Cutting through our fears

In the times that we are living in, being afraid is nothing new to us. There appears to be so much fear all around us. Wherever we seem to look, people are living in fear and reacting to it too. Even when we read up on the history of the world, we read about how people have been living in fear and reacting to their fears. It is nothing new, and people have been under the power of fear for ages.

Let's consider for a moment how much suffering comes from fear. Not only do we create suffering for ourselves, but we create unhappiness for our environments too. Our whole reality becomes one of suffering and unhappiness, as a result of the fear we carry around.

Every day when we see the news, we hear about events that spread fear throughout the world. When we read or hear about wars, bombs, and viruses, we become fearful too, and we react in ways that just bring ourselves and others more harm. We shut ourselves off to others and our main priority revolves solely around cherishing and protecting ourselves. It is a ripple effect of unhappiness.

Getting to the root of it

Now, let's be honest, who is to blame for this? Think about this... who is to blame for our fears? Can we say that there is anything apart from us, that can make us afraid? Is there anything concrete and solid that exists apart from us, that has the capacity to bring us to fear, or are we solely in control of imputing fears on objects, and then making this our realities?

Being afraid of something does not exist without us deciding to be afraid of it. Anything that awakens fear inside of us, depends on us making it 'scary'. Therefore, we can conclude that the fears we have are created solely by ourselves, or rather, our egos.

This may be a bit difficult to comprehend for some of us. Let's try to use some examples. Some of us may be afraid of a snake, while someone else can just pick up this snake and carry it around their neck, like a piece of exotic jewelry. How is this possible? Is the snake itself an object of fear, or is fear merely imputed on it? See, we decide what we fear. There cannot be any separate object, existing as fear itself. 

In the same way, we hear the word 'virus' or 'bomb' or 'ghost' and we start to feel vulnerable. The mere idea we have of something, makes us be afraid, and we even start to react to it too, don't we?

When we hear certain conversations or read certain articles, we can already feel the blood rushing to our heads and our hearts starting to get excited or feel the palms of our hands getting moist! Just by empty ideas, we start to react emotionally and even physically too! 

So, who is the one sitting behind our fears? Who is the one that is afraid? When we cut down to the root of it, we realize that there is an illusion of a separate self, an ego, which feels that it is real, and which also feels very vulnerable. Is this not true? Consider this for a moment...

When we investigate the fear of a snake or a bomb or a virus, we realize that it comes from the ego feeling vulnerable, feeling that the snake or bomb or virus may hurt or harm it, or even 'kill' it. The fear of dying, the fear of ceasing to exist. 

We have this false idea of who and what we are, and we then live our whole life, protecting this false identity. This identity is vulnerable because everything it is associated with, everything it identifies as, is bound to impermanence, bound to change. When the ego feels intimidated, it reacts, attempting to protect itself, and these acts deriving from the ego brings us endless unhappiness and misery.

Think of how we tend to identify as the body, and when situations arise which place the physical body into a vulnerable position, we react out of fear. Yet, we know that we are not the mind, we are not the body.

So, the one who is afraid, the vulnerable one, it is our ego, and it is the cause of all our stress, anger, fears, and unhappiness.

Being free from fear

When we can identify the ego as the root of all our fears, the most skillful and obvious thing to do would be to renounce the ego. Yet, saying that we want to renounce the ego does not seem to be as simple as it sounds, and for some of us, it may even sound a bit scary, doesn't it? Because if we are not who we believe to be, this false sense of self, who are we then? See, even the mere idea of dropping our false identities can be scary and intimidating!

Consider for a moment, that you are not your physical body, this man or woman, with this name and nationality. Also, consider that you are not your ideas, your thoughts, and emotions... by considering that we are not a gross object, a materialistic object, the ego can already start to feel threatened.

Nonetheless, we can be free from our fears if we really want to. We can make the conscious decision to get to the core of who we are, and shattering the illusions of all the fears and the ego. When we quiet our minds and turn our focus inwards, shifting our awareness inwards, then we can start to cut through all the layers of the ego and we can discover our True Nature! Our True Identity lies beyond the mortal body, beyond the impermanence of thoughts, ideas, and concepts.

As we start to dissolve the ego, all the fears and vulnerability associated with the ego dissolves with it, and it leads us to real freedom. When we discover who we truly are, we know that we are immortal, untouchable, and that brings us lasting peace and happiness!

Freedom from fear is our Basic Nature, it is not a reward or an accomplishment.