Why Are We So Afraid?

By: Rick Hamrick
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:41:51
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One of the more striking conclusions Michael Moore drew in the making of Bowling for Columbine was that the American culture had ingrained within it an underlying very strong fear. Of what, you might ask? Of just about everything!

When you think about it, our reaction as a country over the last few generations to virtually any stimulus has been one based in fear. With notable exceptions during the presidencies of some great Americans, this fear-based response has come from the very top.

The response when you are awash in fear is one of either overly strong defense, or lashing out unnecessarily to prevent whatever we fear from happening. The problem this presents is that it has drawn to us exactly what we fear the most! The universe works this way, and we have yet as a culture to realize it.

What you focus on, what you expend energy thinking about, what you study late into the night in an effort to fend off, you awaken to find all around you.

You can find a thousand explanations for the ongoing morass in Iraq, from those who condemn the current administration for messing things up unbelievably badly, to those who somehow are convinced that the current administration is not at fault one bit. The truth is, though, that what has happened since 9/11/2001 has come about as much because we are so afraid as it has been the fault of any group of human beings.

Now, we live lives constantly under the influence of terrorists. Whether it be at the airport or attempting to heed the silly alert announcements (“Be very vigilant! Buy lots of plastic sheeting and duct tape! Make sure you are shopping a lot, too, to keep our economy healthy!”), it is now difficult to avoid the sense that the terrorists, in some fashion, have already won.

Here’s the best part: we can quite easily move out of this position of pushing against everything we fear. In fact, it is so easy to do that you can accomplish it for your own life between this breath and the next!

The secret is to stop pushing. Allow the fear free rein, and see what happens. It is by releasing yourself from this resistance pattern that will free you. You can face the fear, then, and watch it dissipate. You can move through the fear, and find on the other side nothing but a mirror reflecting yourself.

Making the first step is where we seem to be stuck. When you spend so much energy in resistance, in pushing against things, that’s where you are comfortable! Of course only a few of us have experienced the relief I’m describing: everyone else is afraid of the relief.

It reminds me of the great quote from Marianne Williamson, who wrote, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

How can one not be encouraged when you read that the liberation of one can smooth the path to the liberation of others? Those of us who preach this message do so with this at our core all the time as a source of strength. It is the very fact of being free of fear and liberated from personal doubt that shows others it is possible. We all have a point at which we can give up--what a great, misunderstood phrase, “give up”--and surrender to the truth of our own power. We’re all creators on this bus, and we are slowly awakening to that fact. Finally!

Rick Hamrick has studied fear from both within its grip and without. He recommends the latter! He is a corporate IT employee and sometimes Sufi mystic.

Article source: Expert Articles

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