Why Fear really is a Fiction of the Mind?

Why Fear really is a Fiction of the Mind?We all are born pure, but with time, we all ac-quire identities from our surroundings. Our name, physical styling, position, nationality, ethnicity, language, and even our religion, are all just part of an identity that has been acquired during our life span. When we’re conceived, we don't even have a body to call our own. When we’re born into the world we are a body with breath. We are given a name and along with it, an attached identity. We start learning languages and skills and in this way keep evolving our identity. We become aware of our strengths and weaknesses. Our identity is rein-forced by our peers and we’re remain in the surviv-al game to protect our identity or who we think we are.Through it all, we are a constant witness to life even as our body and identities keep changing. However, we do have a deeper awareness wherein we know who we are regardless of our external identities, roles, and responsibilities. When we get to a point wherein all identities have been given to us by our environment, we start to realize that iden-tities are made up. If identities are fabricated, then the fear associated with the need to protect them is also fabricated, learnt and conditioned during the course of growth, and it isn’t truly real. If identity is fiction, so are fears. Fiction, not in the sense that it doesn’t exist, but rather fiction as created by our identities in the process of survival. Thus, if fears have been created by us, we can be responsible for them, accept them, acknowledge them, and then let them go and make choices that aren’t driven by fear.We have two kinds of fears. One, when there is threat to our biological status and the other which is fictional and threatens our identity. Fictional fears are false as they’re concepts of the ego-based iden-tity. However, our brain responds to ego-based fears in the same way as it responds to biological fears. Our response to the fear of death is the same whether it is a physical death or the death of the ego or identity. The brain cannot differentiate be-tween them, at least not in terms of immediate re-sponse. For our identity, the fear of rejection is the same as the fear of death. Our life isn’t usually stopped by fear of biological death but by the fic-tional fears of identity, and so it is important for us to be freed from these fears so we can lead an em-powered life. Even the threats out there are creation or perceptions of our mind, and if we are creating both threats and identities, then all fictional fears are self-created.Fear - Real and FictionalWe’re only born with two types of fears — the fear of loud noises and the fear of falling. However, throughout our lives, we experience many other types of fears, including the fear of public speak-ing, and the fear of rejection. There are different manifestations and variants of fear such as guilt, shame, anger, self-doubt, and anxiety.Most of the fears we experience in our lives are caused by certain incidents and situations that threaten our survival. Any situation appearing dan-gerous to the mind is kept in the memory and re-sponse can be triggered at a second’s notice. In the world of survival, fear is a basic human emotion and a powerful driver in the decision between fight or flight responses when a threat is encountered. Fear is a part of the survival design and it is only fear that rules the game in the domain of survival. Fear decides our human boundaries and our com-fort zones. Therefore, some types of fear are essen-tial in our lives.But most types of fears, for example, the fear of public speaking, are driven by perceived or imagi-nary threats to survival. In reality, we create such fears with our excessive imagination — by thinking about incidents that have not happened or might happen in the future. So how do we overcome these fictional fears? This is an unanswered question. In fact, we cannot overcome something which does not exist in reality. To overcome fictional fear means to overcome something that does not exist. We can only overcome something when it has exis-tential reality. Therefore, if we are to overcome fear, we have to understand that we create it from our own erroneous perceptions and imaginations.The paradox of fear is that it does not exist in the dimension of being, although we all experience fear in the survival model. It is really not real — not "Real" like physical things — it is only experi-ential. We should have a clear notion that fear is only made up in our minds from our own interpre-tation of experiences in different life situations (re-al or imagined situations). That means it is not real-ity but our own perceptions of reality that creates fear in our minds. This is why we can call it fic-tional fear. Fictional fears are distinct from the bio-logical fears that are there to protect us from sur-vival threats and we are already designed to take the required action to protect ourselves from the danger.In the case of public speaking, it is the fear of rejection and the fear of being judged (not the fear of speaking in front of a crowd) that runs the show. But, if we dig deeper into the fear, we will see that rejection is also a fiction of the mind. People may like or hate our speech, but they cannot reject us, since rejection can only happen when we con-sciously accept it in our own minds, and it is, there-fore, also fictional not existential reality. In the Be-ing model, rejection cannot happen in reality be-cause there is nothing that can be rejected is not identity. Therefore, fear is nothing but a fiction of the mind. What remains for us to set out to make it real for us as an experience, and thus be able to lead a life that we can be proud of. All the fears of rejections are created by the identity and start to dismantle when we bring awareness to them. The ghosts we are fighting are not really real, we just need to shine the light of awareness on them to ex-pose them.It is easier said than done, especially when fear is so strongly linked to our basic human design. I have discussed below explorations that can be used to begin to see fear as a fiction of the mind. You can try and begin your own journey into an exami-nation of your fears as fictions of the mind. You can create your own process to empower you to deal with your fears. Below are steps to life as an exploration and not as just truth, so you can choose your own path to freedom without any fears of the mind.1) Declare Fear for what it is — the underlying emotion of survival, the basic tool of sur-vival to deal with life threatening situations. Look at your life and see how pervasive the fear is and how it influences your decisions. You are taking action to reduce the impact of fear, not taking action because fear stops you. Fear has robbed human beings from living their lives fully. Look at the perva-sive nature of fear without making it wrong. Be a witness to fear without giving meaning to the body sensations. Fear is only situa-tional.How does the world occur to you for that fear to be real? What are your perceptions, memories and beliefs that make this fear occur? For fear to exist, we need to perceive real or imaginary threats. We learn to fear certain situations and events. The interest-ing fact is that different people react differ-ently to the same situations. The mind cre-ates fears in situations where there is too much at risk, such as when you really think your performance is important.2) Experiences of fear depends on the state of mind. It is only a state of mind and can be changed. It cannot be seen or felt by the empirical senses. A state of mind can be changed much quicker than you think. Fear can only exist in thoughts and thoughts are controlled by you. You can try to change your state of mind with substitution:a. Focus your mind on what you think about when you feel grateful. When you feel grateful, your state of mind is dif-ferent from when you are angry. Gener-ally, both fear and gratefulness cannot coexist.b. Focus on the humor that fear is really here to help you, it’s part of the cosmic joke.c. Accept the fear first and then affirm it with the words “All is Well” or “Fear is a fiction of the mind.”3) Witness that you are not afraid in the pre-sent moment. Fear only lies in past condi-tioning and in future expectations. It is a re-sult of memory and future expectation and not really ‘real’, which is only in the present moment. Only the present moment has exis-tential reality; the rest is just psychological reality – all created in your own mind. Both yesterday and tomorrow do not exist in real-ity. They are only in memory and therefore aren’t real. Although your fear is fictional, it may have actual impact and you may ex-perience certain sensations. You have to name the experience as a response to fic-tion. The biological sensations of real fear are not different from excitement and de-light. It is in the naming of the sensations which either propels us or prohibits us from action.4) Fear has its genesis in survival and is a re-sponse to external threats. Our fears are not a response to reality, but rather a reaction to the occurring world and not to the reality. Look at your fears and see how these are a response to your perceptions of the external world.5) Name the fear and reject it. I was personally suffering from fear and anxiety and tried several means of reducing it and the anxiety slowly subsided. However, the final means was to name the fear as a fiction of the mind and slowly my subconscious mind began to differentiate between real fear and fictional fear. It knows how to deal with fiction once it is recognized as fiction. You may want to find your own way to name your fears, so the fears have a distinct identity. You can accept them and then let them go.6) Dance with the feara. If we resist fear, it will persist. Denying fear does not make it disappear. Danc-ing with fear is an act of watching it and letting it flow to see what lessons it brings. This involves observing the body sensations associated with fear, letting them be just a reaction to the threat of survival, and knowing that you can take action regardless of fear. Once we start to take action in spite of fear, we will find that fear conditioning starts to diminish.7) Add humor to it.a. Humor is an antidote to fear. Learn to laugh at the irony that your own mind is creating thoughts, and your own thoughts are hurting you to protect you. Most of our fears and body sensations are due to the meaning we are giving to the external stimuli and this meaning is unique to each one of us. Although it is healthy to be introspective about our emotions, it is always helpful to add humor to the situation. You can add iro-ny to see that not everybody thinks the same way as you do. You may feel right and justified about your own way, but the world keeps going on without ever wondering what you think.8) Meditate to separate yourself from your fearsa. Meditation is a great way to restore your inner balance. Look at the lesson fear is trying to teach you, the action you should take responsibly, and then let fear be, and let go of the fear. Medita-tion also calms down the noise of your thoughts and lets you access your true inner self so that you can deal with the lessons fears might be trying to teach you.9) A magic wand: Visualize you have a pow-erful magic wand from your true self to help change your past. Go back to the earliest events where you lost power and use the magic wand to transform it into a powerful response from you to the incident. You as an adult are helping your younger self. Look at life events from your mature perspective and see how it was normal for your younger self to be fearful in those situations. Now you do not need to be afraid of old patterns.First relax and visualize that you have a magic wand, full of light, that can heal all your past fearful memories. Visualize your earliest fears, accept the lessons, and let go of the fear. The light of the magic wand is clearing the cloud of fear.Visualize that the things you fear do not really exist and it’s only your memory that is keeping it alive. Ask you memory to help you be courageous and keep only the les-sons learnt but let go of being stuck. Learn the lessons and feel that it’s in the past. Keep using your magic wand to throw light on your childhood fears and send love to your younger self who still has saved the experiences. Realize that past is already done and it is no longer happening. It only exists in memory to keep you safe in the fu-ture. Realize that the decision made in the past never happened, it was all your inter-pretation, a reaction to the threat. While events did happen, the meaning was given by your younger self. Send love and see that the decisions are no longer valid as an adult. Do not try to change anything, just let go. Realize that at the current moment you are whole and complete and that you always were a perfect being. The magic wand is always there to help you with unrealistic fears, but lets you keep the fears you need to keep for your own and others’ wellbeing.10) A life of no regretsa. Imagine that you are 85 years old and you’re looking back at your life. How would you see these fears at that time? What will your regrets be? What do you wish you could had done differently? What did fear stop you from doing? De-cide to live a life of no regrets. Take ac-tions that supports your purpose and empowers you.11) Preparing for the worst?a. Think of your fears and think about what is the worst thing that can happen if the event you fear actually happens. See that fears are actually keeping the survival game alive and your job is to keep the empowerment game alive. Choose to live a life that allows you to handle anything in life without fears, or in spite of fears. Always maintain a space between yourself and your fears.12) Be a witness to your fearsa. Distinguish yourself from your fears and observe your fears as a witness. Always be in inquiry about fears and empower-ment. What is the personal and the uni-versal natural of your fear? Where is the survival being played? Where did the fear originate? What will it take to re-late to fear as fiction? What actions does it stop you from taking? Can you take action in spite of the fear? What is the cause of the fear? Keep on questioning the cause. What could be the other cause of fear if it was not the obvious cause of the fear? Maintain an inquiry to get to the bottom of the cause of the fear, till you see that all that drives the fear is ei-ther rooted in survival or is just a fic-tion.b. You could also find a group or a friend that you trust and talk about your fears and the possible cause of that fear. Take the shame, embarrassment, and rejection about failure out of the fear and get to know the humanity of the fears. Role play with a friend and see if sharing your fears can help you reduce the bur-den of hiding those fears from people.13) Acceptance: Accept the fears as just a part of being human and know that everyone else is like you and has different manifesta-tions of fear. Try to accept them as a friend trying to help you and keep taking actions that are required at that moment to be pow-erful in life. Do not let fears run your life.14) The paradox of survival: Always see the two dimensions of fear — one in survival and another in the dimension of Being. Bring awareness to automation and be in the present moment when your mind wants to take you to the past or the future. Your in-tellect has the ability to create gaps before reacting and it is in the gaps that you devel-op the power to respond.15) Letting Go: Sometimes a brain gets stuck to a pattern and it responds whenever you face certain situations. It is like a car stuck in a gear, and you experience the symptoms of that. Do not let the sensation of fear be a commentary on you. Accept it as being stuck in a loop and watch being in the loop. It is just the brain running its old program. Let go of the fear and take a deep breath to come to the present moment. Practice let-ting go and release being stuck in the fear.16) Courage: Initially you will need courage to take action in spite of your new knowledge. The old habits will keep triggering body symptoms that will appear in the form of fear. Use your courage to take actions in spite of the fears. As you take actions, the body sensations will start to fade with time, or if they are there they won’t bother you. You might even be able to channel the fear to excitement and use the energy to produce the results you want.17) Exposure: You may want to talk to a medi-cal professional if the fears bother you to the extent that you can’t expose yourself to the situation. There are psychological and medical methods to enable you to take the initial steps. Exposure to the fearful situa-tions can help reduce the triggering se-quence, especially when you are the observ-er and not engaging in the experience.18) The personal and universal nature of fear: Be in an inquiry of the personal and universal nature of the fear. There are some aspects of fear which are very specific to your own life experiences and you react in a certain way to how the situation appears to you, whereas there are universal ways to re-act to fearful situations.19) Accepting failure: Accept that failures are just stepping stones to success. There are times when you do not achieve the results you desire and it does not mean that you are not good enough. Actually, all that you can do is take action. Results are dependent on many factors and just accepting yourself as a perfect human being can help you take ac-tion regardless of success or failure. In fact, failures are just our own definitions and even being a failure is a fiction of mind.20) Change your expectations: Fear is either memory-based or expectation-based. You can ask yourself what expectations are caus-ing fear. These expectations may reside at a sub-conscious level and not in the conscious mind. You can change the expectations and the body’s response will alter. Expectations, perceptions and memories are all ours, and we are the one creating the fears.