makes a great mantra when you're FREAKING OUT.
However, I think one point I'd add is that fear gets a bad rap, by the very nature of what it is. But what if fear (balanced in our lives with other things) weren't such an evil as it gets labeled for?
See, fear is a built-in warning tool and lifesaver ultimately. When we are afraid of something, it sends the body into certain biological responses that serve us quite well. Example: We see a big rock about to fall on our heads, fear kicks in and coupled with instinct, shoots adrenalin through our body causing us to attempt to quickly jump out of harm's way.
Fear is a balancing agent. While we are, as human beans, cut to learn and explore (adventuresome and curious), fear keeps us from plunging headlong off every cliff or rushing blindly into EVERY dark cave we encounter. So yes, while fear in an unbalanced status, isn't very positive, neither is "happy happy joy joy" constantly a state we could live in either.
It's all about balance bayh-bee!
Oh, and for the record, right now I'm afraid of:
death by burning alive - I'm a real chicken-ship when it comes to extreme pain and I think this would be the WORST way to die (or one of them anyway). It's the one thing that haunts me still (of many) from watching the news coverage of September 11th. I watched those poor people leaping from those burning towers and wept, unstopping, for hours
heights - I'm working on this one cause it's an unbalanced fear that keeps me from doing some things I think might be really fun/interesting
flying - Likely tied to the similar fear of heights, I need to work on this - but money makes it one I can't just charge off and "face" on a daily basis for now.
[edit on 10-10-2009 by Skeptical_Seeker]
