 |
|
|
Stage One : Fear
Every individual at one point or another has experienced fear, and always before acquiring faith. Although scientific "proof" is lacking in detecting fear in fetal stages, from a spiritual, if not, mystical standpoint; fear of a mother can transfer or be absorbed by the fetus. Adding to this, the fears unidentified and unlearned in past lives; fears to be dealt with throughout the lifetime, do not necessarily develop, but well rooted much like a seed planted and will grow as the mother, then father; followed by environment; nuture said fears in the individual.
There is only one true emotion which is love and it is love which counters fear. Yet, I can not press upon you any stronger, the difference between the two. Love is an emotion; Fear is a thought. One would argue how can a fetus acquire both prior to the physical development of the heart and brain. Well, I believe society has mistakenly placed or better still, attached love to the physical heart and the mind to the physical brain. Upon examing the spiritworld, we find beings that have shed all that is physical; while maintaing the power to love and the ability to think. More on that in the later chapters.
Upon accepting fear as a thought, one would also have to accept its domain which is in the mind. Our minds are one of the most powerful tools at our disposal. The mind is the receiver, organizer, seer..etc, but it is also the deceiver. Have you ever heard the expression, "You can think what you want to think.." it is usually said out of disgust, but it is true. We can think what we want to think. One of the greatest tricks we allow our minds to play on us-is to think fear is an emotion as oppose to a thought. This gives us the illusion that certain, if not all; fearful situations are unthinkable. Meaning, fear cannot be dissected or dispelled by rethinking. This is a great illusion much like the Ego. This illusion is created to counter our true nature which is love. But if not dealt with properly; meaning as an emotion instead of a thought or thinking process; fear then becomes the dictator of not only our "false" emotions, but also irrational thinking and emotional reactions. Hence, fear takes on a life of its own - your life.
Again, this aforementioned process commences before birth; fetal stages, and after birth, when it grows at a pace of its nuturing by outside factors; individual, parenting, and environment.
By the time faith is introduced in our lives, patterns of fear (the varying degrees of which differ from one person to another) are established; some extremely solidified, others on shaky ground; not to be taken in the sense that shaky means weak and solid means strong, but the difference is to be viewed as identifiable and hidden, what fears are on the surface and which are buried. Both, however, contribute with subliminal as well as conscious decisions as to our depth of faith.
Faith does not only apply to, nor is it restricted to religion or God. An Atheist can have faith in our governing system, so to the attachment of the word faith to religion, although it serves its defining purpose; at times can be taken out of context. Faith is trust, trust in what you believe is right. Whether placed in a higher power, another individual, or yourself; we all have access to and the ability to place faith.
However, our fears many times choose our placement of faith, especially from a religious standpoint. For example, if you fear reprecussions in the form of punishments, then a religion with doctrine based on the concept of punishment for wrong doings would appeal to you, fitting, if not mirroring; your own fears of reprecussions. What causes you to do right could very well be the fear of being punished as oppose to the faith you have placed. If you fear being affected by society’s ills, a religion based on the concept of a better place beyond this world would appeal to you, fitting, if not mirroring; your fear of taking responsibilty for society’s ills.
When a fear is mirrored, one of two things can happen. The first of which I believe is the most probable to occur, you become comfortable with that which you can identify with. Everyone more or less is unified in their common fear. The fear itself, within the group remains unidentified, therefore unchallenged;l it is instead fed by a group conscious. If fear can take on a life of its own within an individual; the power is only multiplied within a group conscious, which inturn manifests a massive illusion. They say there is strentgh in numbers, keep in mind this also applies to the aforementioned scenerio.
The second probability of fear being mirrored within a group or chosen religion, is that the individual sees the fear in others and for the first time comes to identify it within themselves. "Is that what I sound like?" "Is that how I’ve been acting?" This scenerio does not occur as often as the first scenerio, due to fear of rejection and the powerful craving of acceptance. The latter can be considered a rude awakening, but usually a rude awakening is initiated with sparatic doubts of your own behavior, thoughts, and beliefs.
In analyzing faith, if fear is rooted to our beliefs of faith, then individuals chosen or self-appointed to lead said religions has access to manipulating our beliefs by way of re-training our minds to think a certain way- the way of enhancing our fears. Some leaders do this intentionally; others do as they themselves were taught; not to say one is worse than the other. It is this process which gives birth to the term "blind faith".
We all have become quite lax in life - whatever invention makes life not necessarily more enjoyable, but easier in the sense that we do not have to put out as much of our own energy to accomplish a specific task, is accepted. This same "want" as oppose to "need" accompanies many in pursuit of faith.
It is easier to accept a set of beliefs stated in doctrine, then to re-evaluate your own beliefs that have benn shaped by your own views of reality. A reality that can only be based upon your own experiences. It is easier to project temptation coming from an outside source as oppose to accepting responsibilty, ownership if you will, for said energy originating inside of you and manifesting itself outwardly. This inturn makes it easier to confess a wrong, than to go about turning the wrong into a right, with action. Lastly, it is easier to attack another religious faith as oppose to acknowledging the weaknesses which plague your own religious faith. Can it be stated the, that we fear what we "need" most? Due to the fact that what we "need" most is not always the easiest to deal with?
One can test the limits of a fearful faith like so:
A parent, religiously faithful, places their life within God’s hands, yet is often worried sick about their child’s welfare out in society. It would appear as though the parent, although placing their life in God’s hands, does not fully trust in God being able to protect their child in society.
Fear then, originating before acquiring faith, lingers and manifests itself as an illusion labeled - trust in God. But as stated in the example above, the trust is not consistent, the trust is not 100%; therefore realistically making it quite conditional. This is one of many examples inwhich fear taints faith and yet blinds us to our own conditions we have misplaced.
Fear in the guise of "blind faith", is a danger to any and all creative processes. It is responsible for stunting spiritual growth as well as smothering unconditional love. It sets boundaries, limitations; yet casts an illusion of being boundless and limitless. Despite these characteristics or aspects, it is by all means conquerable with love. And it is in fear’s defeat, that we trully expose its reason for existing. Fear is what elevates our love, meaning; the greater the fear, the more powerful the love would have to be to overcome it. Such a love would contain, above all, understanding and be void of judgements and conditions. The purpose of opposition is to build, not to defend. To defend would imply fear of defeat; and so, in removing defeat from the statement - we are left with the following - "To defend would imply fear". True, but in removing defeat there is now nothing to fear. So we can now remove the word "fear".
This is an example of how one can dissect and ultimately identify, then remove the layer of fears, covering our natural foundation of love. Love of Self is at work...
There is only one true emotion which is love and it is love which counters fear. Yet, I can not press upon you any stronger, the difference between the two. Love is an emotion; Fear is a thought. One would argue how can a fetus acquire both prior to the physical development of the heart and brain. Well, I believe society has mistakenly placed or better still, attached love to the physical heart and the mind to the physical brain. Upon examing the spiritworld, we find beings that have shed all that is physical; while maintaing the power to love and the ability to think. More on that in the later chapters.
Upon accepting fear as a thought, one would also have to accept its domain which is in the mind. Our minds are one of the most powerful tools at our disposal. The mind is the receiver, organizer, seer..etc, but it is also the deceiver. Have you ever heard the expression, "You can think what you want to think.." it is usually said out of disgust, but it is true. We can think what we want to think. One of the greatest tricks we allow our minds to play on us-is to think fear is an emotion as oppose to a thought. This gives us the illusion that certain, if not all; fearful situations are unthinkable. Meaning, fear cannot be dissected or dispelled by rethinking. This is a great illusion much like the Ego. This illusion is created to counter our true nature which is love. But if not dealt with properly; meaning as an emotion instead of a thought or thinking process; fear then becomes the dictator of not only our "false" emotions, but also irrational thinking and emotional reactions. Hence, fear takes on a life of its own - your life.
Again, this aforementioned process commences before birth; fetal stages, and after birth, when it grows at a pace of its nuturing by outside factors; individual, parenting, and environment.
By the time faith is introduced in our lives, patterns of fear (the varying degrees of which differ from one person to another) are established; some extremely solidified, others on shaky ground; not to be taken in the sense that shaky means weak and solid means strong, but the difference is to be viewed as identifiable and hidden, what fears are on the surface and which are buried. Both, however, contribute with subliminal as well as conscious decisions as to our depth of faith.
Faith does not only apply to, nor is it restricted to religion or God. An Atheist can have faith in our governing system, so to the attachment of the word faith to religion, although it serves its defining purpose; at times can be taken out of context. Faith is trust, trust in what you believe is right. Whether placed in a higher power, another individual, or yourself; we all have access to and the ability to place faith.
However, our fears many times choose our placement of faith, especially from a religious standpoint. For example, if you fear reprecussions in the form of punishments, then a religion with doctrine based on the concept of punishment for wrong doings would appeal to you, fitting, if not mirroring; your own fears of reprecussions. What causes you to do right could very well be the fear of being punished as oppose to the faith you have placed. If you fear being affected by society’s ills, a religion based on the concept of a better place beyond this world would appeal to you, fitting, if not mirroring; your fear of taking responsibilty for society’s ills.
When a fear is mirrored, one of two things can happen. The first of which I believe is the most probable to occur, you become comfortable with that which you can identify with. Everyone more or less is unified in their common fear. The fear itself, within the group remains unidentified, therefore unchallenged;l it is instead fed by a group conscious. If fear can take on a life of its own within an individual; the power is only multiplied within a group conscious, which inturn manifests a massive illusion. They say there is strentgh in numbers, keep in mind this also applies to the aforementioned scenerio.
The second probability of fear being mirrored within a group or chosen religion, is that the individual sees the fear in others and for the first time comes to identify it within themselves. "Is that what I sound like?" "Is that how I’ve been acting?" This scenerio does not occur as often as the first scenerio, due to fear of rejection and the powerful craving of acceptance. The latter can be considered a rude awakening, but usually a rude awakening is initiated with sparatic doubts of your own behavior, thoughts, and beliefs.
In analyzing faith, if fear is rooted to our beliefs of faith, then individuals chosen or self-appointed to lead said religions has access to manipulating our beliefs by way of re-training our minds to think a certain way- the way of enhancing our fears. Some leaders do this intentionally; others do as they themselves were taught; not to say one is worse than the other. It is this process which gives birth to the term "blind faith".
We all have become quite lax in life - whatever invention makes life not necessarily more enjoyable, but easier in the sense that we do not have to put out as much of our own energy to accomplish a specific task, is accepted. This same "want" as oppose to "need" accompanies many in pursuit of faith.
It is easier to accept a set of beliefs stated in doctrine, then to re-evaluate your own beliefs that have benn shaped by your own views of reality. A reality that can only be based upon your own experiences. It is easier to project temptation coming from an outside source as oppose to accepting responsibilty, ownership if you will, for said energy originating inside of you and manifesting itself outwardly. This inturn makes it easier to confess a wrong, than to go about turning the wrong into a right, with action. Lastly, it is easier to attack another religious faith as oppose to acknowledging the weaknesses which plague your own religious faith. Can it be stated the, that we fear what we "need" most? Due to the fact that what we "need" most is not always the easiest to deal with?
One can test the limits of a fearful faith like so:
A parent, religiously faithful, places their life within God’s hands, yet is often worried sick about their child’s welfare out in society. It would appear as though the parent, although placing their life in God’s hands, does not fully trust in God being able to protect their child in society.
Fear then, originating before acquiring faith, lingers and manifests itself as an illusion labeled - trust in God. But as stated in the example above, the trust is not consistent, the trust is not 100%; therefore realistically making it quite conditional. This is one of many examples inwhich fear taints faith and yet blinds us to our own conditions we have misplaced.
Fear in the guise of "blind faith", is a danger to any and all creative processes. It is responsible for stunting spiritual growth as well as smothering unconditional love. It sets boundaries, limitations; yet casts an illusion of being boundless and limitless. Despite these characteristics or aspects, it is by all means conquerable with love. And it is in fear’s defeat, that we trully expose its reason for existing. Fear is what elevates our love, meaning; the greater the fear, the more powerful the love would have to be to overcome it. Such a love would contain, above all, understanding and be void of judgements and conditions. The purpose of opposition is to build, not to defend. To defend would imply fear of defeat; and so, in removing defeat from the statement - we are left with the following - "To defend would imply fear". True, but in removing defeat there is now nothing to fear. So we can now remove the word "fear".
This is an example of how one can dissect and ultimately identify, then remove the layer of fears, covering our natural foundation of love. Love of Self is at work...
This page has been accessed times.
Copyright © 2000 . All Rights Reserved.