Fear Is A Dangerous Disease

by Robert Wilkinson

From The Magic of Space, some words of assistance for overcoming this crippling, destructive emotional virus while learning to be more conscious of your power to turn your mind toward beneficial things. This will be a critical skill in the coming period. A sample: "You are given the power of intelligence to choose those things to which you wish to respond. Your development will depend a great deal upon how you are able to choose the unseen vibrations. No one is immune to vibrations, whether he is conscious of them or not."

From The Magic of Space, the beginning of Chapter IV, “Fear of Inner and Outer Space.”

There is one thing that every man and woman should and must learn – and that is not to have fear. Fear is a dangerous disease, and likely to spread. Of course, everyone is more or less subject to outside influences; it is only natural to be receptive. If you were not, you would be getting into all kinds of danger. You are constantly receiving warnings, and you would not be able to learn, see or feel anything if you were not receptive. The mind must receive before it can give out – and it must acquire before it can serve.

Do not try to stop the receptive attitude of mind. Work in harmony with nature’s forces, and do not antagonize anything. Be the chooser, however, of what you want to receive. You are given the power of intelligence to choose those things to which you wish to respond. Your development will depend a great deal upon how you are able to choose the unseen vibrations. No one is immune to vibrations, whether he is conscious of them or not. The difference between the one who is developed and the one who is not is that the former is conscious of what he sees and therefore knows what is transpiring, while the other does not. There is nothing to be afraid of in developing the higher senses, except your fears. Set these aside and proceed.

You must cultivate acquaintances who are in harmony with your way of thinking. Do not be selfish as your knowledge increases, but give out some of the truths you discover to others. Help others to grow, if you wish to grow yourself. Resolve to use your power and the higher faculties you develop for constructive and good purposes only. This is very important to your advancement. No matter how good or how evil you have been in the past, be determined that you are going to start a new life with the very best there is in you, and make use of that best to bring out other knowledge.

Comments

[Ray]

Great quote - thank you! I am currently reading a Bhikku Bodhi translation of early Buddhist texts. There is a certain sutta where the Buddha states: I am restrained without fear, not restrained by fear.

The Pali work for Morality, Sila, is said to be characterized by restraint. Moral behavior is most often a "choosing not to do in reaction to" a difficult stimulus. Of course one must build up awareness of and the ability to bear difficult stimuli to develop the "pause" necessary to recall wisdom before acting or not acting.

Thus I resonate with the truth in the quote you have supplied, in that to be "delevoped" is to be "conscious of what [one] sees" in order that one may "know what is transpiring". From this place one can "choose those things to which you wish to respond."

I'm very much involved with step one now, building up awareness of difficult interpersonal moments as they are actually occuring. More often now I know they are happening. Now I'm beginning to look into the feelings and thoughts just under the surface. At the top level is an anger towards the other, and just below that is the fear. Sometimes now I'm catching myself forming an unskillful reply and I can see the fear/anger pushing it out of my system. It's a spasm of sorts so I just relax my body.

Thanks for bringing up this topic!

[Robert]

Hi Ray - Thanks for contributing your own experience and technique for dealing with unconscious fear-driven attitudes and behavior. I agree with everything in your comment.

I truly believe that if we can become more conscious of who or what is driving our boat of personality into the rocks, then we're in a position to choose differently, and take refuge in the wisdom with those in the sangha, or fellowship, of seekers striving for conscious awareness. And of course we all get momentarily caught in "unskillful" replies; when I experience that happening, I focus on detaching from personality issues and BE in that moment as a prelude to right action arising from right realization.

[Sonja]

Great post given Thursday's headlines! Because fear is the basis of the lower emotions, we need to restrain ourselves from reacting (out of fear) so we find the reason for the situation and act appropriately. I think that is what the Buddha meant when he said, "I am restrained without fear". If you remove fear then you can act appropriately with love, compassion, joy, and impartiality. The more you act with these qualities the more they are infused into your life.

"Be the chooser of what you want to receive" or, to paraphrase another well-worn quote, do unto others as you would want to be treated no matter what they do to you. A smile or hug goes a long way to alleviating sadness as does compassion when confronted by anger.

Now, if only we could incorporate the words into our actions!

Sonja

[emma]

i cant disagree more with this post (and others along the same theme). there are no negative emotions - there are only negative responses to emotions. fear, along with every other emotion, is our soul trying to communicate something to us. the entire spectrum of emotions ranging between love and fear is to be embraced if we are to transcend duality. fear is, most definitely, NOT a "crippling, destructive emotional virus". (an excellent book on this subject is, Emotional Genuis, by Karla McLaren).

in closing, here is a quote of Krishnamurti :

What is needed rather than running away or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it.

[emma]

and here is another excellent quote about fear. this is taken from those famous books of frustrating, childish antagonism, (slight, probably unwitting) deception, and cheese, Conversations with God, by Neale Donald Walsh. (added suffix to make 'god' gender-neutral my own):

...God/dess knew that for love to exist - and to know itself as pure love - its exact opposite had to exist as well. So God/dess voluntarily created the Great Polarity - the absolute opposite of love - everything that love is not - what is now called fear. In the moment fear existed, love could exist as a thing that could be experienced.

i like this quote because it shows that fear gives us *choice*. it isnt the enemy - its a helper.

[Robert]

Hi Sonja - Fear is being used by the manipulators to keep the collective unconscious distracted so it cannot focus on the game that's being run, i.e., to keep us all poor and segmented so we are little better than slave-horses passing the wealth to the few who make the rules of the economic game that engulfs the world at present.

I agree that there is a huge need for conscious restraint when the lower emotions arise, not out of avoidance or repression but to give ourselves time to consider how we want to transmute the lower to the higher. By our choices many doors are opened.

Do unto others IS the Law, so it's the only way to live. As we express, we impress in due time. And vise-versa. And yes, "A smile or hug goes a long way to alleviating sadness as does compassion when confronted by anger." I believe we who strive DO "incorporate the words into our actions!

[Robert]

Hi emma - Well, you must admit that more people are apparently gripped by a crippling emotion on this planet than not, or we'd be in a much better situation with a lot less war, hatred, racism, genocide, and child slavery. So I must disagree that there are no negative emotions, as there is too much evidence to the contrary. In a perfect world, perhaps; in a future world, perhaps; but not in a world gripped by war and senseless suffering and destruction based entirely on the delusion of fear.

To say that the young who are being taught to hate those who believe differently have no negative emotions is not acknowledging the suffering of millions, including the feeling of bereaved parents whose children are killed by suicide bombers. While I am glad you (and many others, of course!) are beyond negative emotions, there is too much suffering not to acknowledge that though lacking substantial reality, they do exist, if only temporarily. To quote one famous Sage, "...and the greatest illusion of all is the death of one's child."

I agree our Soul uses the feelings of the astral body, to the degree it is able, to teach us. So what? Astral-based feelings have no substantial reality beyond this plane, so it's our job to elevate them from the gross to the subtle, from the coarse to the sublime, so they are an accurate reflection of the light of the Soul. Unfortunately, without training and a degree of self-discipline, they usually go in ways contrary to our highest and best self interests.

I agree we must not AVOID fear, but confront it, experience its unreality, and break its hold on our perceptual nature. But for too many I have known, some of whom died as a direct result of it, fear is, most definitely, a crippling, destructive emotional virus, for as long as the suffering human chooses to live with it and give it power. I agree with Krishnamurti, but nowhere does he say that it does not create suffering for those who do not know how to deal with it. He simply provides one point of view in how to deal with it.

As for someone presuming to know what God felt regarding the existence of love, well... I think that though "God" created this dualistic system, it's a stretch to say definitively that regarding the existence of love: "its exact opposite had to exist as well." That's a human construct interpreting something we assume is momentarily real. Though multiplicity is the nature of "all that IS," I'm not sure we can say "God/dess voluntarily created the Great Polarity - the absolute opposite of love - everything that love is not - what is now called fear."

We participate in that particular human delusion within a Spirit, MAYA, that allows all manifestations. Love exists beyond fear. Fear is conditional, Love is not. And of course we can experience both.

Fear does not give us choice. Fear, being essentially unreal, cannot confer power upon us. WE have the eternal responsibility to choose on the four planes across the three dimensions, and whether we choose the crippling delusion of fear or the eternal reality of unconditional LOVE in any given moment in our eternal nature shows whether we're caught in an unreal bardo or realizing our Oneness with all that IS.

This post has stimulated a great conversation!

[Sonja]

Hi Robert,

Fear is "False Evidence Appearing as Real" - it makes us believe it is okay to be sad, angry, or fearful because "They" are not "Us". As the Magic of Space states, "We are given the power to choose" between a state of duality characterized by fear, anger, and sadness or a state of unity characterized by unconditional Love, Joy, and Compassion. Thus your opposites - do we want duality or unity? Maya or Pure Consciousness?

A case in point is the Grand Irrationality playing out right now. Knowing that it is creating all kinds of volatile situations, from the macro to the micro, makes it easier to see them as a choice between duality or unity, Love or fear. If we can step back and take a deep breath, maybe we can choose to act with unconditional Love rather than react with dualistic fear. Suddenly life is about choices and not happening "to" us when we use your posts, Robert. I know that, on a personal note, the Grand Irrationality posts have come at times when life has thrown me a curveball - your posts remind me that I am being asked to choose. I wish I could say that I always choose correctly but then I would be a Bodhisattva which I'm not.

In my previous post, I stated that we "remove" fear. Perhaps a better phrasing is that we should choose Love instead of fear. As we choose Love (Unity) more often than fear (Duality), we create more space for Love to appear in our current or future lives. Or, to paraphrase the Magic of Space, we choose what we will later receive. So thank you for reminding us, Robert, that life is a series of choices and that each of these choices creates a new future.

Sonja

[tia]

glad to hear i am not alone...where are all of you here though? i feel like i am always trying, and too alone to make it on my own. i could use a talk like that more often.
peace,
t

[Robert]

Hi Sonja - I love the acronym association of FEAR = "False Evidence Appearing as Real." Though we often fall short of the ideal, we grow stronger and clearer in our intention every time we try. Things are so irrational right now it's more than a little tough to stay focused, but we never have to allow fear to drive out our hope, our sense of humor, and our sense of connectedness with gentle, kind Souls around us.

I agree that what I post here is to be used to help us steer the ship of our destiny rather than stay victims of passing chance. I do all my client sessions the same way. I have been told that when people go back over what I've offered, they get even more insights over time. This site's articles as well.

[Robert]

Hi Tia - Welcome to a global gathering place for people who are thoughtful, striving Souls. Though the people who come here are located all over the world and come from many backgrounds, we are one community. I know how hard it can be when one feels isolated or cut off, and there isn't much in our world that is comforting, since the marketplace makes money by keeping us segmented.

To answer your question, I'm in Los Angeles. As for the others, well, they're all over the US and the world. Stay in touch, take a look at other articles, especially this one as well as others from the same source, all linked through the link earlier in this post. There are also other useful articles from "Brotherhood" and the essay on "Karma" from "Light On The Path." You and we are not alone, nor separate from God, Truth, Life, or each other for even a moment. That's why our Higher Selves are made manifest over time, if we only persevere and don't lose our cool.

[shell Rae Garnes]

How do I get a copy of THE MAGIC OF SPACE?

[Robert]

Hi shell Rae Garnes - Unfortunately, it is long out of print, and what copies there are cost way too much money. That's why I reprint sections here. It is rare, precious, and beautiful. Attributed to "a Tibetan Dakini," it offers profound insights into a greater, more universal wisdom about the nature of our reality and how we may best live our lives as Eternal Beings having human experiences. I have enjoyed sharing its wisdom for decades to help my friends and students achieve healthy personality integration and discover the power and applications of their Higher Self. If you want to read more, please go back through the links in the various Magic of Space articles, as I have posted at least a dozen sections.