Acharya Prashant: Losing something requires a method, an application only if that something is either central to you or sticks to you on its own. Fear is neither central to you, nor does fear say that “I want to stay with you.” All fear is acquired and external.
So, rather than asking how to give up fear, figure out how you admit fear, and stop admitting fear. How to stop admitting fear? By simply seeing what are the ways in which you let your life be governed by fear. Had fear been something sitting right in your core, then we could have talked of processes of liberation from fear. And there are so many processes in the market. But the fact is that the fear is lifeless on its own. Fear does not stick to you; you clutch fear.
So, instead of asking, “How to give up fear?” ask, “How do I invite and retain fear in my life?” And that requires self-observation, because fear is not something that happened once upon a time. Day in and day out we allow ourselves to live by fear and in fear. Every time you accept something that seeks to control you by tempting you or by threatening you, you are admitting fear. And that happens daily. It happens in our homes, in our workplaces, in the markets. That’s how fear gains control over us.
Stop letting in fear.
You watch an advertisement on TV and that advertisement talks of the situation after your death; the advertisement, let’s say, wants to sell insurance. That advertisement is trying to control you through fear. They want a particular behavioral outcome from you by terrifying you. Now you let yourself be drawn towards that fear. Not only are you drawn towards that advertisement, you may actually go and buy that product. That’s how you admit fear in your life.
