Fear

This world is full of fears. We have so many threats to our physical bodies. While being at home, the building may suddenly collapse due to an earthquake. While walking on the road, some vehicle may suddenly hit us. There are so many natural disasters. COVID-19 has demonstrated the vulnerability of the human body despite all the advancements in medical science. Every day hospitals are full of patients due to so many viral diseases and failure of vital organs.

Not only the physical body, we have so many other fears. We seek a great deal of security out of money. We feel that money will save us from so many dangers. We can buy the safest home, the best of the cars, and afford the best of the medical facilities. The more reliance we place on money, the more we become insecure about money. We want to have more and more money. Even the remotest of the thoughts to lose money makes us insecure. The reason is very simple. We use many as a panacea for many of our fears. The fear of losing money activates all those fears in the background.

Community and relationships also provide us with security. If we fall ill, they take care of us. In case of financial emergency, they also help us financially. Some of them help us get the jobs. They also help us arrange the functions and also provide many critical information necessary for our survival. That's why social approval plays such an important role in our life. We want to confirm the social norms. We have a great fear of being outcasted by the community. That fear makes us conform to the rules set by the community.

We also seek security in friends and loved ones. Sometimes, they provide us with physical and financial security. Sometimes, they provide us the emotional security by providing a platform to share our fears and insecurities. We feel light by sharing our thoughts freely. Sharing helps us sort out our unorganized thoughts. The trust, we have in our beloved ones, helps us listen to their criticisms and resultant path correction.

The question here is whether all these securities, such as money, community, or friends, do away with the inherent fear. Are these just the painkillers or helping us develop internal immunity? I feel that all of us need to introspect on this question deeply if we really want to get over our fears and insecurities. The fundamental cause of this fear is the feeling of separation. We feel alone in this world having lost the divine connection. That is why we become obsessed with the body where we dwell. Until and unless we regain that awareness of our true nature, we will be afraid of losing this individuality, this body. The more we are ignorant about our real nature, the more we will be afraid of losing this body and the more we will cling to worldly securities in the form of money, community, and friends.

Some of us feel secure on certain fronts while insecure on other fronts. For example, some of us have realized the limited role of money in our lives beyond a point and since we have already accumulated money to that extent, we are not much bothered about money. Some of us have gathered enough positions and powers to realize the futility of gathering them further. Some of us have gathered much respect in the community and feel no more need for the same. Some of us have good friends and feel no need to have more friends. However, any of these feelings do not take away the fundamental fear unless we work on that. The moment circumstances change, we again become full of fear. During COVID tiles, the most secure people became insecure.

Does that not reveal something fundamental to us? These painkillers are not going to help us in the long run. How are we going to face the loss of the near and dear ones? How are we going to face death? We need to introspect. We need to re-establish that inner connection to realize our true nature. No worldly accumulations or relations are going to make us secure unless we recall our true nature. The true nature of being consciousness has no fixed form. Only with this awareness, we can face the world boldly without fear. Till the time we keep seeking security in worldly accumulations, we are bound to become more insecure. All the advancements in the medical world have not made us secure. Rather everybody feels so insecure. Nowadays, it's more difficult to accept death because some medical interventions can prolong life by a few years.

We have a choice to make. Either we may continue with our fundamental fear, which has emanated from a sense of separation, and continue to gather worldly securities to become more insecure in the course of time. Or we may work on internal connection to regain the lost awareness of the true self to throw away the illusion of insecurity and fear.