Inviting Fear || AP Neem Candies
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.
You are not quite a performer at your workplace. Your boss comes to you and says, “You know what, things do not look good for you in the next appraisal.” And you let this statement become meaningful to you, and that afternoon you work really hard. Don’t you see what you have done? You have admitted fear. But you would not ask the right question. You would say, “How to give up fear?” What do you mean by giving up fear? You are letting in fear, you are inviting fear. Not inviting fear is sufficient. Don’t invite it and it’s gone.
We invite fear. Don’t invite it, that’s all. You do not require an elaborate process to have freedom from fear.
Even in intimate relationships—look at how fear colors one’s relationship with the husband, with the wives, with the son, the daughter, the father, everybody. And if we want the climactic example, our relationship with this entire universe and the so-called God itself is of fear. By admitting a God that keeps you in fear, are you not letting fear rule over you? In fact, our language contains the expression ‘God-fearing’. Why must we ask, “What to do to get rid of fears?” If you have a God that rules over you through fear, first of all, give up that God. Keeping that God, you would only be afraid all the time.
Full article link: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles/do-spirituality-and-wisdom-lead-to-disorderly-conduct-1_92ec82d
