Freedom from invented fears

 

FearsWe need not alter our actions and the lives of others by deferring to imagined fears. Nothing obligates us to believe or obey any thought in our mind, even our most deeply ingrained habits. To grasp this fact develops in us a conscious sense of freedom. This includes freedom from how we know ourselves. As a result, we have more choices then we would otherwise have.

If a woman is afraid to approach a man and reveal her attraction for him, that doesn’t mean she is not capable of doing so. If she dares, regardless of the man’s response, the fear is not her master. She has access to her capacities instead of pretending they don’t exist while being trapped in a prison of imagined results. The question is not ‘what will this woman do next’, the question becomes ‘what can’t this woman do?’ Such a realization can be intensely creative because now the limit is her actual capacity, not her habitual fears or her beliefs about herself. 

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Fear is not a master

When our dream is love, we feel passions like sexual desire. When our dreams become nightmares, the fear engulfs us. We may forget the same mind that dreams at night is active while awake in a different way. While awake, our consciousness includes the sensations of the world and the affective power of our mind to induce feelings just as in dreams. We can experience the same intensity of emotion anytime as we do while dreaming, but, when awake, we would be wise to discern between publicly observable facts, and the interpretations, distortions and falsehoods that can be found only in our minds. Such clarity is less common than we might think.

Excerpt: The Relevance of Kabir