Wellness Blog Health & Wellness Safety and Fear
Safety and Fear
Once in a while we will read, see and/or experience something that will stop us in our tracks, make us re-evaluate or question our reality and leave us with a deep and meaningful transformation of our perceptions. Such was the case recently with some sacred text I was reading. The passage deeply affected me, in a positive and compassionate way. I want to share it with you…
These beautiful words touched me at a soul level. The concepts and lessons about ‘fear’ and ‘safety’ spoke to me vividly on this day.
Fear: the antithesis of enlightenment and nirvana when it is overcome. Fear is the single biggest impediment to spiritual growth. Entire industries exist and prosper because we are fearful: insurance; healthcare; financial; entertainment, etc. Without fear, these industries would simply not be necessary or relevant.
Fear is a debilitating emotion. It can stop us in our tracks, prevent us from living our lives, and get us into all sorts of situations that result in crippling our spiritual development—and stunt our growth. Eckhart Tolle, in his book Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises from The Power of Now explains it like this. “The psychological condition of fear is divorced from any concrete and true immediate danger. It comes in many forms: unease, worry, anxiety, nervousness, tension, dread, phobia, and so on. This kind of psychological fear is always of something that might happen, not of something that is happening now”. [p. 27]
So what is fear? A Course in Miracles suggests that “fear is a symptom of your own deep sense of loss”. Another explanation is that fear stands for ‘false evidence appearing real’. Think about what the acronym of fear is, false—evidence—appearing—real. What we are seeing is something that is false; it does not really exist; it is an illusion. But it appears real because of evidence we perceive to be present; that is the illusion part. We perceive there to be some evidence or fact creating our reality of fear, but it is an illusion.
It was not until recently that I truly began to understand (an ongoing process) what the saying “you have nothing to fear but fear itself” really meant. Nothing can or will hurt us, except our own fear. Nothing can deprive us of anything, except ourselves. Nothing can even physically harm us—our spirit—because our spirit is not of this physical body form. All our fears come from ‘false evidence appearing real’.
But how do we stop being fearful? It begins by becoming calm and centred and continues with growing peace and happiness. “Fearlessness sows the seeds of happiness” writes Elizabeth Lesser in her book The New American Spirituality: A Seeker’s Guide. “First comes a loosening of fear; from this relaxation comes a growing acceptance of life on its own terms; then a sense of wonder awakens, one that is large enough to contain the many ups and downs that are natural of our physical, mental, and emotional makeups. All around us are the ingredients for happiness—happiness, but not perfection. Perfection is an idea; imperfection is reality. Happiness within the field of imperfection is a promise of the spiritual quest”. [p. 31]
Enter ‘safety’. A place we arrive at when fear is absent. But it is a tenuous dance, this ballet of fear and safety. Often, it is what we think makes us safe that is the very essence and foundation of our fears. When I read the sacred text at the beginning of this writing, it helped me understand the basis for so much of the fear that exists in this time. But more importantly, it helped me have compassion for those souls that are lost in their illusion and feel safe by the very thing they fear.
I have been ambitiously working on my fears over the past few years. I have come to accept and realize, for me (and I speak only for myself), that financial and material wealth is a vast illusion and the foundation for so much that is feared in society today. Financial and material wealth is an illusion that is so entrenched in our global community and society that to begin to see financial and material wealth in another light is tremendously liberating. What I was taught, raised and schooled in—the acquisition, accumulation, protection, management, and legacy of financial and material wealth—has not brought any amount of safety for my soul.
My safety has come from a growing sense of oneness with Spirit, with the Holy Mother/Father, with God. My personal safety has come from an expanded ‘knowing’ of the connectedness among every person, animal and plant on this precious Mother Earth. Safety, as the sacred text above suggests, is the truth, it is love.
The Brahma Kumaris have a wonderful and enlightening saying… “If your actions have been according to your conscience, they will be your protection.” What is your conscience telling you? Are your actions aligned with your conscience? Are you living behavioral integrity? Because each and every one of us is a soul, each and every one of us carries with us a pure consciousness. This pure consciousness is the essence of our being. This essence of our being knows only love. I believe our primary purpose here in this place and time is to align ourselves with our pure consciousness. For in that alignment we will experience the most remarkable homecoming there is…we will return to our Self.
In love, gratitude, compassion and forgiveness…
