The Evolution of Fear

There is objective fear and there is psychological fear. Objective fear is when you're standing in the road facing a speeding semi or on a bridge getting ready to bungee-jump into a canyon - the reptilian brain is assessing the raw data from a primitive place of organic wisdom.

On the other hand, psychological fear is when we project the past onto a situation and the limbic brain starts a cascading effect of emotional and mental respones - some conscious and others unconscious. These are patterns of reactivity that run our lives, that we often assume to be part of who and what we are, that bore us to tears with their repetitive nature AND we often defend them to death - literally.

The optimizing thrust of life is on our side. It is constantly urging us to break out of our shells and frequently in an act of compassion will crack a few eggs.

Man
Likes to think
He has evolved
Above the animals
With an advanced intelligence
That can choose its destiny
But the ordinary man
Is no more evolved
Than a parrot
Parrots, too,
Only repeat their conditioning
Parrots, too,
Dress wildly to attract attention
And parrots are also known
To associate with pirates
Need I say more?

Obviously the facts are never just coming at you but are incorporated by an imagination that is formed by your previous experience. Memories of the past are not memories of facts but memories of your imaginings of the facts. - Philip Roth (b. 1933), U.S. novelist.

According to philosopher/scientist George Berkeley, our knowledge of anything is merely our sensation of it and the ideas derived from these sensations. Sound is the sensation experienced through the faculty of hearing, and there is, to the trained ear, a marked difference between the silence in an empty ballroom and the silence at midnight on a lonely road.

"It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society." - J. Krishnamurti