How to Defeat Fear

What is fear? You know, when you face a situation and you don’t know how it will end. Or you must face a person, perhaps for an interview, or someone you have recently offended, you have that unknowing feeling – how will they react? What is it that makes you not want to go somewhere, or do something, or say something, or even think something? What is that thing we call fear which makes us tremble?

Fear is nothing more than a memory. A memory is something that happened in the past. Fear is not what stops me jumping off a building, that's common sense. But fear will stop me achieving my goal because I am afraid of what might go wrong or what others might think. So Fear can also be fear of the future, which is probably based on past fears.

Fear is also the product of religiousness. I discovered, once I had distanced myself from it, that religion gains its adherence through fear: fear of hell, fear of sin, fear of punishment, fear of falling short, fear of breaking a rule, fear of God, fear of so much.

This latter fear disappears completely when the religiousness with its rules is removed. There may be memories, but they no longer induce present fear.

As for the fear from past experiences, this too can dissolve into mere memory by placing it in its proper perspective - past. It is a past event, it does not belong to my present, and certainly not to my future. In my studies of the mind and how thought controls what we do and experience, I have come to realize that I can determine my own outcome. Even if things go apparently wrong there is always a positive experience and lesson to be learned, which will make the next experience more enriching.

I do not agree that fear is a natural self-defense mechanism. Fear is an illness based on a lack of faith in the Divine. That Force, when recognized removes all fear. It is not a force to be feared, as taught in our religions, but a Force to be welcomed and lived out in our own lives.

The faith reminds me that the future holds whatever I desire. So if my view of the future is fearful, so be it. However, if my view of the future is something wonderful and desirable, then so be that also.

This gets into metaphysics and how the energy of thought influences the energies of life. Be it simply stated that fear, based on how one sees the past and the future, can be eliminated. It is a matter of changing one's perspective. Stand on a mountain top and the vast city below looks like an insect colony. The city hasn't shrunk, but my perspective of the city has changed.

It is the same with whatever we find fearful. Take a different viewpoint and the fear becomes an interesting lesson. Fear paralyzes, knowledge empowers. It is knowing what the thing is that has caused fear and knowing that I am a channel for Divine energy. How I channel that energy depends on my perspective, my attitude and my intentions.

When next you face fear, take a step back and look at the fear. What is it you are fearing, a past recollection, or a future fantasy? For that is all it is. So many worry about what has not happened. Why not instead put that energy into seeing a positive and desirable outcome? Fear is only a figment of your imagination. Use your imagination to dispel it and imagine a bright future for yourself.