Planet Homo

Why?

The Fear Factor

Threats and danger.
There is much to fear and its curious that this one emotion, which is awakened very early in us, is so ubiquitous. There is hardly a day that goes by when we don't fear something: a near auto accident, a skip in the rhythm of the heart. the economy, our jobs, our health, success, our age, our parents, our legacy.
There are more books written about fear in the self-help section, which makes sense. How do we conquer fear? As Joni Mitchell once summed it up: some turn to Jesus, some to heroin. Some suggest that we think only the good, positive thoughts, as if to keep the bad at bay, some demand that we be in "now" as if we could be anywhere else, some suggest we only surround ourselves with the positive, which means we lose half our friends. We turn to religion, spiritual and otherworldly experiences to assuage the unease. We turn to drugs, for some drugs have the desired effect of numbing the coils of fear; for a few hours we are beside ourselves, lost in a tranquility or fervor that keeps us from ever thinking about fear, though coming down can be counted as among one of the greatest sd of fear you can have. And then there is the Zen version: give in, accept, surrender and shuffle.
Surely we are we are wired for fear. We leave that ultimate home comfort called corpus uteri, and smash into a world of oxygen, bright lights, distinct smells and a slap on the bottom to boot.
The clock begins at that point though we are hardly aware of it. That will happen later in life, around 45 when a shocking realization of mortality stings the bloom off of youth. We die. We hurt. There is pain, there is suffering. We have conjured up a thousand mythologies to explain the world, giving it a thousand names: Bhagavan, Aten, Aten, Shenen, Yahweh. And yet, the mystery remains.
Threats and danger.
It is wired within us, though a hundred slights and indifference's will caulk the experience of being hurt, running away, being in fear. It is always a fool that says: "I don't fear death", for on its most basic level, that is biologically impossible and secondly, it assumes an emotion, perhaps your final emotion, that is far too great to evaluate until you get there. There is a beautiful irony slipped into the magical DNA of life: we love life, whether we like it or not.
There are no answers, which pisses off a lot of people. We reach for that item on the existential menu, which best suits, us and even that shifts and changes with time. There is no certainty, that is for certain. Seizing the moment (Carpe Diem!) living ones life to the fullest, being in touch are all great reminders that for the most part we really do live in fear, often mistakenly, foolishly and we know we should live each day as if it were our last, but we also know, inherently, that is exhausting.
We simply go on. For myself: I need to stop drinking coffee.