A Question For You

Originally posted by Signals
Only you can answer this question, and only answer it if you feel it is directed at you.

What Are You Afraid Of?

What is it? An ideal, a monster, a state of being? It could be anything. Spiders, nukes, 2012, aliens, the Devil, whatever.

Tell me what pops in your head first.

I'll start:

I'm afraid of falling asleep, and never waking up, with no afterlife whatsoever.

Funny, that's what I least fear in life.

What I fear is getting mentally ill without realizing it. Also, failing to fulfill whatever it is I'm here for, if there's such cosmic plans for us before we are born in Earth. Psychologists would say I mostly fear my own possible failures or something.

EDIT: Also afraid of the unknown, I think that's mostly why I read ATS. I don't want to be caught off guard by something out of the ordinary in the unlikely event that it does, indeed, happen. Like the facts surrounding 2012.

[edit on 8-6-2010 by Segfault Bug]

Well, if you exclude the primal flight/fight response to an imminent threat of life and are asking a more philosophical question - kind of a cerebral fear....

I guess the unknown. The highest state of stress I experience is in situations where everything is guess work and there is no way of knowing what the best possible outcome is...

So taking a stab in the dark of the unknown is scary...

But also the fear of extreme exposure - exposing my inner self to the possibility of ridicule or rejection. Which I suppose could link into a fear of isolation... hmmm... I did have the fear that I could go clinically insane - however I think that links back into the ridicule or rejection catagories.

There you go. No fear of heights (it's not the height that will hurt you, it's the ground...) or spiders, snakes, bugs, or animals of any description. No irrational fears of doorknobs or chocolate bars.

Peace.

Only 2 biggies
1.Needles (better living through chemistry my ass)
2. Bugs (spiders especially)
#3 used to be heights until I learned the miracles of proper harnessing, I'd climb a mountain now with the proper gear.

reply to post by Signals


The world continuing as it is and has been since recorded history, i.e., war after war for power, control, territory and profit

people continuing to breed indiscriminately

people continuing to follow current reglions


Fear of more of the stagnation, basically, and of uncontrolled population growth and subsequent exhaustion of resources

We're animals. We still have the fur, the eustachian turbes, the fangs, the claws, the tailbones, etc. We're animals

We created 'gods' to give us hope, to justify our actions, to provide hoped-for 'rewards' such as 'afterlife', 'heavens', reincarnation, etc.

But we're animals muddlng along without a clue, breeding more of ourselves and participating in wars and the deaths of millions

We pollute and destroy just about everything we touch. Yet in our ignorance, we still claim a 'god' loves us

If 'god' loves us --- then he must surely hate this planet we're destroying

So whilst I agree that 'religion' exerts positives to a degree, I'm also of the opinion that same religion holds us down in a state of suspended animation at best, pushes us backwards and to our own destruction at worst

Instead of projecting everything onto the gods we've created, my hope is that something will occur which will force us to grow up and 'leave home' in effect -- take responsibility for ourselves

My fear is that this won't happen and the human race will remain just one form of higher-animal, trapped in a world rapidly becoming a combination insane-asylum/rubbish dump which drips with blood and is jam-packed with rotting, dead bodies

reply to post by Esoteric Teacher


oh yes, this was a great addition to my post.
i often am rather succinct when i should elaborate and elaborate too much when i'd do better to be succinct.

but yes.
you summed it up rather well.

and in the end, it wasn't so bad after all.
to take the road less traveled, that is.

i hope it becomes well traveled!!!

reply to post by paperplanes


i can relate to your thoughts on insects.
i went through, not the same thing, but a similar process that resulted in the fact that now i will not kill a bug no matter how creepy looking or how close to my personal "zone."

even vinegaroons, aka whip scorpions!
YIKES they are scary but are good bugs, in truth.
the terminators of the insect kingdom!



my mom likes to spray the heck out of the crevices in the house with this surely god-forbidden cell-mutating poison that makes my eyes swell and water.
sometimes the dying bugs come out in the open in the kitchen and even though i think most of them are too far gone, i gently assist them to relocate outside.
at least they can die under the moon instead of artificial lightning.

the good news is that sometimes they promptly run off once i set them on their legs, outside!

i will not buy the poison for my mom, either. she'll have to get someone else to do it because even that pings my conscience!

I'm afraid of being helpless. Being pushed around and not able to resist the abuse scares me witless. I live to be free and vocal. Without that, I'm nothing.
Good question by the way. Really deep.

I'm starting to fear being with people who let fear control them.

Perhaps I should be fearing the suppression of my own fear haha

Not having a special purpose in life