The Value of Fear

Question: What is the value of fear and how can we use it constructively rather than just in the passing?

Answer: Fear - the majority of people live their lives in fear. We are so insecure, so fearful, so frightened in most things we do.

This fear is there for so many different reasons and it is because of our samskaras - our inner patternings. Now in reality what is there to be frightened of? Nothing, because we know that death is not the end of the journey. So man is essentially not fearing death, he is fearing pain and even more so - the unknown. We fear pain because we know that if we stand up to a person and have an argument he might hurt us with his words, and we are more scared of that than the argument itself. It is the unknown that haunts us. Therefore we are looking more on the negative side of life and running away. So the answer to becoming less fearful is to become stronger because the opposite of fear is strength.

As we unfold through our practices and become stronger - we become fearless. Through our Unfoldment the fear that binds us is smoothed away. Anything you are afraid of will challenge you at some point in your life. You will be confronted with that fear, and if you avoid the confrontation it will catch up with you in a different way. Through this process of confrontation, bit by bit, you gain greater strength to face the problem.

If you have new responsibilities at work, instead of thinking what a great challenge, most people's minds would be on failure - "I'm not sure I can do this", "I'm going to make a lot of mistakes and I'm going to fail". Unfortunately our society breeds these misconceptions, because these negativities are passed down by other fearing people. So as we become stronger within ourselves and the fearlessness begins, we find that we look at life through new eyes. We begin to see the challenges in our lives rather than difficulties, things that we would normally run away from.

Fear is inherent in many people because of their negativity and samskaric values. Our society dwells more on failure than on success, so when you start a new venture in your life like buying a new house - you are scared. You know you have this big mortgage and all the responsibility that goes with it. Why not look at it as if "I have done my homework sensibly and added up my finances and I can just about afford it" and have a positive attitude that you will manage!

I remember before we bought our house being very nervous about taking on the commitment in those days and thinking "Oh God such a big commitment - a mortgage", although we needed somewhere to live. I was talking to someone at my work who said to me "If you believe you will never afford it you never will". That was the turning point for me. It meant having the right attitude! So if we believe that we can achieve something we will be able to achieve it, but we must gather our energies and focus them one pointedly to become more successful. Sometimes we have several attempts at this through failure before we are able to succeed. Then all those energies come together in a more balanced way and success is then very easy for us to achieve and we find everything we do brings rewards. It is our mental attitude that holds us back from being successful. By success we do not necessarily mean that you have to go out and earn millions of pounds, success does not always mean money. This is popular misconception.

There are people who have brought many gadgets and technological innovations into our world who are still poor, but would one say they were not successful? Maybe not successful in the monetary sense, but in the sense of achieving something - they succeeded.

People always look at success as being linked with monetary wealth, monetary comforts etc. and that is the wrong attitude. The most successful person is a person who manages his own immediate environment, circumstances and responsibilities efficiently. That is the successful person! It is no good trying to run a multi-million pound company if you cannot balance your own bank account. You very rarely find a successful businessman whose bank account is in disarray. He might have got himself a nice overdraft, but he knows where every penny is because his focus is on money and profit - economics, So everything, as I said, has its value.

If we are full of negative fear how can we turn that fear into positive thinking? How can we change the direction of our thoughts? We do this by being established meditators, but also by taking action on the opportunities that face us in our everyday waking life. If you look at your own life today you probably had twenty opportunities pass you by just in the last week - were you even aware of them? Probably not, some maybe. So if we could become more aware of inherent opportunities in many events and circumstances in our life, and deal with them on a daily basis we would become more successful and this will build our confidence. By being a regular meditator you automatically become more aware of opportunities as they present themselves! If you are fearful of someone at work, perhaps you are stumbling on a project or something you have to do and your boss is expecting that you will complete it with ease - what do you do? You can feel the fear building and building until it comes to a point where it makes you feel quite uncomfortable - but you still have to confront the person to get the work done. So even while you are boiling inside about the situation - why run away.

Face the predicament - do Gurushakti and face the person. Then the fear disappears and you can speak open to that person which proves to you that fear is a very temporary thing. It is not a permanent state, it's a mental state that shifts.

For many people fears commands their whole life. So when you are confronted with a situation where there is fear in your mind, analyse - why am I feeling fearful and frightened. Is it that that person will not love me any more - or that I will not be popular if I speak my mind. Am I frightened that I would look the fool?

So fear, as I said, is something that can eat away at you unnecessarily and so many emotions are related to it like guilt. Guilt and fear are synonymous with each other because people who feel very guilty often experience intense fear.

We will be challenged as we unfold with the things we fear in a very subtle way to help us over them, to help overcome our insecurities so that we may become stronger. This is how we deal with fear. We confront the situation, and using our practices and Gurushakti as the main lever to shift the problem, we can, day by day become far stronger. In this strength comes greater confidence and we can make new positive changes in our lives. You often find people start new jobs, new businesses and the first thing on their mind is failure. How can anything succeed when failure is at the forefront of the person's mind. If you believe you are going to fail, you will fail for sure, because you will attract all those energies of failure. You will attract all those thoughts of failure floating around in the universe and failure will be yours.

So we have to be strong in this life and we have to face our responsibilities. In essence there is nothing to fear in your life because everything around you and everything that confronts you is there for a specific reason. It would not be there if you did not need it in your life or you had not created it in your life - and it being in your life means that you can deal with it! There is nothing that will befall you in your life that you cannot deal with and if you take that attitude then fear cannot live within you any more.

Everything around you, every opportunity, every difficulty created by you, attracted by you can be changed - the polarity reversed. We can make a negative situation positive so easily and effortlessly. The real success in your life is how well you live your life to the fullest, not necessarily your material success, it's how well you deal with your own circumstances. That is your greatest judge and if you can deal with your own circumstances - those within your own reach, then anything you approach outside is far easier because you are standing on a firm foundation.

There are people who are quick to do for everyone else and perhaps not look after their own circumstances. The meaningfulness might be good but what is the point if you are ignoring the basic issues at home within your own vicinity. That's what you deal with first. If you get your own act together then anything in life becomes a challenge because you are acting from a firm and stable base.

This is the right way to live life and from this base - this foundation - you can build and build and build because you are building from a base of strength.

So get rid of the fear in your life. If you are frightened of something 'confront it'. What harm can come to you? None whatsoever! When you live your life in this positive way, life will become full of opportunities, challenges and so much happiness will dawn. You won't be plagued by the guilt, by the fear and this is how we overcome our fears. You cannot just by meditation alone overcome your fear, it has to be enacted in your daily life, but the meditation will give you the strength. You still have to go out and put this into practice and through doing so, through this action you will sublimate the fear inside you. Simple really! There is nothing to fear, no - thing to fear.

To repeat again - the main focus point in one's life should be how well you live within your own personal circumstances. How well you make that little bit of money last, how well you treat your finances - I'm talking material things here, obviously in relationships the same thing applies; how well you look after your family and friends, your loved ones, your partner. All these things if in balance creates stability in you, which makes your life far more harmonious, you'll feel stronger and then any fear can be overcome. Then you will find that fear has no value in your life.