The journey of fear
The root of fear is our ignorance. Fear comes into existence when we do not identify ourselves with the mightiest, with the most powerful. Once fear enters into us, it can manifest itself anywhere.Fear first enters into the subconscious mind and then into the mind proper. It is the mind which brings forth fear. Then the mind is afraid it will be exposed. The mind causes you to be jealous; then later the mind thinks it will be punished because it has done something wrong. But the moment fear enters, please feel, “I am not in the mind, but in the heart. The Supreme is my Father and it is His sole concern to perfect me.”
Feel that you are the heart. Feel that your heart has the capacity to identify with the Supreme’s Compassion, Forgiveness and Concern, if you can identify yourself with positive qualities, then the negative qualities of fear, anxiety and worry will automatically go away.
Fear comes from feeling unduly responsible. But it is God who created you and He will protect His creation. You are the child of the Supreme and it is He who is responsible for everything. He is your Inner Pilot. He is around you and inside you. There can be no fear when you feel His security and protection. Now with your limited vision and outer understanding, you will say, “Where is the protection? My shop just burned to the ground!” But when something goes wrong, you have to feel that God is giving you a specific experience for some reason or that you may have opened yourself to the wrong forces. But since you have accepted the spiritual life wholeheartedly, you have to feel that you have come from the Source, where there is no fear. Fear comes only when we are in the limited being, in the limited consciousness.
If you want to fight fear, first we must accept it as an imperfection in our nature. We know that we do not want to remain imperfect. When we compose a poem or a song, we try to perfect it. We see if the metre and rhyme are correct, we see if it reads well and, if not, we see which word needs to be changed until it is perfect. So in our outer life as well as in our spiritual life we work until we are perfect. We have to see what gives us joy. If we think all the time, “I have fear, I have fear,” then we shall dine with fear. If we think, “I have anger, I have anger,” then we shall dine with anger. So let us take the positive approach: “I have no fear; I have only strength, inner strength. I have no anger; I have only peace and love.” By thinking of strength we will conquer fear. If we seek the things which fulfil us spiritually, then we will achieve perfection.
If one is extremely sincere and if one knows the art of identification, then there is no fear at all. Although a child is only three years old, he is not afraid of his father, who is six feet tall and very robust. The child feels his oneness with his father. He knows that his father will not hurt him. In fact the child takes his father’s strength as his very own. The child is not separate from the father because he has identified himself with his father. This is the child’s wisdom. If we are consciously one with the Source, then there is no room for fear.
It is the unaspiring part of us that is afraid. The unaspiring is afraid of everything and yet it will not cry for help. The unaspiring is quite satisfied with fear. But the aspiring soul in us continually cries for Peace, Light and Bliss. This need of aspiration does not arise out of dissatisfaction; it comes from an infinite hunger for Delight. The aspiring soul in us will never be afraid of anything, because aspiration embodies Light. The soul’s Light is always ready and eager to chase away fear. When we start our journey, the goal is unknowable. But the moment we start to walk, it becomes unknown. Then when we make progress, gradually the goal becomes known. When we reach the Goal, we become the Goal itself. When we become the Goal, how can we be afraid? The aspiring parts of us will always be inspired, fed, nourished and illumined by the Supreme.
