Fear

The other day I skimmed the Internet on the concept of fear and the following came up:

Fear is a basic primal emotion that is key to evolutionary survival. It's one we share with animals. Genetics plays a big role in the development of overwhelming — and needless — fear, psychologists say. Scientists proclaim that they now know better what's going on inside our brains when a ghost jumps out and scares us.

“Fear is a funny thing,” said Ted Abel, a fear researcher at the University of Pennsylvania . “One needs enough of it, but not too much of it.” Scientists figure they can improve that fear-dampening process by learning how fear runs through the brain and body. The fear hot spot is the amygdala, an almond-shaped part of the deep brain. The amygdala isn't responsible for all of people's fear response, but it's like the burglar alarm that connects to everything else.

Emory University psychiatry and psychology professor Michael Davis found that a certain chemical reaction in the amygdala is crucial in the way mice and people learn to overcome fear. When that reaction is deactivated in mice, they never learn to counter their fears.

 

Fear and Control

“Fear has many uses. It can be used as a warning to keep you from entering into a situation that might hurt you. It can be used to motivate you away from something, such as a harmful relationship or a dangerous situation. It can also be used by others to control you ”, says Kathy Wilson/Under One Roof.

There is a part of your brain that exists solely for your survival called the "reptilian" brain, which is the original part of your brain. As humans evolved, our brains grew and other parts were added, such as the limbic system which deals with emotions and the cerebral portion which is the thinking part. The reptilian brain is located at the stem of the brain, securely protected by the rest of the brain. When you experience the emotion of fear, your reptilian brain goes into action and the rest of your brain shuts down. The function of this part of your brain is to support you either to fight or in flight.

Additionally, when you are experiencing fear, all your blood is redirected to the parts that are needed for fight or flight - your heart, lungs, muscles, and your reptilian brain. The rest of your brain is left with only enough blood to keep it on idle, which means that you have no capability for rational or creative thought. It's all black or white, yes or no, good or evil. In this state you do not have the ability to think of alternative solutions to the situation.

“The polarity thinking that is created by fear can also be used very easily and effectively on the general populace by our politicians and other powers”, Kathy says. For instance the miltary machine - if they keep masses of people in fear and educate them in the many ways to kill other humans, they have a ready, willing, able, and non-thinking military force.

A fearless mindset

First, get yourself out of the state of fear. In order to be able to think you need to be able to use the other parts of your brain. If you are having difficulty getting out of fear this is what Kathy Wilson suggest you can do:

•  Turn off your television set - especially the news . Have you ever felt wonderful, or even good, after you watched the news? Even the commercials are designed to make you feel sick and fearful.

•  Get in touch with the earth. Go for a walk without your cell phone or CD player and truly pay attention to the beauty that surrounds you. Notice all the things that are there to support you - trees for shade, all vegetation for oxygen, ants to clean up the minutest messes, birds to spread seed for more plants to grow.

•  Show appreciation to your body by giving it something nice - a massage, a cup of herbal tea, organic food, pure water. It will thank you by feeling more energized.

•  Don't hang around negative people or people who are being negative at the time. You don't need to absorb their fear any more than you need to absorb the fear from the news on TV.

Kathy´s conclusion is as we begin to emerge from the state of fear and can once again think rationally and creatively, look at how you can create unity in your life instead of the polarity caused by fear.

Facing fear

Based on what I found out from the articles on the Internet, my friend Jamee and I sat down one sunny and beautiful day here at Paz y Luz to elaborate on the concept of fear. Is it possible to identify all kinds of fear that sits within us human beings? Can we make an ultimate fear list and from that list come up with corrective pinpointed actions to deal with or solve our fears? And would that be of interest for other people besides us here at Paz y Luz?

As our discussion continued other people staying here at Paz y Luz at that time, came up to us and joined in. Fear of death, fear of life, fear of not being loved, fear of being loved, fear of violence, fear of non-violence, fear of crying, fear of laughing, fear, fear, fear – what is this ! Why is it that fear plays such big part in our lives? And can it not also be an instrument of control by our religious leaders, governments, media moguls, greedy financial interests and various political systems towards us?

Facing life

Then, how do we face our fears and thus be happier in our approach towards life and living? How do we prevent ourselves from being objects of other people's effort to control us by threat or fear? One way could be that we come together in groups and jointly discuss our personal fears, find out ways – personal and general - to handle these obstacles.

As of today and within our concept for United Vision Unlimited , we here at Paz y Luz are planning a workshop in June 2009 that will be directed towards this matter. We will invite from our web site, anybody that has an interest in this kind of work to come here to Pisac and participate. The vision is that we get together, share, experience, offer training, and when the workshop is over, we have created a useful “toolbox” of insights and practical methods and exercises to deal with our fears. This toolbox we can share with our friends when we get home and with others all over the world.

So Alfie, it´s all about fear!