Go into your fear. Silently enter into it, so you can find
its depth. And many a times it happens that it is not very deep.
Fear is non substantial as your shadow. But the shadow can
have a great impact on you. On a lonely path when the night is approaching, you
can be frightened of your own shadow and start running. Your running will be
real, your escaping will be real, but the cause will be non substantial.
People are more afraid of fear than any thing else, because
the very existence of fear shakes your foundations.
What is fear made of?
Fear is made of ignorance of one’s own self. There is only
one fear; it manifests in many ways. There may be a thousand manifestations to
it but basic fear is just one and that is “Deep inside, I may not be.” Fear is
the shadow of “I.” Because the “I” is always alert somewhere deep down it will
have to disappear in death… The basic fear is of death; all other fear only reflects
the basic one.
Where does fear come from?
All our fears are by-product of identification.You love a person and with the love, in the same parcel, come
fear that the person may leave you. They have already left somebody else and come
with you, so there is a precedent; perhaps they will do the same to you. You
get so attached to that person that you cannot grasp a simple fact: you have
come alone in the world. You have been here yesterday too with out this person.
And you were doing perfectly well. Tomorrow if this person goes what is the
need to fear. You already know how to be with out the person, and you will be
able to live alone again.
The fear that things may change tomorrow, some body may die,
you may go bankrupt, and your job may be taken away. There are a thousand and
one things that might change. You are burdened with fear and fear, and none of
them are valid. Things may have changed but you are still alive. And believe me
people have an immense capacity to adjust themselves to any situation. If you
just look around the earth you will see man lives in thousands of different
climates, geographical situations, political situations, sociological
situation, religious situation, but he manage to live. And he has lived for
centuries. Things go on changing but he goes on adjusting himself.
The fact remains though that every body is full of fear.
Everybody has a kind of armor, and there are reasons for it. First the child is
born so utterly helpless, into a world he knows nothing of. Naturally he is
afraid of the unknown that faces him. He has not yet forgotten those nine
months of absolute security, safety, when there was no problem, no
responsibility, and no worries for tomorrow.
To us those are nine months, but to the child it is eternity.
He knows nothing of the calendar, he knows nothing of time. He has lived an
eternity in absolute safety and security, without any responsibility, and then
suddenly he is thrown into a world unknown, where he is depended for everything
on others. Everybody is bigger and more powerful. It is natural that he will
feel afraid.
A child is weak, vulnerable, and insecure. Automatically he
starts creating armor, a protection for himself in different ways. For example
he has to sleep alone. It is dark and he is afraid, but he has his teddy bear
and he convinces himself that he is not alone his friend is with him. You will
see children dragging their teddy bear at airport, at railway stations. Do you
think it is just a toy? To you it is, but to the child it is a friend. A friend
when no body else is there to help him. In the darkness of the night alone in
the bed, still the teddy bear is with him.
He will create psychological teddy bear. And remember that
although a grown up man may think that he has no teddy bears, he is wrong. What
is his god? Just a teddy bear. Out of his childhood fear, man has created a
father figure who knows all, who is all powerful, who is present everywhere. If
you have enough faith in him he will protect you. But the very idea of
protection, the very idea that a protector is needed is childish. Then you
learn prayers, these are just parts of your psychological armor. Prayers is to
remind God that you are here, alone in the night.
Our prayers, chanting, mantras, our scriptures, our gods,
our priests, are all part of psychological armor. It is very subtle. A Christian
believes that he will be saved and nobody else. Now that is defensive
arrangement; everybody is going to fall into hell except him, because he is Christian.
But every religion believes, in the same way, that only they will be saved. It
is not the question of the religion; it is a question of fear and being saved
from fear. So it is natural in a way- but at certain point in your maturity,
intelligence demands that it should be dropped. As a child it was good but as an
adult you have to drop the teddy bear. Finally, the day you drop your armor, it
means you have dropped living out of fear. Once the armor is dropped you can
live out of love, you can live in a mature way. The fully mature person has no
fear, no defense; he is psychologically open and vulnerable.
At a point, the armor may be necessity- perhaps it is. But as
you grow-if you are not only growing old but also growing up, growing is
maturity-then you will start seeing what you are carrying with you. Look
closely and you will find fear behind so many things.
A mature person should disconnect himself from anything that
is connected with fear. That’s how maturity comes.Just watch all your acts, all your beliefs, and find out whether
they are based in reality, in experience, or based in fear. Anything based in
fear has to be dropped immediately, without a second thought. It is your armor.
We go on living out of fear. That’s why we go on poisoning
every other experience. We love somebody but when our love comes out of fear it
is spoiled, poisoned. We seek truth, but if the search is out of fear then you
are not going to find it. What ever you do, remember one thing: out of fear you
are not going to grow. You will also shrink and die, fear is in the service of
death.
A fearless person has everything that life wants to give to
you as a gift. Now there is no barrier. You will be showered with gifts, and
whatever you do you will have strength, a power, a certainty, a tremendous
feeling of authority.
A person living out of fear is always trembling inside. He is continuously on the point of going insane, because life is big, and if you are continuously in fear… and fear of all kinds are available. You can make a big list, and you will be surprised how many fears are there- still you are alive! There are infections all around, diseases, dangers, kidnapping, terrorists… and such a small life! And finally there is death, which you cannot avoid. Your whole life will become dark.
Drop the fear- the fear was taken up by you in your childhood unconsciously; now consciously drop it and be mature. Then life can be a light that goes on deepening as you go on growing.
FEAR Understanding and Accepting the Insecurities of life
-OSHO
