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So it seems that we are living in a culture of fear.
Before it was the terrorist attacks and now we see this economic crisis that engulfs the whole world.
My point is that we understand less and less what is happening. Personally, the more I read about this crisis the more I get lost.
Not only that: I’m reading about Pakistan, Afghanistan, Irak and the Middle East and it seems that people are losing control. When this happens we see the rise of a culture of fear. And this is what I want you to share: do you feel we are living a moment where fear is being used against us?
Don’t you have the feeling that besides our personal fear, there’s an atmosphere of doubt that is imposing this world of crisis to us?
I would like to hear your opinion on collective fear.
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Unfortunately in ROMANIA my generation have lived for decades in a culture of fear during communism .. It is terrible; to be your fear is to be deprived of liberty … physically and mentally.
I do not know fear, and I do not want to know that, I inhibit complete. About Global Crisis prefer not to know too..Nothing lose…Adriana.
Fear is relative to the thoughts of the future. Without a future event to be afraid of, fear does not prevail in the present. What I perceive as the fear being developed in the present moment, permeates beyond the economic plane. It is a fear of future famine and war, resulting from the extreme imbalance of the distribution of wealth and power. We already see how food has become more expensive, and how fragile the balance of peace has become.
The current economic “crisis” is confusing indeed. What is the actual debt? Supposedly there were some high risk investments in the sub-prime markets of mortgages, yet I fail to see where the money has gone, where there has been a loss of value, ect… I do understand to some extent how the crisis is linked to the global market. To some extent it all seems like one big illusion, an illusion that there is “lacking” something “valuable” that impacts the whole globe.
I’m a foreigner currently living in America. Here it seems that there is a strong yet silent fear of a depression. I feel as if Americans tend to be prone emotionally to the swaying of their abundance or lack of economic wealth. To such a point where the term “depression” has profound meaning in both economic and psychological terms. I guess the fear of the depression, is worse than the depression itself, for I can observe how the fear itself slowly chokes the economy due to people wanting to spend less and less money, which eventually equals less and less income for each individual/family/company.
Supposedly the mayan prophecies predicted the current economic stress, and the coming economic meltdown. I once planned to move to the mountains and live off the land. That would be extremely selfish on my part. I allowed the fear of lack of food to permeate my thoughts at such point. Now I feel as though what could come in such worse scenario is not just a test of our spirit , but an opportunity to invest in a healthier economy. One that follows the natural laws of cooperation and sets aside the capitalistic principle of competition and economic Darwinism. Although not readily apparent, in nature ALL organisms cooperate. Even the predator cooperates with the prey by maintaining a balance to its prey’s population, and through excretion and death it recycles the nutrients back to the prey through the circle of life. The prey does not fear the predator before an attack is apparent. There is no predatory anxiety that distracts it from the now, it simply maintains intense awareness of the moment, and when attacked, focuses all its intents towards survival. Nature d
There is one animal that I know of that has might have some sort of fear, sheep. Sheep may die from a heart attack if they stray away from their herd at night. Now I see that humans might have more in common with sheep, for humans also blindly follow their shepherd or higher entity (government, religion). The masses are following fear projected by the “shepherd”.
I many years of veins in the Far East, there people differ from Europeans. The nature does their such. There the remarkable nature. A taiga.
As the world is changing, fear is adapting.
Centuries ago people were fearing inquisition, invasion, barbarism and now terrorism, economic loss etc. The only change is the name that we call them, the source is the same actually.
The current economic crisis is the outcome of greed and terrorism outcome of wrath.
A CEO, not solely responsible maybe, can walk away with a tremendous pay-out while the whole economic system of the world is under distress because of the people like him. Or under the name of god or justice, people can kill thousands in one second without blinking.
It’s human nature to feed upon fear, to use it to suppress and oppress. One expect technology, globalization would help eliminate, or at least decrease all these things that are happening. But ignorance is still covers the majority of the world.
So culture of fear will keep adapting, most likely 100 years from now, people will call different things as the source of it. Human nature demands it.
We can only hope to reach such an enlightenment that ignorance is no longer an issue, and people think positively and collectively for a better world.
Is this possible?
I do not have television, and I do not have a radio either. Nor I buy newspapers.
So I know nothing about Middle East, nor terrorism, etc.
Well I have a radio, but when I turn it on, it´s to Hear music.
And when I have Internet, is to read what my friends are telling me.
So I don´t know about collective fear in the world. I don´t know about what war is currently going on among humans.
I have had my own fears, and I have got to Know my own fears. I have got to Know about myself. Both the dark points (who can grow and take hold of my whole being) and the Light: my Heart.
And it has been a War so deep and intense, that my angels didn´t allow me to pay attention to the news; the human news.
If one is at war with himself, How can he also pay so much attention to the wars that are happening out there?
I think this can be for two reasons: to Instruct us using a metaphor (for example when a good director make a movie about a war) or because the ones who are apparently indigated about a war are unaware about what is happening in their own universe.
I have seen people going in a pacific way to a manifestation against a war, and at the same time, they have been acting like a wicked witch against his/her neighbour.
And at the end, even with the attention and preocupation of such a “pacific” person, the war couldn´t be stopped.
Maybe We should consider something else; another kind of strategy.
When we have fear, we are commiting a sin against ourselves as God is the greatest so, why should we have fear if we believe in God’s absolute powers? Maybe because we don’t have so much trust as we should have…
It’s true that people fear change so much as they think that changing implies automatically something bad, but this is not true. Life offers us all sorts of experiences and we learn from all of them, from the pleasant but also from the nasty ones.
The world is definitely changing but it depends only on us what we choose: whether to believe in the change for the better or not.
People are afraid so much because they put too much emphasis on material things and actually some reached the point of identifying themselves with matter. What was created, will disappear sooner or later, matter was created, isn’t it but what remains is what was not created, what is eternal, pure and in a state of permanent bliss: the Spirit, light, love, joy, all these blessings reflected in the Light of the Spirit.
When things don’t go the way I want them to, I always say that the respective happening which was not a success has its energies collected for something bigger, greater and this is a sweet consolation prize. It works so well becuase I really believe in the infinite power of good!
People are manipulated by this collective fear, it is induced to the masses in order to make them vulnerable and easy to control, not to have self-respect anymore and just become desperate, forgetting that all the strings are in fact pulled by one great Being which encompasses everything: God. All is just a play, it depends on us if we can watch it or not. Sometimes we can, sometimes we cannot but our greatness, as Buddha said resides not in the fact that we don’t fail but in the fact that that everytime we fall, we get up. These are not His exact words but the essence is the same.
When things seem to get out of control I just put my attention to my heart center and allow God to take charge of my life. Surrendering to God is the greatest relief, in fact it is the solution that makes you more courageous than ever.
May God bless the whole world! :-)
Lots of affection and appreciation,
Carmen Larisa
P.S. Thank you so much for offering us the possibility to share your Transiberian experience! I simply love the episodes and when you said that in their lives people want to stay in the same station, without accepting the fact that the train goes on and they should be there, I was very touched as it is so incredibly true… Thank you for the bottom of my heart for being yourself! I believe that in another life you were a philosopher :-) really…
Hi Paulo!Is intersting what is happening with me when the fear commes!First,i ´ve lost a few clients.. it meens i have a lot of bills to pay and i cann not pay them!meabe i will close the beautystudio.i´ve worked hard since 10 years for it!It is ok !What i feel is happyness!!!Why?!Because some how i feel my adrenalin !Something new will comme,something that i wait for long time and i couldn´t decide for myself to do it!Now i have to do it and is very exciting:(maýbe to go back to Romania,to start a new buisness there, to move only!!!I want to say that this form of colective life i feel will change and will be more better for us even maybe for manny will have to do although with small materiall desaster).Yes ,sure they(politics)want to paralise us with panic but who cares?I feel in my hart hope and joy even i cann daylly see although the reality that my clients and i we have not so much money like before few years.My husband buisnness still goes and i feel sure for me and the children.Rumanian economic grow every year ,so i think this ups and downs ,they are quite normal!This is the natural circle of life!(like in TCM or other traditional philosophies)
love from ´the woman in lift
Dear Querido Paulo,
I can very much relate to this topic and all that has said here about it. I have been directly affected by this collective fear that you speak of. I used to make a living by selling windows for homes in the U.S. and now I’ve had to get resourceful and find other ways of providing an income for myself. I haven’t lost my sales job, yet it has been precariously hanging by a thread of which seems could snap at any given moment.
My understanding of what is happening right now is also directly tied into my access to information. I try to keep up with the latest news stories (I get most of my info off the internet) and grapple to comprehend the failing economy and what is being done about it. Yet somehow, this just seems to feed more into that collective fear that you speak of.
I can’t speak for others, yet because I am forced to work other jobs to make ends meet (of which I am very Grateful for!) I do feel this crisis as something much more intense and tend to view it as something quite catastrophic. I think the hardest part for me is perceiving that the changes we are all experiencing right now have no end to them, and that they are somehow out of our control. There seems to be this collective consciousness of Doom and or end of days prevalent in my society and I think this also plays a very important role in continuing to feed that fear. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the snare of fear and really nearly impossible to avoid in today’s world. Yet, there seems to be a gift here that maybe most of us are missing. Could it be that this collective fear is really just another form of global consciousness? One that is pervading our world now because it can through the ever pervasive ties and advanced connections of technology and media? Is there a hidden meaning in all of this?
I tend to think Yes! It seems to me now that we are being forced to deal with this collective fear or however you want to call it, and that our times call for extraordinary actions to be taken. We are at an incredible time in our history as humans and how we choose to react to these stimulii of fears will greatly effect the kind of world we will continue to live in. But there in lies the beauty of all of this, at least for those who can understand it. It seems to me that we now have an opportunity. An opportunity to harness these collective fears and put them to work for our common good, if we so choose it. Never before have the stakes been this high. Never before have we encountered a situation quite like this, with our world economy displaying itself before us like a naive young child.
Ultimately, I think the opportunity that faces us all is a new world economy. How we perceive it and what we choose to do about it will make all the difference.
it’s my first time to visit your blog and i have to say that i’m very thankful that i’ll now be able to read and comment on my favorite author’s blog. i have more praises to sing but i guess i’ll have to stick to the question…
i’m from the philippines and fear is not uncommon in our country. There are a lot of things that our people are afraid of: poverty, hunger,diseases,wars,terrorist attacks,corrupt officials, rising prices of commodities (especially of rice, our staple food)the future…But one thing that has kept me and my fellow Filipinos surviving is perhaps our innate capacity to laugh at ourselves, at our country, and at the dire circumstances we find ourselves in. More than that, our faith has kept us bravely struggling and surviving despite of and inspite of everything. We are said to be a very religious country.
What bothers me though is when it is the church itself which spawns and spreads the fear in its flock.I find it frustrating that our pillars of faith often uses the fear of the faithful to propagate their dogmatic teachings.
It’s easier to accept a corrupt government’s use of fear as a weapon(even if such is of course inexcusable)to hold its revolting people in line; than to see the church, a pillar of faith, a source of strength use the same weapon against those who would readily heed the same for fear of losing their souls in the after life.
I guess you’re wondering where I’m coming from, but there’s a pending bill in our country right now : The Reproductive Health Bill, which aims to make contraceptives accessible to women. Predictably, said bill might never see the light considering the Church’s vehement campaign against it. They’re using the faithful’s fear of the burning fires of hell to oppose the measure…and who would dare argue with that?
I think that humans always lived in fear cultures.
but fear took different forms.
sometimes it took the form of wars, other times as intimidation of walking on the street due to violence or as an order from a dictator leader.
and there is many evident in history when fear was a part of every family life more than we feel now.
in the past, and in this circumstances, fear was a reaction of feeling unconfortable with the entourage.
the difference now is that we feel afraid because we are ignorents. And that can be fixible.
So i don’t see that it is a big problem for us who live in safe societies now. it depend on the person and its abbility to
learn and embrace all the new things that we are exposed to.
Dear Mr. Coelho,
I am deeply immersed in “Like the Flowing River”. Thank you for sharing your stories!
In my experience, we fear what we do not understand. . .and the financial crisis, which has developed over YEARS, is so complex that even the experts cannot fully agree. . .and no group was able to forestall the current crisis.
In this era of instant messaging, we want instant answers (right ones, of course!). I sense we are losing the ability to take time to be and to think and to LISTEN. We try to analyse news we do not fully understand and doubt–just as the experts do.
Thank you for sharing your gifts. . .I treasure your insights, stories and wisdom.
Communication is what happens when souls find the beat and they get to dance. Communication is to dance with the music of life; if you are somewhat out of time you are death like a clock, a heart or like a person.
But fear not, all you have to do is close your eyes and listen and I’ll grab you. I’m not a stranger to you. Think with my rhythm. We can stop the globe and we can power it, whether they like it or not.
Agree with you, Kristine, that in a difficult situations we have to “stay still, observe, understand the situation as it is, but don’t get swept away in the fear frenzy”. But I think that in the mean time we have not to shut up our instincts, because if we have instincts, it’s because God gave them to us for some reason. I remember the short story that our Paulo wrote in – I think – his newsletter, that I relate here shortly:
The man that saw in his dream an angel that told him there will be a great rain, a deluge, but he will be saved. Two days later, everything in floods, all the neighbors evacuated, the man, on the top of his roof, refused for several times the rescue teams send to save him. So he died in the waters and presenting himself in the paradise, he was angry why God didn’t save him. “But I send you three rescue teams!”, was the answer.
So we need to stay calm and not to be afraid, but we have to listen our intuition and instincts too, without panic of course.
I know this is old, I’m just catching up after giving birth.
This is something I’ve always dwelt upon. I was raised by a mother who so instilled in me her belief that the end was nigh, in a Biblical manner, that even as a very little girl I’d wake up in the middle of the night in a panic- I’d run to the window to make sure the moon hadn’t turned red, turn on the faucet to makes sure the water hadn’t turned to blood, check the beds of my family members to make sure they hadn’t been “raptured” without me.
Then I got older and it was always something. The threat of the next giant earthquake, the Cold War, strange men offering candy, scientists with more knowledge than sense.
I’m not a proper student of History, but when I do look at History, it seems there has always been this culture of fear. I’ve been wondering if I’ve simply become attuned to it a bit differently now that I’m an adult and parent. I think that must be true.
I’m glad you’re bringing up the subject of fear. I find myself being assaulted by messages of all kinds, telling me I should be fearful for my health, my security, and now: my money. What to do? Where to run? Well, I refuse to run. My 87-year old father, who lived through a war and saw real, tangible reasons to be fearful, advises me to brace myself and stay calm in these days of turmoil. Though not Buddhist, he takes a very Zen-like stance: stay still, observe, understand the situation as it is, but don’t get swept away in the fear frenzy. It reminds me of a herd of buffalo or a flock or birds. If a mere one begins to sense fear, pretty soon the whole herd or flock goes into panic mode. In the animal kingdom, this is understandable: their survival instinct is entrenched in their genetic code to ensure the preservation of the species. But isn’t Mankind more evolved? If we distinguish ourselves from other species by knowing right from wrong, and we have the ability to perceive goodness at the core of man’s essence, this fundamental difference should empower us to react very differently from the buffalo or the bird. I read somewhere that man is always driven in his choices, his reactions, by one of two things: fear or love. He either feels compelled to move towards something (love) or he runs away from something (fear). I think that what we’re seeing these days is a collectively distrusting, cynical and fearful mindset in people in general, which drives them to seek shelter, either from terrorists, bacterias, the sun’s rays, collapsing infrastructures, the disheveled man standing next to them at the bus stop, or whatever else the media happens to be warning us against on the 6 o’clock news. I’m all for being informed of situations that can potentially adversely affect us, but so much of what we hear and see is negative and energy-sapping! My stance is: I trust in myself and my ability to survive and find happiness in everyday life, I try to see the good in life and in others (there always is!), and when I need to share my burden with a much wiser and powerful force, I reach for the unseen: God, and my guardian angels.
I am convinced that fear is generating more fear, and it may become a vicious circle if we are not consiously working on reinforcing more positive and loving thinking through all this.
It seems to me that the world of finance is based upon fear too. Everyone wants more and identifies with money and property. So the question will be: ‘Who am I if all this collapses?’
Also in the conflicts of the world there is a ground tone of fear. Revenge creates a constant battle, and noone wants to reconcile, forgive and try something new. Like – for example – forgiving the neighbour, accepting and loving the enemy. I think we need to be very aware of the fact that each one of us is able to change our little corner of the world by not getting on board of the collective ship of fear. Fear is very very destructive – in the physical body it weakens the immune system and creates illnesses – in the world it creates illness in relationships of all kinds. What we all need to do is to focus on love, because that is the only cure that works. Everyone can start – small babysteps will grow to massive collective change. I am convinced.
I have no fear. I lie if i say that.im a human being… pardon me.
I think fear is a sort of ‘bad habit’ of ours, fed by the news, newspapers, mass media, lack of autonomous thinking, etc. We are a highly social animal, so what others perceive, do and feel is important to us and influences us, even at levels we don’t yet fully understand (think about Rupert Sheldrake’s morphogenetic fields). It is then easy to buy into mass fear, which is not necessarily designed to manipulate us but can also be a convergence of coincidences. So if we can recognise this both on an individual and a collective scale, we should also be able to transform this ‘negative’ habit into a habit of trust, riding on those very same creative fields. If we can somehow maintain a sense of calm and resilience it is easier for us to put things into perspective – whether it is the belief that the sky will fall on us or that a million dollars will. If a roof topples over we’ll fix it – perhaps with the windfall that every so often comes our way.
As I see it, the greatest threat to our planet is either a collision with a Very Large Comet or, failing that, when the sun starts to expand in x billion years. These events are of such an inconceivable scale that they fascinate rather than scare me. Global warming, poverty and wars are massive problems, but ones we can solve. And at the spiritual level – does anything really ‘die’?
Yes, we live in a culture of fear, but it has always been this way, if is not one thing is the other, there is always something to fear!
The masses are controled by fear and are kept down by fear and dispair.
Somebody comented before and I realy agreed with this, the one who fears God doesn’t fear anything else! and also comes to mind “Where there is God there is no fear” “Fear is not of God” “Where there is Light cannot be darkness”.
We have to be aware that we are going through a time of great change, it is enough already the way humanity has separated from what is real and living in a total world of ilusion, where they believe God is somebody they may give some attention, if they are not busy with all the other stuff they fill their lives with, and panic when this other stuff may be taken away. Humanity is going back to life the way Life was intended, and that is living in an awarennes of God!!! We take things for granted, we take miracles for granted!!! The sun comes up every day when is supposed to come up, that is awesome!!! When we are connected to Mother Earth and we respect Her and the elements, there is Harmony, rain comes where is needed and a Healing Ceremony can stop a natural disaster!!! We need to change our recipient of power. You give your power to people and objects you are going to be let down, you give your power to God, and honor the elements within and without, you are going to have harmony!!!
I believe that this is all just manipulation that the ones who have the power are trying to impose us – specially the nowcoming economic crisys. People, we should react, face the fact that this economy is totally sick and that is leading to perdiction. Tomorrow we could wake up and find out that all our money (put in banks) lost its value. We’ll still have love and faith and maybe such a catastrofy would be the only way to force humanity to go quickly back to the roots: the pure and lightfull ones.
PAUL I LOVE YOU THATS ONLY WHAT I FEEL TO WRITE.
I FEEL YOUR HEART WENN I READ YOUR BOOKS.
THANKS
Henk.
Terrorism, Economic crisis… Climate Change…
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_our_future_europe/50.php
even fear is somehow in force in the current debate on climate change.
Despite all the ‘rational’ structures of policy-making employed to represent and serve the citizens…. the policy-makers are still somehow in fear of those players such as industries, coporate bodies etc.
I really do not understand .. especially when situated in the context of climate change… I mean, how much more of a wake up call for responsible environmental and social action can life give you!???!
Despite knowledge, for example, of renewable energies (solar, wind, tidal), the world continues to live and act according to the dark ages of pollution, resource competition etc. It is unbelievable!!
They are literally fuelled by fear
Fear has a long history here in the United States. It has sold newspapers since at least the mid 1800′s and it sells television news, and more recently news on the interweb. Fear, I believe, is the unhappy side effect of our capitalistic prism through which we (as Americans, anyway) glean information about the world. Thoreau said it best when he asked why he would want to know that somebody down the road had something bad happen to them. If you tune out the messengers of fear your world gets much happier, and, really who is responsible for your own happiness? You create happy, sad, depressed, afraid. So it is within our own hands (or heads) to rid our world of fear. My world is a fundamentally good one, is yours? If not, why not? How much of what you’ve heard, learned, know, has contributed to the level of fear in your life? I know it is said “ignorance is bliss” and I’ve always disagreed, but the more news with which I’m barraged, the more I realize the wisdom of that tenet.
Fear…is it necessary to feel fear ? Nothing in life is to be afraid of . In my opinion , it is not too late to make this world more liveable . We have to do just one thing . To spread love and peace .
i don’t think that this fear is so bad.they are a lot of people since a long time who try to change something, some “unfair” for many reasons,they do hard job.it’s true that we don’t live just for things,as tv,car ect…i got this.but i know what are the injust things.i’m not agree with the idea that,maybe we must lose everything,we’ll feel better.maybe it’s true they are a lot of people who need to lose everything,who must taste the poverty,to see what that means really,maybe they feel again compassion?i’m not sure about that.i don’t know if it’s our nature,we have the choice,it’s seems that sometimes we prefer to create the hell,we are be abble to make it and to go nowhere.as said “alexender baloche” we are one.
Two thoughts to this item: Fear is the opposite of love. Hermes Trismesgistos: Like outside so inside. So what if WE choose love and light inside, so that the outside changes? We have the power to change the world, if we change us.
On the other hand I often think that media, press and governments like that of the U.S are very manipulating to hold the power over us. There occure many good things over the world. But are that good news that sell? We have the choice, what we see is what we get!
Paulo me emocionei muito ao escutar você falar dos grandes escritores que temos no Brsile não são reconhecidos e também por ver a emoção que falava quando foi preso em 1974, o que importa disso tudo é que você tem muito que ensinar sobre tirar as pedras do nosso caminho e seguir em frente que lá adiante se abrirá uma longa e linda estrada como a sua que você caminha.
Beijos
sandra Stabile
Salvador/Bahia/Brasil
Sometimes life seems like Truman´s Show…
As abelhas operárias, quando ameaçadas ou expostas a algum stress, empanturram-se o maximo que podem de todo o mel da colméia. Talvez sem medo não haveria consumo?
Simplesmente…
Adoramos a cultura do medo pois parece alimentar a necessidade humana de se identificar com o grupo.
Tinha estudado em comunicação de massa sobre a ideai que os shows de realidade de TV eram bem sucedidos por causa da ausência da identificação humana com a ‘vila’, pois a ‘vila’ a comunidade, não existem mais.
Por outro lado, um dos nossos conhecidos morando na Austria, nos diz que la seria como na Inglaterra de antes, uma ‘vila’, ninguém ta nem ai com o que acontece com o mundo afora, ele diz que e muito engraçado ouvir as noticias e ler os jornais, pois as matérias mais sensacionais são sempre sobre besteiras sem gravidade alguma sobre habitantes da cidade aonde mora.
YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK YOU ARE,YOU ARE WHAT YOU BELIVE,SO IF YOU HAVE FEAR YOU CREATED.ALL MEDIA IN USA IS EVIL AND THEY USE PROPAGANDA TO MANIPULATE POOR AMERICAN PEOPLE,WE NEED A BIG WORLD REVOLUTION ‘CHE GUEVARA’ STYLE ESPECIALY HERE IN USA.LET JOIN TOGETHER TO ‘CHANGE’ THIS WORLD FOR BETTER.LET’S FIGHT FEAR TOGETHER.
ONLY TOGETHER WE CAN CREATE BETTER REALITY AND HELP EACHOTHER AGAINST ALL EVIL IN THE WORLD ESPECIALY PEOPLE LIKE G.WAR.BUSH
I think they want us to fear so I won’t see anything else. When people have fears, they are controllable. Keep telling smokers that they will get cancer if they keep smoking is a way of scaring people away and they have almost to expectation of cancer… isn’t it so sad?
Thank you Paulo for being who you are.
sh
Before to talk about fear I will try to find a possible answer of the question what is fear. For me the fear is the image we create in our minds of the possible loss of something valuable for us. So, the fear grow in us when we imagine our live changed for he worse, losing some wealth, some goods that we have, that we are familiar to… That kind of fear is provoked from our way of thinking: we have to be prosperous, we have to go better and better and we forget some truths from the past. Senecae wrote that we are born nude and nude we die. Everything else is given to us from the Fortunae and could be taken by her at every single moment. So why to worry about the future dust?
No, I’m not preaching that we have to live in poverty but that most of the bad things are bad only because of our imagination, of our way to thinking. In fact, I like to have a things that facilitate my days and make them more pleasant; I like my car, I like my home movie system, I like my refrigerator, my microwave oven, my PC. But I don’t think I will die without some of them. Could things turn so bad that we will start to live in caverns? Of course no.
Senecae again: If you want to make a man richer, you don’t need to give him more money, you have to decrease his desire. We speak about the “good old times” but we forget that in those good old times there wasn’t a TV, a mobile phones, there wasn’t – can you imagine – a computers? But they still are “the good old times” (:o)
We always thinks we are Something Big, that we are Somebody Important, we insist for Respect. And we forget the Real Reality, expressed in so many ways, so many times… just an example: the song of Beatles:
He’s a real Nowhere Man,
Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his Nowhere plans for nobody.
Doesn’t have a point of view,
Knows not where he’s going to,
Isn’t he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere man please listen,
You don’t know what you’re missing,
Nowhere Man, the world is at your command.
He’s as blind as he can be,
Just sees what he wants to see,
Nowhere Man can you see me at all?
Nowhere Man don’t worry,
Take your time, don’t hurry,
Leave it all till somebody else,
Lends you a hand.
So be more confident, be more calm and be serious about live and the things inside. That don’t mean not to be responsible, of course.
we created a system with complex rules,and we realize,one more time,we can’t control it,why because those complex rules work also with emotions of people,desire,envy..and the fear also,i’m afraid so i sell my “actions” or whatever.the medias is playing with this fear now,our world works with these rules.maybe this fear could help us,or the people who have power,maybe they see that they can lose more than glory,vanity..maybe they’ll try to change some rules.
Culture of fear? Sure it exist but this doen’t work on me when I want to do really something! I remember that I flyed often from Palermo to Naples between September and Dicember of 2001, peoples feel fear for eventual other terrorist attack during the flights; one time a baby “said” something similar to the name “Bin Laden” with hight voice and I read the fear on very upset faces, I smiled thinking my boyfriend attended me. The last year I received threat in a school only because I worked very good, my car was new, I continued to work there and my car is still new!
I don’t feel the fear on me,I could die for a right cause! I feel fear for the future of the whole world.
There was fear in the North of planet too:
the penguins escaped in Brazil!!
:))
Love
Fear- a timely discussion. I think fear boils down to this- a feeling of a loss of control. But, really, who is in control of anything? I myself have been operating under this feeling of unease, lately, not sleeping. I pinpointed it just today, and the name I gave it was anxiety, from fear. As I was mowing my lawn and pondering why I was feeling so uneasy I realized I am fearful. I am an American who has faith in our country- I love what America stands for, good and bad. But, with the overwhelming problems with our economy and the political issues we are facing, it is a time of sheer fear and uncertainty throughout this nation. I am middle-aged and have a fair share of money in retirement plans, so where does this leave me now with the mess we are in? And while I fully agree that terrorism needs to be faced and dealt with, we are involved in a money-pit now in Iraq. And yes, I am greatly angered and disappointed by our politicians who passed that bail-out scheme while fleecing us hardworking taxpayers, for what….. Subsidies for children who make wooden arrows, or tax relief for rum making countries or the Exxon Valdez clean-up. Enough is enough.
Who alone can turn around this crisis that is developing? Its impact is far-reaching….globally.
Yes, I have fear because of all of these worldly subjects coming at me daily. I know far too many people who have lost their jobs- their homes, their retirement savings. These are huge subjects, but I have to stop and ask myself, “Who has the power to change all of these things?”. I do not have control over any of these issues. The only thing I can do is have faith. I must believe in a BIG God who works all things for the Good for those who love Him.
If I realize that I am not, nor do I have to be, in control of all of these things, then it gives me a sense of peace that someone WAY bigger than me is in the driver’s seat.
Faith, it replaces fear. I just need to focus on that.
I think fear has always been a part of people’s lives (more so in countries that have been controlled by oppressive regimes) as demonstrated by the comments posted on this blog. What’s maybe different this time is that it has spread all over the world. In North America where for the most part people felt secure in their jobs, savings, etc. the rug has been pulled from under them and they are scared. They are facing a very important election whose outcome will surely affect their future and the future of the world. All of this uncertainty is being felt acutely by many who would not have blinked at such events happening elsewhere in the world, in the past. Now we are all facing it. And more importantly, we are all questioning it (the good part).
I also think that if you do not have a strong sense of self and have identified with the “outside” (your job, career, house, country, etc.), this fear can be crippling.
Sherry (EvolutionInConsciousness.Blogspot.com)
“The Culture Of Fear”….. We as citizens of this earth have to shamefully and dreadfully accept that it exists. But why? And what can we do about it? Do we have to live with it forever, or is there a solution to it. Economic crisis is not a deliberate attempt by a person or a group of persons to destabilize the society; and such crisis happens due to various factors controlling the market and the economy. No economic crisis stays forever, and there are corrective measures that can be taken to rectify the situation. It may not happen overnight, but it will definitely spring back to life in time.
But terrorism has to be viewed differently and it has to be reacted upon differently. What is it that the perpetrators of terror finally achieve out of instilling fear, killing innocent people, destroying property and sometimes rare architectural wonders, agricultural lands that provide food to millions, homes built on dreams…. All this for what…. A chunk of land, some power that is never going to last forever…that is what I fail to understand?
What do they want by cultivating fear in the minds of the people?
Every society has to progress into the future, every good culture and tradition needs to be preserved not only for the generations to come but also for our own sake. We do not have an identity of our own without our culture and tradition. Anything that stands in the way of progress of the mankind has to be wiped out clean. This “Culture of Fear” has become an epidemic, and we have to collectively fight it and wipe it out from our existence. We already have enough problems like pollution, population, poverty, hunger, global warming to name a few. We have bigger challenges to fight, we have a responsibility towards the future generations; to give them a good place to live and think freely.
We cannot allow ourselves slip into the realm of fear and give away hope. We all have challenges in our day-to-day lives and we do a very good job in meeting them and overcoming them to a large extent. We have seen so many bomb blasts, and now we are so used to it that, we are not shocked to see them on the television. But in spite of all that disturbance, commotion and fear that few groups of people are trying to create….I have never seen a city stopping the activities, never have I seen people afraid of going to the offices in the same trains, or from the same places where the blasts have occurred….and to me; these people, are real heroes. They have not bowed down to the fear and that is how all of us should be. When we the common men and women get into such ugly situations; whether police come on time or not, whether the fire van comes on time or not, whether the ambulance comes on time or not…we don’t wait for all of them…we swing into action and help out the people in pain and distress. These are lives of real heroes who do not get Oscars or get mention on Cannes. All we care for is ….Duty towards fellow men without any expectations.
Such selfless actions by brave individuals do not allow “The Culture of Fear” to propagate into the society. We cannot allow few spineless cowards win a worthless cause by destroying valuable life and property. We have to take care of this like we take care of a disease. We need to find the root cause and diagnose it with the correct medicine. We need a society with “Culture of Free Thought”, “Culture of Free Living”, “Culture of Free Knowledge” and definitely not a “Culture of Fear”.
“True hope is swift, and flies with swallow’s wings;
Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.”
William Shakespeare in “King Richard III”, Act 5 scene 2
Lots of Love,
Harish.
When I get up in the morning I make a statement out aloud what feelings I wish to experience during the day ahead.
I go about my day knowing that all will be in perfect harmony with my needs.
I smile at people, help when I can, do things which make me feel good, seek out friends who are positive and encouraging, stay aware of nature and her beauty. And try to be a little creative every day.
I read books that give me possitive perspectives and inspire me.
If I watch TV or see a movie, more often than not it will be funny because humour and laughter is such a gift and healing too.
I may seem naive, but it seems to me a preferable way of existing than believing that I have no control over my life or destiny, and that I am separated from other humans, that I should fear and hate, compete and destroy.
In my world there is plenty for everyone to share. There is no shortage, except a lack of thought and will. We can start turning everything around by willing it to happen, it will be hard as we have first to acknowledge our part in the choas around us. If we accept responsibity we can move on with a more possitive and caring agenda.
May God give us the clarity and will.
yo,
I personally have stopped thinking anyone knows which way is UP. I have been a student for a long time and as a result have been able to check out my society (Holland) from a fairly objective position and I have concluded a couple of months ago that we truly are a LOST NATION. It’s ironic that a society with so much wealth, and such a highly educated workforce, is simple lost in this challenging period in our and especially my life. I would think that people at the top (politicians, captains of industry etc,) would simple be RESPONSIBLE and have an objective realistic vision of where we are now and where realistically we should be in 10/20/30 years.
But they are still convinced that an infinite economic growth is somehow possible on our finite planet earth. This is simple a stupid way of thinking, yet governmental departments and corporate offices are literally filled with policymakers and executives who are BLINDLY FIXATED on this assumption.
My generation (29 years) is facing a rather strange future, one in which every single dominant structure will fall or be restructured in such a way that the old, rather simplistic way of thinking about, us and the reality we are engulfed in, will have to change.
The cool thing about this is that we have the opportunity to right the wrongs our way of thinking has committed. The bad thing is that we will have to learn to become FEARLESS, we need to cut through our personal demons in order to face a changing reality with clarity and purpose….for this is needed now more than ever before.
WE ARE ONE.
Alexander
When I do tap into the media fear frenzy, unintentionally, I go for a walk and look at the way the leaves bend to the wind, the cat curled on the sidewalk in a puddle of sun, the kids playing in the park. I realize that’s naive but it’s how I cope.
I don’t follow the news. Not the tv, radio or newspapers. Yet I still know enough about what is going on ‘out there’ to be informed. I get solicitation calls from people trying to sell me newspapers who are baffled when I tell them that I don’t read the newspaper. How do I know what’s going on? What if I want to know something? I answer that IF I want to know something I will go and find out, I don’t need to stuff my head with information I don’t need.
As it turns out, if the Greater Consciousness (the Cosmic Wow) requires that I know something, it will literally drop it in my lap. Let’s call that the ‘trust method’.
Collective fear is a very powerful tool. If one has harnessed that power it can be used to influence others. I have been in smaller group dynamics where fear was used in the collective and I was the sacrifical lamb burned at the stake, metaphorically speaking. This has happened more than once. I’m the ‘odd’ one so I always make a good sacrifice. This comes back to your earlier discussion about bringing back the witch burnings…they never went away, they just took on a different form.
Being a sensitive I am very familiar with the feel of collective fear and it has been in the greater collective for a number of years now and it is growing. It’s overwhelming. Going through the New York airport years ago was insane! The fear levels were through the roof. I’m amazed I didn’t faint.
Fear will always exist. I believe like yin and yang they balance out the world. The key word is always BALANCE.
Do you think we could get the mass media to tell the world to breathe, stay grounded and centered? hmmm…best..or most fun way I can think of to get grounded…mass orgies around the world!! Give peace a chance! Whoohoo! Well…it would feel better than all this fear.
We people can live with very little and be as happy as before. The trouble is that the system has created a monstrous … civilization that is based on material things. Evil is the matter, that hypnotizes us and we forget our eternal self.. and FEAR is the power that makes us be bound on Earth. Money, power, positions, authorities, prices, crowns, clothes, cars… and we think that we have gained the World. But we lose our Souls.
I agree with you, my dear Paul from Austria. It seems that, for a reason, we have read the .. same books! ‘The brotherhood’, ‘Inside the btotherhood’ e.t.c.
We all here know that this is not the real life.
LOVE,
THELMA
It seems to me there is two kinds of fears that we tend to confuse:
One kind of fear is a biological reaction to all kind of live-threatening dangers. This fear causes an immediate physical reaction that makes us flee or attack. In the old days when we were hunterer-gatherers this fear saved our lives. Now it guides us through traffic and prevents us from drowning when we go for a swim.
The other kind of fear is of a psychological nature. It makes us fear terrorists, heart attacks, financial losses, shame and the like. This fear has become so predominant in our lives that we tend to breath shallowly do not walk upright and do not dare to look into each other’s eyes. There is even a fear of fear, and in fact a fear of life.
The problem with fear as I perceive it, is that we are so preoccupied with psychological fear that we find it hard to determine the causes for biological fears. Think of the tsunami buildiing up in the sea. Wild and even domesticated animals fled the coastal areas long time before the wave hit the shores. In the meanwhile people were busy with their inner monologues and had no antennaes for the fearsome event that was evolving out there.
buenos dias!…bueno creo que el tema es muy delicado, me parece que hay muchas cosas que la humanidad tendria que tener por derecho propio por que somos seres humanos y sin embargo se ha convertido en un privilegio para algunos…y es muy pero muy triste pero es asi…hay un desastre economico mundial al cual nadie esta dispuesto a seder mientras que por derecho todos tendriamos que ser dignos de una buena salud,dignos de una buena educacion digno de vivir en un pais en PAZ, poder vivir en un mundo como verdaderos seres humanos dignos…y sin embargo eso es privilegio para algunos…..
Dear Paulo,
I was wondering if you’re we’re going to comment on the economic crisis….
But your comment is even more specific and better…
Indeed….the cultivation of fear….
I feel a little less alone now, reading that you see it as well this way and the other readers commenting here too….
Such a relief…
Yesterday I was watching the news on TV, like I always do…
Part of the routine…
But I had to switch channels…
It went on and on about the so called crumbling economy…
and then on and on about war and how one in five mamals on earth are at risk for extinction….
I got so depressed…I just thought:’why on earth do they have to be SO NEGATIVE’…
It was too much….
I’ve studied journalism and so I know how the media works…
They created the hype and keep feeding it…
It’s a very stupid, out of date mechanism when you look at it closely….
I’m able to see trough it…but it still bothers me…I start worrying as well…
Let alone the bigger public…people become afraid, I understand…
But it’s a terrible thing…
God, the media is so one sided as well, during this economic crisis, they’re so many other ‘crisises’ happening…
Aids is not popular right now, terrorism neither…
Somehow all of this is an illusion…
Ofcourse not for the people who are losing their homes in the US…
Losing their jobs….
But I’m not surprised the whole system is collapsing….
It all became too extreme….and turned against society…
All about the money, which sure is handy to have, but still is an illusion….
Not only the financial world has to change, we have to try to get to a more humane business climate in general…With more room for the individual…Those ant colonies…they have to crumble…We have to create something better…A form in which all of us will be able to pursuit our mission on this earth…Without conforming, going against our feelings, against our souls…
Yes.
But we still have such a long way to go….And when I look at Asia right now, I get very pessimistic…..For instance China, which is only thinking of material gain, growing, bigger and bigger….
Like it’s a race.
Oh please. Give me a break.
I wish they would have looked at the US and Europe and learned from our mistakes….Because a part of the Western world, albeit a small one is now realizing that we have to find a new way….
I pray to God that Asia will come to his senses….
But yesterday I saw a newsitem about Shanghai, about how it is becoming so unlivable because of his extreme skyscrapers, totally forgetting about the relationship between humans and their surroundings….Luckily they’re also trying to give people a free reign in old parts of the city, giving it more of a European feel…
Sigh….progress is not always for the best…Imagine Shanghai 50-60 years ago….
Why is that people often get a little crazy when they’re gettting wealthier, goes for societies as well….
They go to extremes…
Part of human nature? Greed? I guess so.
But we have to overcome it….And I think this is the moment to start….
Just a couple of days ago I realised that, apart from the metaphysical BIG questions of life like;
Why are we here? Where are we going?
there is one other question which I think more important….
How do we explain that, even though we have all the resources and knowledge in this age and time, the biggest part of the world population is living in grave poverty. Like, starving, dying of diseases which we can easily treat…Not having the same opportunities?
That’s a BIGGGGGGG mystery for me….
I’m not quite sure if God him or herself understands….
(God, if you do, I’m sorry…didn’t mean to offend you ;-)
Well, I’m doing my very best to stay positive….To not to let myself be influenced by ‘the hype’ too much….
I hope that this fear won’t hold too many people back from pursuing their dreams….Because it easy to start thinking; why bother anyway? The world is on fire….
Luckily enough my own reality is much more positive…
I’m always with my head in the clouds, and although that’s not always practical…it gets me trough the rough times…
OK, I’m starting to ramble now….
Let me finish with this…according to a classic song(which I hear right now…quite appropriate)
‘What the world needs now, is love, sweet love, it’s the only thing that there’s just to little of….’
Love,
Rose
Engraçado que hoje pela manhã eu estava assistindo o Jornal da Manhã e falando sobre essa crise disseram que a empresa Volkswagen teria dado férias coletivas e boatos já corriam dizendo que seria um possível indício de demissões futuras. Até que o representante da empresa veio a midia justificar que era apenas uma mera coincidência e que a empresa não poderia estar melhor e que as vendas iam muito bem.
Resumindo, essa cultura do medo está fazendo várias vitimas e tudo já é motivo de assombração.
I am inspired by your words to think also of the collective when I walk on hot coals Sunday 12th Oct. It will be my first time and as well as visualising myself walking away from my personal fears towards my dreams, I shall hope that we all have freedom from fear. And that whilst we are singing Shiva Shambo the powers of recreation are awakened. Thank you for reminding me to think beyond myself.
o medo cria muito poder meu caro! acho que e por ai…
acabei de ler sua biografia. achei ela bem mais interessante quando voce era menos interessante.
que tal uma BIbiografia comecando aos 60. acho que ajudaria muita gente que nao ta sabendo envelhecer…
parabens pela vida
beijos
It seems that when fear emerges.. let’s say like a football stadium crowd rushing to escape a fire in the stadium… and everyone pushes, loses their footing and end up trying to get as fast away as possible… the result is those in the crowd can be crushed.
In many situations of chaos.. the result seems to have been the survival instinct… and this does not always necessarily equate with group survival… rather an individual surviving for the purpose of the whole.. yet at the expense of others.
in other words… fear brings often brings out the worst in people… and people can end up standing on others – as if like stepping stones to enable themselves to stay afloat and above the flood.
there is a story however that tells of a race between a hare and a tortoise… and the race would seem inevitable…
except there is a moral.. since the hare runs fast and tires easily.. the hare thus takes a siesta .. assuming that it has already won the race since it is faster..
the tortoise meanwhile plodding along, comes by the sleeping hare and continues on to the finish line.
So my view is… that though there might be a race.. caused by fear..
that there is no need to run…
rather to take time to make one’s own way along the path…
that is the best way to reach the finish line…
on the reverse side… those who are arrogant enough to think that their race is already won, since they believe that they have an advantage… can also easily end up losing the game.
Not so much fearful as hard.
Either reckless or numb- whatever has to happen, will.Destiny,fate, naseeb, karma.
The hand, having writ, moves on and all that.
You can go shopping and get bombed.
Or coming back from work on a usual day, be on the wrong train and never get home.
It is not an “other”- it is your own friend, your own neighbour who is doing this- whom will you shout at?
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