Addicted to Fear
From "Fearproof Your Life"
Worry, anxiety, dread, obsession, where do they come from? Throughout time, humankind has sought peace and safety by trying to outguess the unknown. We have tried to anticipate and prepare for the unexpected, the imagined, the apparitions of our minds. Our efforts to control the unknown and thus keep ourselves safe have led to a collective as well as a personal sensation of fear. Individually and as a society, we have become addicted to fear.
Instead of preparing us for an unknown future, fear locks us in an illusionary sand castle of protection, a false sense of security from demons, dangers, and all that we dread. Each day the tide of reality and truth sweeps in and destroys our tentative hold on security, and the sand castle washes back into the sea of creation. Yet no matter how often the sand castle of illusory control is destroyed, the ego rebuilds it with fearful, vigilant thoughts that keep us from experiencing true peace of mind and the ultimate comfort of truth.
This cycle of fear has all the trappings and symptoms of any addiction: denial, rationalization, projection, increased tolerance to the substance (in this case, fear), imbalance that seems normal, and increased harmful and fatal consequences that we minimize and blame on others. We have come to grips with many of humanity’s addictions and brought them out of the closet of denial. Alcoholism, drug addiction, compulsive gambling, and sex addiction are the most common. Fear, however, is the last bastion of our collective denial of a self-destructive disease. Furthermore, fear is at the very core of all the other addictions and negativity in our world.
Fear is the cause of all war, greed, material and spiritual poverty, destruction of the planet, and inhumanity to ourselves and to one another. Fear manifests in less noticeable, less dramatic ways as well. For fear is the most insidious force in our world today, robbing all of us—not just those whose fears have warranted a diagnosis of mental illness or a label of addiction—of our capacity for peace of mind, bodily and spiritual well-being, and an ability to get along with each other in a life-sustaining and harmonious manner.
