No Fearing Fear

Loneliness isn't the only difficulty we encounter in our journey toward the mystical life. An even bigger obstacle, and usually more subtle, is fear.

There are so many facets to fear that a whole book could be written on that topic alone. I will only briefly address the concept and how it paralyzes us. If you think back in your life, you will remember the times you stood still or even cowered before a challenge. If you examine that time, I am willing to bet the biggest obstacle to overcoming that challenge was fear.

Fear isn't the opposite of trust, simply because to have real trust, you must first have fear. It is from our fears that trust is born.

I believe that fear "owns" us more than it should because we are loathed to admit to it. Fear is shameful, even on a totally natural level. And yet, the only thing to be ashamed of is our unwillingness to name our demon. Before we can loosen the hold fear has on us, we need to first face it. There's an old saying, "Face fear and fear will go away." I haven't found those words to be particularly true, but the concept brings to light the necessity of owning our vulnerability.

Fear in the form of shame is mentioned in the book of Genesis as driving Adam and Eve to hide after they had sinned, in an attempt to avoid the God they used to walk and talk to in the cool of the evening. What is fear making us hide from?