To Fear, Or To Be Without?

[Verv]

Question being:

How should we deal with fear?

There is a school of thought that we should throw it all out the window, and being that we are essentially incapable of controlling our destiny and we might as well try our best always, we need no concept of fear. It only hinders us.

There is another school that thinks fear is necessary to caution us and to communicate to us dangers. Though it may restrict some aspects of our life and control us at inopportune times, it is generally a good measure of behavior.

What does everyone think?

 

[Krystina661]

There are rational and irrational fears. Rational fear is good which is "necessary to caution us." Irrational fear should be "thrown" out the window..

 

[The Seeker]

A little fear is good, we fear things for a reason. Of course, you shouldn't let fear rule your life, where's the fun in that?

 

[AFallingStar]

Hmm...I think that life without fear wouldn't be life for very long. You have to have some fear in life in order to function. For example, if you fear pain, there's no way you would bake something in the oven and not use hot pads to remove it. Fear helps develop common sense, and that's good. However, one obviously shouldn't let fear control his/her life to the point where that's not life either...

 

[Eudaimonist]

There is another school that thinks fear is necessary to caution us and to communicate to us dangers. Though it may restrict some aspects of our life and control us at inopportune times, it is generally a good measure of behavior.

That is what I think. While I think we should learn to face our fears and keep them from becoming debilitating (by being cautious and constructive rather than flying into a panic), emotions such as fear are useful signals to us, and we should listen to them.

 

[Erock83]

fear is an irrational creation of the unknown so reject it and kick it to the curb, Peace

 

[TrueQ]

Fear can motivate you to do things that would be quite impossible for you to do otherwise, but it can also paralyze you at a critical moment and make you lose an oppurtunity. Rational fear can prepare you very well for when things go wrong, and irrational fear can help you run like nobody's business when things go horribly wrong. So I'd say keep your fear about you, but try not to lose your wits to easily.

 

[Cat59]

Fear, like pain, is protective to us and without it we can get into all sorts of difficulties. Pain is a warning that the fire is hot, the knife sharp. Fear is a warning that we may not have the necessary skills, resources, energy to face the thing that provokes it.
But like pain, fear can become overwhelming if you believe that your resources are too meagre or your situation impossible and if the fear then interferes with dealing with the obstacles, it becomes counter productive.
So a healthy fear can be good but a painful exaggerated fear can be cripplingly disabling and need to be tackled head on.

 

[Abbadon]

By all means, the middle path.

Though this middle path will vary from person to person. I have problems talking with women and girls. And this has kept me from going out with really mean people. However, whenever my brother tries to "teach" me how to drive by scaring me by letting go of the steering wheel (he honestly doesn't need to teach me, and can't legally, he's younger than me), I just sit there. Scares the mess out of him. Some would call this suicidal. But it's well within my middle path.

 

[destinyhope]

some where painfully between these two

 

[Rygel]

A little paranoia is a healthy thing.

 

[Verv]

Fear can be very healthy, but I always admire people who never have fear.

For instance, most people would be momentarily paralyzed by fear to intervene during a crisis where quick action could help people dramatically, for fear of what would become of them. Even though I do not think I am brave and decisive, I idealize those who are, and would like to become like that.

I would also like to become as the various folks throughout history who, regardless of belief, whether it was Galileo Galilee and Martin Luther in their different ways questioning the Catholic Church, or whether it was a Saint being martyred, who for these beliefs never compromised and never thought of it as an option.

Outstanding people are defined by a total lack of fear, in some senses, and though it may be harder to do it this way and more irrational at times, I think that it says more about a person's character.