Fear and Faith.

[logansrogue]

We are slaves to our fears. Every day we live in fear, some (like me) live more in fear than others. But sometimes you can let the fears misguide you, trick you. Before you know it, you're a slave to the fear, letting it take a hold of every aspect of your life until you can't even trust yourself.

Fear is a liar. Fear doesn't understand reason, logic or empirical evidence. If Fear were a tarot card, it would be The Devil - you are chained to it, and you feel trapped but you don't realise that all you need to do is lift those loose chains from around your neck.

That is the hardest thing of all, and sometimes the chains will slip back on. But knowing those chains are there is a huge step forward.

Sometimes the most important thing in overcoming any dark moment in your life is faith. It doesn't have to necessarily be religious. It can be faith in the human spirit, faith in others, or even faith in yourself.

That faith, in the face of all that overwhelming fear, can seem so foolish. How could I believe in such a good thing, when such bad things have happened in my life? How could good things happen in such a terrible world?

Fear tricks you into thinking this way. It's the pessimist's way of surviving - if I never look forward to anything, I will never be let down. If I expect nothing, I won't hurt when I recieve it. But with this way of existing comes a horrible dark shroud that dims everything. Your urge to try new things or be hopeful is stripped from your soul. And a life without hope or new experiences is a sad one indeed. These two things define us as a species, they make us special as sentient creatures.

You can't stop Fear. It's a survival mechanism and it helps us in ways we probably aren't even aware of. But it isn't the brains in this operation. We are. And we can choose to listen to those fears or to understand where they come from and send them on their way.

A very wise man once said, "Fear is the mind killer" and he was right. It kills reason. Awareness, though painful, is the first step in reversing this effect.

Now, if only I could get my brain to listen to such wisdom.

Comments

[leviathan0999.livejournal.com]

I live every day of my life dead certain that I'm going to lose my job. Getting another would be problematic. I'm 47 years old, and weigh 400 pounds. Who wants one of those?

All I can do is act as if everything is as fine as all evidence states it is.

"Act as if ye have faith, and faith will be given unto you." Or, put another way, "Fake it 'till you make it."

-Leo McGarry (John Spencer) in "The West Wing"

[asweetdownfall.livejournal.com]

Dude. You've just voiced every feeling I've had for the past..thirteen years. How do you DO that? How can you word things so beautifully and hit everything right on the money?

This is a lovely post. <3

[sir-devans.livejournal.com]

or even faith in yourself
I'm like that, but in sort of reverse. How unusual for us to be polarised like that. :P.
I do have faith. Faith in myself. I have faith that I am so terrible inside that nothing that happens too me could possibly be worse
So it doesn't scare me.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I felt that I had to write this down and share this. I didn't want to keep it to myself.

[asweetdownfall.livejournal.com]

Good thing you did that. :D

[melalucci.livejournal.com]

::applauds:: :) That was a wonderful post. Thanks for sharing.

[ausizoro.livejournal.com]

wow, you have great insight into things, nicely put.

"Fear is the mind killer" is also in Dune :)

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

I know it is! The wise man I was talking about is Frank Herbert. :D

[ausizoro.livejournal.com]

ahhh cool, i thought you were making a reference to a character not the writer :), the Dune series is awesome :)

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

It most certainly is!

[ausizoro.livejournal.com]

i have the 3 dvd box set of the movie, and have read the whole series (or most of it).


Love the icon :D

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

I'm stuck halfway through the series. Can't seem to find the one after Children of Dune. :(

[ausizoro.livejournal.com]

your local library should have it or be able to do an interlibrary loan thats how i filled in the gaps :)


PS i am online on yahoo, if you wanna talk more Dune :D

[sparklinblossom.livejournal.com]

Sometimes our inner thoughts and dialogue are our worst enemies, they feed on our fears and we can't shut them out because they are a part of us. *hugs*
Been there, it is not fun at all.