If We Want To Heal Our Society, We Must First Find The Courage To Confront Our Fear
Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear.
I look at the state of the world and I can’t help but feel a pervading sense of hopelessness. I doubt I am alone in this feeling.
Our social dysfunction seems to know no bounds, as demonstrated by the fact that we’ve now allowed a global health crisis to become so blatantly politicized. We’ve lost the narrative thread of logic, and nothing makes sense anymore.
Why is this? How did we find ourselves in a place where the only thing we distrust more than science is each other? The answer is simple: fear.
If 2020 has a theme, it is fear. We fear the virus, the response, and the reaction to the response. Our society is facing the unknown and uncontrollable, and our minds do not know how to process it.
The most natural reaction is to fall back on our pre-existing fears and anxieties and use them as the prism through which we can try to make sense of the current situation.
We fight each other, blame each other, and dismiss the simultaneously frighting and calming logic of science and reason. Our actions demonstrate a near-complete lack of control over our minds, bodies, and souls.
In many ways, the pandemic was not the cause of our societal crisis. The underlying factors leading to this social and economic collapse have been slowly festering for a long time. COVID-19 was simply the spark that ignited the wildfire and forced us to respond.
Americans frame the pandemic just as they frame everything in life, as a matter of “left vs. right.” We think that if only “King Cuomo” let me exercise my right to go into a store without a mask, or “President Biden” implemented Dr. Fauci’s suggestions to a T, everything would be better.
We’re way past that. No one person or ideology can heal our society.
The right is wrong.
The left is wrong.
It’s just plain stupid to think that something as complex as the world can be through such narrow perspectives.
Instead, each person must play a role in fixing society. We must each contribute a small part by working on mastering our fears.
Drawing inspiration from an unconventional source
It is at times like that when I think back to one of my favorite books of all time: Frank Herbert’s Dune.
One section, in particular, comes to mind frequently: The Litany Against Fear. In the novel, the protagonist, Paul Atreides, often repeats the following to himself in times of trouble.
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
“Fear is the mind-killer.”
Pervasive and persistent fear is the mind-killer, in the most literal sense of the term. It triggers the mind’s fight or flight response, increases your heart rate, speeds your breathing, tightens your muscles, and floods your system with adrenaline.
This response is perfectly healthy and reasonable if a predator of some type is chasing you. Our biological response to fear has played a crucial role in keeping humans alive and intact since the dawn of humankind.
Our environment, however, has changed, and so have we. We fear different things these days, whether it’s a cavalier family member who refuses to take precautions against the virus or officials who employ heavy-handed tactics to mitigate the spread.
Of course, even that is an oversimplification. For many of us, those reactions are merely current manifestations of more deep-seated fears, many of which we don’t even consciously recognize. Feints within feints within feints indeed.
Unfortunately, while our society has changed, our biology has not. The fear of losing perceived liberties is not the same as the immediate fear of being eaten by a lion. However, our body responds the same to each situation. Over time, this prolonged fight or flight response diminishes your mind’s ability to process stressful situations. Fear, or at least our mind’s response to fear, is truly a killer.
Why do people seem so unhinged these days? I believe it’s because our minds have been warped by an ongoing biological response to fears we lack the self-awareness to understand.
“I will face my fear.”
So how does one manage this biological response effectively? I’ve found that the answer lies back in Herbert’s “litany of fear.”
The first step is to acknowledge the situation that you’re afraid of and embrace it. You may not fully understand it, but if you accept it and allow it to pass through you, you’ll end up robbing it of its power over you.
In my case, when I feel fear, I don’t run from it. Instead, I push myself to accept it for what it is. In doing so, I’ve found that it is possible to disrupt the traditional fight or flight response. I find myself becoming calmer, both physically and mentally. It’s not the end-all, but it’s a step in the right direction.
“Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.”
Here’s the thing about fear: it’s incredibly helpful when it helps you avoid dangerous situations. However, once you’re already in a dangerous situation, fear only harms you.
Think about it. What is the point of being afraid when you’re already in trouble? What will happen will happen, and no degree of fretting will change the outcome. The only thing that does is the sum of your actions.
Fear is a layered emotion. It is rarely as one-dimensional or logical as we would like. Accepting a fear and letting it pass through you relaxes the mind and soul, allowing the layers to unfurl like the petals of a rose. One by one, you can begin to understand, process, and accept the various layers until none remain.
“Only I will remain.”
Once you’re in control of your own response to a real or imagined situation, it becomes easier to find a path forward. The only thing that will remain is yourself, free of fear, and ready to take action.
Of course, the type of action we need is different than what we think. It’s not a matter of endless protests and counter-protests, or rage tweets and equally unhinged responses.
The action we need is quieter and undervalued; it is the demonstration of grace.
Grace is the ability to demonstrate understanding, empathy, and compassion when it is undeserved. Grace is the secret; the only way we can begin to heal our society. We have to let go of fear and offer free and undeserved love, support, and empathy to each other in these trying times.
How do we begin to solve the existential problems our society faces? Not through force or aggression. The salve we need can only be found within each of us once we turn against fear.
Fear truly is the mind-killer. If left unchecked, it truly becomes a mind killer, robbing individuals of their health, happiness, and ability to solve problems.
If we mobilize against our own worst inclinations and muster the intellectual courage to understand the depths of our fear, perhaps we have a chance.
Perhaps our society can come together and follow a golden path into a brighter future where we share the wisdom and collective intelligence to realize that we’re all in this together.
