HOW TO DROP THE FEAR

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