AN ANALYSIS OF THE EMOTION OF FEAR
Fear as an emotion dictates that it appear as a consequent or contingent upon some other pre existing conditions . Fear is an Emotion so it is general in nature . If we examine carefully ourselves we will find that we are Fearful because of something - underlying fear ie, if in meditation we sit down and analyze the word and its feeling and what in our consciousness it means we find that it it is attached to or accompanied by another proposition in tow. We fear death , which we can plainly say is ranging from apprehensions of Bodily harm to the extinguishing of our body . We fear loss of security, we fear loss of wealth, children, we fear for others , we fear our dog will get run over by a car , or an intruder will come into the house, we fear failure at work or life , we fear ignominy, we fear fame , we fear poverty and hunger , we fear misery and sorrow, we fear we may be locjed out of the house , or be mugged - in fact for every feeling and belief we have a fear attached to it . We even fear the loss of faith or beliefs that may happen if we choose a particular way of living or action . We fear offending others . A million fears are attached to all the things known and unknown , fear reigns supreme and we fear fear itself . It is a vast ocean of misery built on nothingness except our ignorance and error of perception . Conscience is an outcrop of fear , as conscience works by the tool of fear and in a negative manner .We fear mere shadows like sounds, colours, flashes of light .
Why does fear occur and when does it occur is then the big question , how is one to be able to control this dastardly emotion that reduces even heros to snivelling idiots.
Forgetting or faulty memory is the culprit, loose thinking and no knowledge of the workings of the inner equipments of thought and knowledge is to be blamed. Why is fear so pervasive within a single individual is what is to be looked into -
The truth is that Fear is the representation of the word nothing or nothingness it appears within our consciousness when just as person who has in real life misplaced his valuable and is suddenly fearful that it has been robbed believes so wrongly. In fear what happens is that internally within ourselves we are confronted with a loss of a support or basis for existence . We apprehend that the very axiom on which our every premise or belief was built is lost , this happens automatically as a function of our intellect which goes by logic and structure . To make things more clearly I would like to state that in our every knowledge there exists an a priori underlying it - basically it relates to the idea of who we are - in other words if I think I am the body and so and so person , any thing that requires logical thinking has to include myself also - now what happens is due to excessive preoccupation with the idea or thought that we are having we unconsciously ascribe fear to the Ego which actually is the Ego and not the physical body . The ego is the knowledge of ourself within us - now what happens is that we unconsciously imagine the removal of the substratum or thing or subject matter under consideration , In other words we sort of simulate by thought the removal of the particular object that we consider as desirable to us . The resulting feeling is nothingness since the ego has been equated to an object of desire and then removed , this feeling of nothingness or the signifying by thought or feeling of the perceived loss of an object of desire is then in our conscious mind by weak understanding interpreted as a feeling of fear . Between the thinking of the thought and the feeling of fear - in the middle there is a subtle cognition by ourselves as a void or the absence of everything , and since we are not aware of our own thoughts and processes and due to the body centric ego we fail to detect this logical gap of knowledge which flashes within us and since we are gross in intellect - we do not know what exactly was the logic involved and what was understood by the intellect - on the contrary we transpose our previous memory of the prior thought - much as one uses a blank tile in scrabble .
to illustrate this particularly subtle movement of life and breath in our consciousness :
If I Imagine that I may lose my wealth and imagine how my life would be etc , it creates an impression within me and a resolve that "I will see to it that in no way will I ever descend into poverty, I will provide and make my life secure " etc etc.
This imagination has taken place inside only theoretically and not actually , But the man actually goes out into the world and conducts his affairs in a manner to preclude this - it is ingrained in every act of his and his attitude . So we have the example of cross consciousness - We have interpolated ourself (Ego not the body ) in mind and gained the insight that poverty is bad and physical suffering will ensue (as Ego= Body) and so I do as I believe in the real world .
Now obviously the man has ample means , this means was gained by an error of reasoning - he felt or "knew'' that poverty is bad and holds pain - (he did not actually suffer it ) but the impression of thought and feeling is within him (ie of poverty) and the logic (of having suffered the poverty in thought or dream and the admittance of the impressions of this fake experience by thought in his memory ) is only known to his intellect (the thinker) . But not to the body with which he identifies by virtue of the Ego (ie he considers himself the body ) - so there is a lie involved !!!
It works like this : He creates the impression and hence the will to stay out of poverty by fooling his memory by a fake aversion and then links his thoughts as if he had been poor in reality and then having suffered he is now making an effort to stay afloat (this is the actual internal logic of HIS intellect, EGO and Memory ) .
Now the lie is embedded within - he acknowledges that he has suffered , yet not suffered actually but is only precluding this suffering - this is done by shifting his knowledge from his memory to intellect etc in order to maintain structure . (A kind of Fooling the Brain - but here it is more dangerous as what is done is FOOLING THE WILL or APPROPRIATING WILL by lying to the self or in other words imagination which is false and not aesthetic or sublime).
So the Will withdraws at these points of contact wherever a lie has has been embedded (in short in everything in a person .... so much for honesty of purpose in people!!!!). And it is this withdrawal that is encountered as Fear , since loss of Will is the annihilation of the Body and Ego as the person has seen his body as himself and so will not endure - the inner self revolts by projecting the knowledge that one is moving into nothingness and not the truth , which creates a fear in the Ego within our consciousness . As you think so you become !!!.
Which is why the man of knowledge is fearless - and absolutely fearless since he never lies , the waking state is not mixed by dreams or sleep and vice versa - he has no states as such . HIs will never withdraws and is one and the same as that of the cosmic and his every action is a cosmic action willed by the infinite for him .
I hope I have been able to bring out the analysis of fear as an emotion and why it is so . Of course other views may be there , but here I have also shed in a negative way on what truth is , what lying is and how it is ordered within the inner equipments . More than fear , I hope an idea as to how things work within us is gained . Ethics is gained to only after a clear reflection or thinking is gained to .
Comment
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Comment by Paige on September 8, 2013 at 3:30pm
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Very nice post and comment here Hari. I am glad I had a chance to read this; seriously.
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Comment by Hari Menon on March 30, 2013 at 11:30pm
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Dear Jessica,
You have to understand this in the wider context , you cannot hate the man - he is living his life as everyone else , The fact that the world and what we call ourselves and the waking and dream states are non existent , makes the man just right for living . Of course all are culpable of false identity including children and parents and all things including animals - so it is natural - but unfortunately the Intellect always has a movement towards Truth and not to any other direction .Now the so called seeker of Truth cannot claim superiority Jessica , since he is also living under a false identity - Just because he is aware or knows that he is actually a false identity does not make him superior to another - for one has to be a Wise man for this identity to vanish and the Wise man sees everyone as himself and himself in everyone so there are no differences. The Die hard seeker is a hypocrite if he claims that he alone is aware of the truth and not others - Everyones Intellect works towards the Truth , and it is only a wrong notion that one believes one is the body - Just as a person will see a snake in the rope . It has only value in error as long as one is alive - when a man dies , he does not carry his life and works Jessica , It works in reverse - Say a person has gained to some spiritual progress i this life and has knowledge of the Truth , now when he /she dies what follows are these good karmas which will be the basis for the next life , since the intellect does not gain anymore in knowledge after death , the person has no way of gaining knowledge for the growth of the intellect - in other words a person is born with the Samskaras of the previous intellect - the question naturally arises what about the other impressions (the bad ones or mixed actions ) - here you have to note that - the person is born with the Intellect (good samskaras) - But is placed in those surroundings which will provide the circumstances for the fructifying of his balance character . You have to understand that - (just by way of illustration )
Say a person has an intellect which is spiritually developed by about 25% in one avatar , and he dies - he goes with this and is born in surroundings which will provide the material for the fructifying of the balance 75% which are mixed and bad proclivities . Again the person has a good attitude and develops his intellect that in this new avatar his intellect progresses from 25 % to %50% - then obviously on passing away , his next avatar will be in circumstances which will help in the fructifying of the balance 50% . It is spiritual knowledge alone which accompanies a person , the rest that accompany are base tendencies like anger , lust, greed , misery etc which are common - obviously the good will regulate the inccidence of the bad in each life . This is not a formula , but I am only illustrating how the thing works in reverse - just as in inference and reasoning . Obviously 100-25=75 and 100-50=50 . It is moot whether you say a man has been born with 30% good tendencies only and leave the rest for inference , or you say a man is 70% bad . Either way it works out the same . Nobody carries the precise experience with him - the general tendencies accompany a person in more or less degree , that is all . The Intellect will regulate how much of stupidity a person will suffer or not by its tendency to move to the Truth . It is simple .
In meeting a wise man , they have the capability to annhilate ignorance , and confer knowledge - which may or may not go unnnoticed by the seeker - it is upto the seeker to act cleverly and intelligently to exploit such a blessing and make it into experience and knowledge and release himself .
I used illustration in the main post to get the point home - By Lying I did not mean even in thought to imply that the person in the illustration is a Liar (the way it is popularly understood in common usage and custom ) - Lie does not matter in life Jessica - The world itself actually is a lie and exists only as an idea . we see the foreground and not the back ground that is all - so it really does not suit to call any one a liar , or truthful in a way of speaking - Compassion and understanding is called for , not castigation for it is not easy to get pulled out of quicksand without having someone on firm ground who can actually throw a life line and pull up the person.
The annhilation of the will what we percieve is actually to be seen in reverse - If a man acts in the feeling that he is the body , obviously he acts as agent and not as principle , and agency will arise in the intellect , Agency will end end when the person loses his sense of doing or proprietorship and obviously he has no actions and the cosmic will acts - it dissipates his balance base karmas , and the man will by indications and circumstances that happen to him understand what is left and how much more he will live . He acquires the ability to postpone death by postponing the last karma which he is required to do at whichs end he will give up the body . It depends some do it others give up that right also . It is an action of the infinite that is all.
One can make a new destiny for oneself - only if one can surmount the past tendencies by knowledge . knowledge destroys the very seed of ignorance . Speaking the truth, Ethics , Compassion, Peace,Universal Love etc need not be acted or thought out - these are divine qualities which arise normally within a person as they progresses in purity - It is there in all only the base tendencies have to be erased , what is true will never go , what is untrue will always have an ending - which is why once real progress is made in each life in the life of the spirit it is permanent and will never go since it is yourself , the others which are base tendencies will vanish on its own like shadows fading away .
There is nothing to judge in the world or in another person - what to say when the living conditions of the world are a lie itself , like a shadow ? Who to Blame and how ? . The Holy bible is quite clear on this point also it does say quite rightly "Judge not , that ye be judged yourself " . The difficulty in believing that the world is false lies with the past tendencies within ourselves which do not allow us to see the truth , tremendous strength is required to withstand this flow of tendencies which we "Call and Know as ourselves" at present.
You should never hold the idea that everyone is lying - that would make you a bigger lair would it not ? for unconsciously we will believe that we are better than others - To call one person a liar is to imply others all are good and to call one person good is to imply all others are bad - in thought also we have to be careful of the implied and expressed meanings of thinking (not the uttered ) . And always we have to be aware that when we say something we are also included in the statement - it is not excluding us . We cannot distance ourselves in mind and then make statements on others or the world - then it means that "I am one" and "he is another" - this very wrong . I am not pontificating Jessica - I am only trying to drive home our subtle nature of ourselves , obviously if you are clever you can easily connect the rest . The eliminating of white noises in thought clears up our own intellect , and it can only be done by reasoning and self control , but the lovely part is that we need not eternally struggle , once knowledge of the thing or idea is correctly grasped with firmness , then there is no effort - knowledge will do the rest . This is Buddhi Yoga - the world (intellect) works for you through knowledge - nothing need be done , your senses and mind bring all the things to you yourself in order to preserve you till the karmas are exhausted . Actually what is the point in hating anyone or anything - we are all in the world and neither need we accept a thing nor need we reject it . If you examine carefully no body can either accept himself or reject himself or another . They are there just as you and me. I always write from the Cause to the effect and , from Generals - never attach any of my thoughts to your ideas of words - unless you have reworked their scope and ambit and meaning - otherwise the point will be missed . The truth , the will , the lie that I write about are mine alone - you have to rework the concepts you have of the words , my thoughts are an out come of the Universals that I have employed which are axiomatic and does not require proof . And which are the starting point of my everything . There are no unknown a priori assumptions when I write , This much you have to understand when reading me.
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