i wrote about fear and how it drives humans in 2018. eons ago it seems. while hiking the colorado trail this summer, i was asked numerous times, “how’s the weather on the other side?” when coming down from a pass with dark clouds in the sky. regardless of my answer, the next statement was typically something similar to “i’m terrified of lightning.” terror means fear. it doesn’t mean respect, be aware or cognizant of, or pay heed to. it means be intimidated by and frightened of. i’ve had a few very, very close encounters with lightning, spiders, snakes, cars, other humans, etc. maybe i’m naive or just stupid, but don’t i fear, nor am i terrified by, any of those things. i do have a healthy respect for them. situational awareness and listening to my intuition is how i deal with anything that could possibly cause harm.
i’m in the middle of reading a book. fear, in regards to human emotions and relationships, is discussed. i’ll paraphrase how fear is described.
fear is unkind. fear is selfish. it is unjust and limiting. fear does not accept responsibility and causes suffering.
fear is something that metastasizes, spreads, and is used to control people. i think by looking at how the book describes it, we can see exactly how it can be used to manipulate and influence anyone. i feel that is exactly what is occurring in this country. fear has metastasized in people’s minds, psyche, and souls and grown to such a point that anyone that is seen as xeno, or other, is automatically an enemy. we’ve alienated neighbors, friends, and allies both within our borders and around the world. we have given people that are self-proclaimed and proud xenophobes the authority to make political, diplomatic, and economic choices that impact not just us, but billions of people around the world. like any phobia, the only way to justify it is to seek out validation wherever and however it can be found. even if it means artificially creating the conditions that can be used as validation. or simply lying.
the world has been here before. countless times. injustices are allowed, so long as they are not too unjust. that particular red line is invisible, constantly on the move, shifting as dunes in sand. when it gets despicable enough, the majority, still holding onto their xenophobia, will decide it’s gone too far. if only to assuage their personal guilt. the fear still remains, though forced into a semblance of neutered dormancy. it pensively waits. anticipation of the next storm sustains it until a lightning strike, real or imaginary, allows it emerge and once again gorge itself on raw human emotion and ego.
like an infectious virally transmitted cancer in remission, it awakens and spreads. the host, a willing participant in the charade, unaware that it too will be destroyed in attempts to destroy the other that drives the phobia. because this host is other as well. but, not other enough. not just yet. the original phobic source must first be eliminated. and then a new other will be required to take its place, for there must always be a source for the fear. but, all in due time. right now it will thrive in and relish its rightness; its righteousness.
that sustains this fear. in the end, though, the fearful host multitude realizes they triggered their own destruction.
and no amount of fear will save them.