“I pretend that my right foot is like a bottle.  I pour my fears down into the toes and cork the whole fear at the ankle, so none of my fears can escape into the rest of me”– Dorothy B. Francis.

In Sikhism, a well-founded precept is –“ Fear No One and Put Fear in Nobody.”

By Zile Singh

Fear is an unpleasant emotion or thought.  It is the feeling one gets when one is afraid or worried that something bad is going to happen or something is not going to happen as per one's desire.   We are born with only two fears:-  the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises.  All other fears are learned responses, brought to us by the environment and taught by the parents. As we grow up, the list of fears also grows.  Basically, we can divide fears in   Natural,  Unnatural  Inherited and Phobias.   The Natural  fear is positive and a basic survival mechanism that signals us  to act  with a fight- or- flight response.  As such it is an essential part of keeping us safe.  Natural fear is a very useful evolutionary process for millions of years, keeping mankind one step ahead of predators like  meat-eating animals, snakes, wild fires, vagaries of weather,  natural calamities etc. Under normal circumstances fear is not an ethical or moral problem, that is why it is not listed among the afflictions. Natural fear is a healthy thing, in general. It is an awareness of danger. It is protective; it is what helps us to avoid wandering into a hungry lion’s den and striking our head against the wall.

We are frightened like a man who is told  that he has a mortal illness, yet can be cured if he jumps  off a fifty-foot cliff into the water.  “No”, he says, “ I will stay in bed rather die.” – Norman Mailer.  It explains that a person is so fearful of jumping into water from certain height  to save his life rather he prefers death lying in the bed.  Anyone can be fearful.  Some people claim they do not get fear.  Other people claim that they only started getting fear after being told of its existence.

In case of n Natural fear,  Leonardo Da Vinci said :  “As courage imperils life, fear protects it .  Only a fool does not fear touching the fire.”

With the advancement of science and technology, man has been able to overcome most  of the  natural fears. However, it is advisable to be careful while dealing with the natural fears.

Second type of fear is Unnatural fear. These are not the gift of nature but mental condition of an individual. These are individual specific.  Some of these fears are: loosing your freedom, the unknown, pain, disappointment, misery, loneliness, ridicule, rejection, failure and fear of death.   Persons experiencing Unnatural fear may verbalize increased tension, apprehensions, diminished self-confidence, anxiety,  panic,  jittery feelings and some times, breathlessness.  These fears are a condition of the mind thinking that whatever we fear is beyond our control.  The Unnatural fear also called the negative fear is a terrible companion living inside you.  If you  do not handle it properly, it will make your life hell.  It is something that stops you from doing anything.   This fear is an absolutely worse thing on the planet. It  is a current running through the brain contradictory to one's life energy.   It uses the tool of life  energy to create death.   It shoot through life like a jolt of electricity.  

In addition to these two  fears, i.e. Natural and Unnatural, there is another type of fear.  It is called Inherited fear.  In all cultures throughout history we can spot two basic reasons why people believe in religion: the fear of hell and the desire for heaven. More recently, scientists have claimed that experiences  of any type of fear get built into your genes and can be passed on as an inherited fear to your offspring and generations to come.  Inherited fear can be dealt with clear and rational thinking. 

The Phobias also are part of unnatural fear.  It is a kind of anxiety disorder in which the individual has a relentless dread of a situation, living creature, place or thing.

Experts suggest that phobias picked up from parents are learned fears.  They are not genetically inherited. Some of the phobias are: fear of height, tight space, flying, driving a car, crowd and some animals.

You have to get  rid of these fears as early as possible through proper medication, meditation, counselling,  psychotherapy,  reading  inspirational and spiritual literature and changing your life style.  My personal experience is that Meditation is an effective way to handle this unwelcome monster of Fear.  The fear is like a pigeon who closes his eyes in front of a cat.  Meditation engulfs fear like a cat.

 “I pretend that my right foot is like a bottle.  I pour my fears down into the toes and cork the whole fear at the ankle, so none of my fears can escape into the rest of me”– Dorothy B. Francis.

In Sikhism, a well-founded precept is –“ Fear No One and Put Fear in Nobody.”