Guest guest Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 Dear Friends, It seems fear is part of the fabric of life. People have fears according to their needs and circumstances. Here are some well known fears. They all hinge on loss or gain of some type involving physical or mental suffering. 1. Fear of poverty 2. Fear of disease 3. Fear of death 4. Fear of loss of face (humiliation) 5. Fear of loss of loved ones There must be many more fear one could identify and write down. Many sages have spoken of fear and the role of fear in life, even spiritual life. Sri Ramana spoke of fear too. My teacher used to say that "Fear of fear is hell." Winston Churchill said, "We have to nothing to fear but fear itself." What do you think about the nature of fear and its role in life. Namaste and love to all Harsha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 , Harsha wrote: > > *Dear Friends, > > It seems fear is part of the fabric of life. People have fears according > to their needs and circumstances. > > Here are some well known fears. They all hinge on loss or gain of some > type involving physical or mental suffering. > > > 1. Fear of poverty > 2. Fear of disease > 3. Fear of death > 4. Fear of loss of face (humiliation) > 5. Fear of loss of loved ones > > There must be many more fear one could identify and write down. > > Many sages have spoken of fear and the role of fear in life, even > spiritual life. Sri Ramana spoke of fear too. > > My teacher used to say that " Fear of fear is hell. " > > Winston Churchill said, " We have to nothing to fear but fear itself. " > > What do you think about the nature of fear and its role in life. > > Namaste and love to all > Harsha* > incidentally, i found this (written long ago): Fear Fear is The greatest obstacle To love's Free Flow. " Hate " Is merely an emotion Arising From it. But fear, Rooted in identity Seizes the heart Constraining apparently the self To a mere form Robbing it Of its inherent Boundless Freedom. So fear not the fear, Friend! Denying it not Nor affirming Face it directly And watch fearlessly. Without feeding it thoughts Yet ceaselessly asking " Whose fear it is? " Let the all pervading Fire of love Consume Its cold grip To ashes. Oh, dervish! The only true freedom Is the freedom From Fear. _()_ yosy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 --- Harsha wrote: > *Dear Friends, > > It seems fear is part of the fabric of life. People > have fears according > to their needs and circumstances. > > Here are some well known fears. They all hinge on > loss or gain of some > type involving physical or mental suffering. > > > 1. Fear of poverty > 2. Fear of disease > 3. Fear of death > 4. Fear of loss of face (humiliation) > 5. Fear of loss of loved ones > > There must be many more fear one could identify and > write down. > > Many sages have spoken of fear and the role of fear > in life, even > spiritual life. Sri Ramana spoke of fear too. > > My teacher used to say that " Fear of fear is hell. " > > Winston Churchill said, " We have to nothing to fear > but fear itself. " > > What do you think about the nature of fear and its > role in life. > > Namaste and love to all > Harsha* > When human life evolved, " Fear " was very much necessary for survival. Nature has built into the human physiology, all the necessary system for generating fear. When under threat, the fear triggers the production of the hormone adrenalin which in turn prepares a human being for " Fight or Flight " . Even though the conditions existing today are not as life threatening as was thousands of years back, the legacy of " Fear " continues.May be in course of time, when we are more evolved, the fear may disappear once for all. Mean while my Guru says, chanting the mantra " Abhir " (Sanskrit for don't be afraid ), will help to control and eradicate the fear experienced. With regards Venugopal Bollywood, fun, friendship, sports and more. You name it, we have it on http://in.promos./groups Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 Harsha wrote: > What do you think about the nature of fear and its role in life. First and foremost fear must be experienced honestly without any resistance. It must be eased into gently and felt in the body and mind. One will discover that fear is the primary motivating force for most of us, most of the time. It's resonance has the quality of an out of tune instrument. But by feeling it openly with acceptance and resonating with it in deep body/mind awareness it's energy can be tuned. Harmonized. This is not something you do once and it's all over. It must become a natural part of your everyday living. And finally, do not make it a goal to eradicate fear. That will only feed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 'Fear' Quotes from UG Krishnamurty: --We don't want to be free from fear. All that we want to do is to play games with it and talk about freeing ourselves from fear." --If the fear goes, you will drop dead....We asked him about our fears and struggles to achieve goals. He said, "The goal is not out there. You are the goal. If the goal goes, you go with it. You can never be rid of fear. You and the fear will go together. If the fear goes, you will drop dead. --From all this you inevitably draw the conclusion that the situation is hopeless. In reality you are creating that hopelessness because you don't really want to be free from fear, envy, jealousy, and selfishness. That is why you feel your situation to be hopeless. The only hope lies in selfishness, greed, and anger, not in its fictitious opposite, i.e., the practice of selflessness, generosity, and kindness. The problem, say selfishness, is only strengthened by the cultivation of its fictitious opposite, the so-called selflessness. --U.G.: Don't bother. You will replace one belief with another. You are nothing but belief, and when it dies, you are dead. What I am trying to tell you is this: don't try to be free from selfishness, greed, anger, envy, desire, and fear. You will only create its opposites, which are, unfortunately, fictitious. If desire dies, you die. --UG: That is terrifying - the fear of losing what you know. So actually, you don't want to be free from fear. You do not want the fear to come to an end. All that you are doing - all the therapies and techniques that you are using to free yourself from fear, for whatever reason you want to be free from fear - is the thing that is maintaining the fear and giving continuity to it. So you do not want the fear to come to an end. If the fear comes to an end, the fear of what you know comes to an end. You will physically drop dead. A clinical death will take place. Q: How can you be physically dead if you merely lose some thoughts? UG: When once the `I' is gone, there is no way of experiencing your own body anymore. You have no way of knowing whether you are alive or dead. You will never be able to tell yourself, "This is my body." If you ask me, "Is that your body or my body?" I may say, "This is my body," just to communicate to you, differentiate and say that it is not your body but my body. But the fact that this is my body is something which cannot be experienced at all. --U.G.: What I am trying to put across is that there is no such thing as God. It is the mind that has created God out of fear. Fear is passed on from generation to generation. What is there is fear, not God. If you are lucky enough to be free from fear, then there is no God. There is no ultimate reality, no God -- nothing. Fear itself is the problem, not "God". Wanting to be free from fear is itself fear. You see, you love fear. The ending of fear is death, and you don't want THAT to happen. I am not talking of wiping out the phobias of the body. They are necessary for survival. The death of fear is the only death. Harsha wrote: Dear Friends,It seems fear is part of the fabric of life. People have fears according to their needs and circumstances. Here are some well known fears. They all hinge on loss or gain of some type involving physical or mental suffering.1. Fear of poverty2. Fear of disease3. Fear of death4. Fear of loss of face (humiliation)5. Fear of loss of loved onesThere must be many more fear one could identify and write down.Many sages have spoken of fear and the role of fear in life, even spiritual life. Sri Ramana spoke of fear too. My teacher used to say that "Fear of fear is hell." Winston Churchill said, "We have to nothing to fear but fear itself."What do you think about the nature of fear and its role in life. Namaste and love to allHarsha Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Search. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 Very nice indeed. Namaste Sand , " yosyx " <yosyflug wrote: > > incidentally, i found this (written long ago): > > > > > Fear > > > Fear is > The greatest obstacle > To love's > Free > Flow. > > " Hate " > Is merely an emotion > Arising > From it. > > But fear, > Rooted in identity > Seizes the heart > Constraining apparently the self > To a mere form > Robbing it > Of its inherent > Boundless > Freedom. > > So fear not the fear, > Friend! > Denying it not > Nor affirming > Face it directly > And watch fearlessly. > > Without feeding it thoughts > Yet ceaselessly asking > " Whose fear it is? " > Let the all pervading > Fire of love > Consume > Its cold grip > To ashes. > > Oh, dervish! > The only true freedom > Is the freedom > From > Fear. > > > _()_ > yosy > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 > > > > Namaste and love to all > > Harsha* > > When human life evolved, " Fear " was very much > necessary for survival. Nature has built into the > human physiology, all the necessary system for > generating fear. When under threat, the fear triggers > the production of the hormone adrenalin which in turn > prepares a human being for " Fight or Flight " . Even > though the conditions existing today are not as life > threatening as was thousands of years back, the legacy > of " Fear " continues.May be in course of time, when we > are more evolved, the fear may disappear once for all. > Mean while my Guru says, chanting the mantra " Abhir " > (Sanskrit for don't be afraid ), will help to control > and eradicate the fear experienced. > With regards > Venugopal > Namaste,V, I hope I get an answer soon as I seem to be moderated in case I utter heresy perchance? Within illusion fear is the primal condition of separation from the Universal, all other fears are based on that, as all thought is based as a sutra on the 'I' thought. A-Bhir is very obviously a-fear or afear =non fear, even the pronunciation is similar. I have updated my insert on wikipedia re ajativada. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajativada regards Tony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 , Harsha wrote: > > *Dear Friends, > > It seems fear is part of the fabric of life. People have fears according > to their needs and circumstances. > > Here are some well known fears. They all hinge on loss or gain of some > type involving physical or mental suffering. > > > 1. Fear of poverty > 2. Fear of disease > 3. Fear of death > 4. Fear of loss of face (humiliation) > 5. Fear of loss of loved ones > > There must be many more fear one could identify and write down. > > Many sages have spoken of fear and the role of fear in life, even > spiritual life. Sri Ramana spoke of fear too. > > My teacher used to say that " Fear of fear is hell. " > > Winston Churchill said, " We have to nothing to fear but fear itself. " > > What do you think about the nature of fear and its role in life. > > Namaste and love to all > Harsha* > Fear is generated by the " I', the identity of the socialized and secondary self. The I-I knows no fear, Knows that the secondary identity of the " I " is just that – a secondary identity. The I-I knows of its Self – beyond time, space, and the circumstances of life The I-I is imperishable, unassailable, and beyond all fear and doubt. The I-I, the Primary identity of nondual Self has stepped into Perfection, and there can be no fear in Perfection. All is well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 Harsha wrote: > Dear Friends, > > It seems fear is part of the fabric of life. People have fears according to their needs and circumstances. > > Here are some well known fears. They all hinge on loss or gain of some type involving physical or mental suffering. > > > 1. Fear of poverty > 2. Fear of disease > 3. Fear of death > 4. Fear of loss of face (humiliation) > 5. Fear of loss of loved ones > > There must be many more fear one could identify and write down. > > Many sages have spoken of fear and the role of fear in life, even spiritual life. Sri Ramana spoke of fear too. > > My teacher used to say that "Fear of fear is hell." > > Winston Churchill said, "We have to nothing to fear but fear itself." > > What do you think about the nature of fear and its role in life. > > Namaste and love to all > Harsha > Swami Sivananda once wrote "fear is the main weakness of the flesh", an excellent summary. Fear always relates to the change of a physical condition whereas the ancient issue can be summarized as "neither am I the mind, nor the body, nor the senses etc." http://www.dlshq.org/download/success_life.pdf Jan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 14, 2007 Report Share Posted December 14, 2007 , Harsha wrote: > > *Dear Friends, > > It seems fear is part of the fabric of life. People have fears according > to their needs and circumstances. > > Here are some well known fears. They all hinge on loss or gain of some > type involving physical or mental suffering. > > > 1. Fear of poverty > 2. Fear of disease > 3. Fear of death > 4. Fear of loss of face (humiliation) > 5. Fear of loss of loved ones > > There must be many more fear one could identify and write down. > > Many sages have spoken of fear and the role of fear in life, even > spiritual life. Sri Ramana spoke of fear too. > > My teacher used to say that " Fear of fear is hell. " > > Winston Churchill said, " We have to nothing to fear but fear itself. " > > What do you think about the nature of fear and its role in life. > > Namaste and love to all > Harsha* >i am ganesan age51 hindu brahmin working in govt dept i would like to offer fifteen days vountery service to ramanaashramam at t malai in feb firest to fifteenth if they provide accomandation and food i would like to serve thro sangam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 , Harsha wrote:> What do you think about the nature of fear and its role in life.Dear friends,[i'm not really fit in English, I'm sorry for that...]that's really an important question. There's an interesting article by David Loy (Avoiding the Void) stating, that a) the most important fear is the fear "NOT TO BE", and b) that this fear dominates all normal human activities.One of his fundamental statements says: "The issue becomes whether the subject-object distinction can break down in different ways: why the mystic can swim in the same sea that drowns the psychotic."In my eyes and daily experience this is entirely true. Real fear arises not really because of the loss of THINGS but of the PERSONALITY, the individuality, the I. What is this "I"? Sri Ramana said: "a bundle of thoughts, centered around the belief to be a separate being, an individual". That is, this kind of fear arises not because of the loss of the things this "I" may own - it arises from the loss of the owner, isn't it?The fear of the loss of THINGS means in my opinion that the person feeling this, not yet is in deep contact with the real fear. Compared with the fear of "not to be" this is like the difference between a pleasant walk and the hell full of monsters.In meditation or contemplation we can reach a point were all thoughts vanish. In that experience may arise that, what David Loy calls "the fear of the void". Isn't it true that this special kind of fear is like a door guard blocking the way to that thought free space we need to be free?It is so meaningful that Sri Ramana (and the entire vedanta) constantly speaks from the "destroying of the mind"... The question is: Do we understand this figuratively or literally...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Dear Asparsavidya,You seem pretty fit in English to me. :)David Hawkins is someone else who writes very clearly about the fear of the loss of being, loss of the ego, the experience of the void, and his experiences of going through that final wall of fear in consciousness about not 'being', through experiencing the death of the ego. You might be interested in his books. JillOn Jan 3, 2008, at 1:14 PM, Asparsavidya wrote: , Harsha wrote:> What do you think about the nature of fear and its role in life.Dear friends,[i'm not really fit in English, I'm sorry for that...]that's really an important question. There's an interesting article by David Loy (Avoiding the Void) stating, that a) the most important fear is the fear "NOT TO BE", and b) that this fear dominates all normal human activities.One of his fundamental statements says: "The issue becomes whether the subject-object distinction can break down in different ways: why the mystic can swim in the same sea that drowns the psychotic."In my eyes and daily experience this is entirely true. Real fear arises not really because of! the loss of THINGS but of the PERSONALITY, the individuality, the I. What is this "I"? Sri Ramana said: "a bundle of thoughts, centered around the belief to be a separate being, an individual". That is, this kind of fear arises not because of the loss of the things this "I" may own - it arises from the loss of the owner, isn't it?The fear of the loss of THINGS means in my opinion that the person feeling this, not yet is in deep contact with the real fear. Compared with the fear of "not to be" this is like the difference between a pleasant walk and the hell full of monsters.In meditation or contemplation we can reach a point were all thoughts vanish. In that experience may arise that, what David Loy calls "the fear of the void". Isn't it true that this special kind of fear is like a door guard blocking the way to that thought free space we need to be free?It is so meaningful that Sri Ramana (and the entire vedanta) constantly speaks from the "! destroying of the mind"... The question is: Do we understand this figu ratively or literally...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 , Jill Eggers <eggersj wrote: Dear Asparsavidya, You seem pretty fit in English to me. :)Thank you, Jill. I'm absoluteley delighted to hear that!David Hawkins is someone else who writes very clearly about the fear of the loss of being, loss of the ego, the experience of the void, and his experiences of going through that final wall of fear in consciousness about not 'being', through experiencing the death of the ego. You might be interested in his books.Thank you for this recommendation. I already tried to get some information about him. In the meantime, while reading about him, I find the following quotes from sages about this kind of spiritual fear interesting (and very similar):Men are afraid to forget their minds, fearing to fall through the Void [Chaos] with nothing to stay their fall. They do not know that the Void is not really void, but the realm of the real Dharma."- Huang Po (zen patriarch, 800 AC) This yoga, which is not in touch with anything (=void), is hard for yogis in general to attain. They are afraid of it, because they see fear in that which is really fearlessness.- Mandukya Upanishad, III, 39Master: On enquiring into the sheaths and dismissing them as unreal, the Self, their witnessing consciousness is realised to be unique, finer than ether, even like void. Now that the sheaths have been dismissed as unreal and there is nothing but the voidlike subtle Self, a fear may arise that one is left as nothing or void.- Advaita Bodha Deepika, Chapter V (this is a tamil classic, at least 500 years old, downloadable here: Sri Ramanasramam - Downloads) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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