“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
The “Litany against Fear” above was used by the Bene Gesserit Priestesses in Frank Herbert”s Science Fiction Novel Dune. Recognizing that Fear [1] is the prime motivator in people’s lives[2] the Litany was not meant to discount fear, but to control its effect on the individual and to prevent Panic[3] from setting in. A person in control of their fears is formidable in the arena of human interaction, and the Bene Gesserits were all about developing formidable personal power. Fear is a natural emotion and fundamental to the survival of the physical body. How we deal with fear, whether through reason or emotion, is a key formative factor in the development of both individual consciousness and the culture as a whole. It matters a great deal in determining what form the culture takes if the governing factor in people’s lives is the emotion of fear rather than knowledge and reason.
What drives a culture is not necessarily the big things, but more often it is shaped by what I call the “little fears”. In Western Culture today there are groups declaring that there is much to be feared about just about everything you can think of including; all forms of energy generation, all forms of transportation that use fossil fuels, food (GMOs, meat, sugar, non-organic, etc.), the decimation of bio-diversity, manmade global warming, even growing up. Historically, the Western Culture thrived precisely because individuals dared to take calculated risks with their health and their lives in order to achieve economic and personal freedom, but in just a few decades we have become a culture that is so afraid of everything that the old “Can Do” attitude has been replaced by “Better Not”.
To take a look at how much of this fear factor that has entered our culture is due to just causes, and just how much of it is a form of group panic, we need to understand the differences in the kinds of fear that are normally encountered in life. For the purposes of this discussion, we can look at fears as falling into one of three classes, with the third being the one most relevant to the topic listed at the top of this page:
1. Instinctual Fear
2. Cautionary or Calculated Fear (typically thought of as Prudence)
3. Learned ? Emotional Fear
In contrast, Cautionary or Calculated Fear is an anticipatory rather than a response type of consciousness process. Where Instinctual Fear triggers an immediate response as the result of an external stimulus, a Cautionary or Calculated Fear is one in which a conscious choice is made based upon available data. It would probably not be considered a Fear at all by most people who would instead label it as just being sensible, but it still falls under the category of Fear as defined in part [2]6 in the definition of Fear provided below as “anticipation”.
An example of a Cautionary fear would be when we avoid touching the hot skillet on the stove without some form of protection. It is probably because we either learned in the past that doing so will result in a burn, or because we possess the presence of mind to know that the temperature of the skillet is such that touching it without using a potholder will result in a burn. It is an intellectual process rather than one of emotion and generally does not involve any automatic physiological changes to the body.
The third class of fear, Learned ? Emotional is shown this way to indicate that this type of fear can range across a spectrum from one end based entirely upon reason to an opposite end that is based entirely upon emotion. A Calculated or Cautionary Fear based upon observed data combined with an analytical ability to calculate risks and to determine what the right action/response is generally beneficial. Conversely, the emotion driven end of the Learned ? Emotional Fear spectrum can become detrimental if it is strong enough to override natural instincts. An Emotional Fear may become so strong that data, reason, and intellect are no longer part of the equation; the Fear in question is absolutely real to the person involved and just is, regardless of any evidence to the contrary that there is no real danger.
For instance, when a baby is born it exhibits no fear of being submerged in water. Its natural instinct is to hold its breath and swim to the surface making the swimming motions needed to do so, as has been demonstrated in the Russian underwater birth modality. However, if later in life a person has had an unpleasant experience in water, such as a near drowning, a Learned Fear of water may be developed that makes the person reluctant to be around water, although not panicked by its presence. But it is also possible that if the Learned Fear of water becomes so imbedded in the sub-consciousness that it shifts to the Emotional Fear end of the spectrum. When that happens even a small amount of water splashed in the face or poured over the head can result in immediate and complete panic.
In most of the forms of Fear discussed here they are the result of personal experience, but others, particularly the Instinctual, subconscious fears are the result of “sharing†through the Group Soul. In the case of Emotional Fears though they can also be viewed as being “caughtâ€, in much the same way that one can catch a cold. To explain how this can occur I must digress for a moment and provide a brief review of how our Consciousness both transmits and receives information in ways that are in addition to conventional physical means of communication.
In the Human Triad Model Consciousness exists in a ten-dimensional energy form that, although roughly in the spatial shape and size of the physical body is in most ways not limited to it. For most people, every thought process and every emotion felt generates transmissions in the nature of very high frequency wave forms, in many ways similar to radio or television waves. Since they vary in strength based upon the intensity of the thought expressed or the emotion felt, and fear is frequently a very strong emotion, it is therefore one of the more intense types of transmissions generated.
Once a transmission of an emotion or thought process has occurred, any consciousness that encounters the transmitted wave form will be stimulated by it, resulting in the receiving consciousness experiencing the same emotion and/or thought.
To illustrate, if you place two tuning forks side by side and strike one of them, the energy transmitted through the air by the one struck will cause the second tuning fork to begin to vibrate also. The same thing happens to our consciousness. When a fear pattern has been generated it can be sensed by others who will recognize the pattern of fear, and at least sub-consciously and depending upon the strength of the fear pattern, be affected by it to some extent.
If the emotion pattern of a shared fear is being transmitted by a few million individuals, then in all likelihood most of the culture will share some level of apprehension relating to that fear, accepting it as conventional wisdom and will stop performing data analysis, instead moving into the “it just is†mode of Emotional Fear mentioned earlier. But it’s prudent to never accept conventional wisdom at face value without first looking closely at the source of said conventional wisdom. Archie Bunker’s “It’s a well-known fact†almost always turns out to be based upon spurious data at best.
Actual analysis of any core data related to whether cultural fears are valid or not is almost never directly undertaken by individuals (including such Cultural Fears as the present growing fear of vaccinations, which is causing parents to not vaccinate and which at present is resulting in an increase in outbreaks of near epidemic proportions of whooping cough[4] in children in some areas). If the average person looks into the background of a cultural fear at all it will most likely only be to the level of reading articles written by others who share the same fear and who are in turn summarizing their understanding of the writings of still others who were in turn expressing their opinions of the research done by still others.
In this situation too, the dangers perceived by the person “catching” the fear are absolutely real to them because they “just know” the danger to be real. If they do an honest analysis of why they fear something they will probably be unable to find a source for the fear that would fit into the process of developing a Learned Fear, i.e. personal experience and/or knowledge, and the best they will probably come up with is because someone said they should be afraid.
Often when the claims made by the groups promoting the danger of (insert favorite fear) are carefully analyzed by looking directly at the data and not just the conclusions reached by activists, the justification for these fears are nearly always found to be flawed. For example, When Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring which resulted in the effective ban of DDT[5] in 1972; she claimed that birds ingesting DDT tended to lay thin-shelled eggs which would break prematurely in the nest thus reducing bird populations. I remember well the near-hysteria with which her claims were met in the media and which went along the lines of “we’re all going to die!”
As a result of the DDT ban malaria, which had been under control in most of the Third World, up to that time, came back with a vengeance. It is estimated that the ban has caused on the order of 50 million deaths[6] over the last 30+ years that would have otherwise been prevented. Additionally, researchers who have recently attempted to verify the thin egg shell theory have found the claim “to be without meritâ€, in other words, false. Emotional Fear resulted in the ban of DDT, not Prudence or justified Caution, or even good science.
In the current dominant Emotional Fear area of Man Made Global Warming, recent studies have shown[6] that 36 (nearly all) of the climate models being used by members in good standing of the “climate community” have overestimated warming over the past 20 years by a lot, and yet even though there has been NO MEASURABLE WARMING for the last 15 years, we are continuing to ban sources of energy and regulate businesses out of business based on an unfounded fear that fossil fuels and industrial emissions are resulting in increased global temperatures.
For Centuries we have been a culture not afraid to tackle challenges. In just a few decades we have become a culture that demands to be protected from everything. If a culture becomes so afraid of living that all of their conscious decisions are driven by fear then, unlike the Bene Gesserit, they can be easily led in any direction by both overt and covert actions of individuals desirous of shaping that culture, including directions that ultimately will result in the loss of life and/or freedom.
Why would people seek to trigger fears in large segments of the population? In a word, Power. Take the case of manmade global warming and its championing by the U.N. The U.N. has been attempting to get its members to give them the ok to tax the industrialized nations so they can give the money to the underdeveloped nations to do what? In order to save them from the effects of global warming somehow.
There are real dangers in the world today, but they are for the most part being ignored while people are allowing themselves to be unnecessarily driven by the fears of the Group Soul and the Collective Consciousness Movement. The challenge of course comes in knowing which fear is based on reality and which is based upon emotion.
Do I think what I think, Because I think it? Or do I think what I think, Because I just think, That I think it?
The SMOP Litany against Control
[1] Fear (From Dictionary.com
1. a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid. Synonyms: foreboding, apprehension, consternation, dismay, dread, terror, fright, panic, horror, trepidation, qualm. Antonyms: courage, security, calm, intrepidity.
2. a specific instance of or propensity for such a feeling: an abnormal fear of heights. Synonyms: phobia, aversion; bête noire, bogy, bogey, bugbear. Antonyms: liking, fondness, penchant, predilection.
3. concern or anxiety; solicitude: a fear for someone’s safety.
4. reverential awe, especially toward God: the fear of God. Synonyms: awe, respect, reverence, veneration.
5. something that causes feelings of dread or apprehension; something a person is afraid of: Cancer is a common fear.
6. anticipation of the possibility that something unpleasant will occur: Having grown up during the Great Depression, he had a constant fear of running out of money.
[2] Psychology Today
The Most Powerful Motivator, How fear is etched into our brains.
Published on September 23, 2009 by Robert Evans Wilson, Jr. in The Main Ingredient
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-main-ingredient/200909/the-most-powerful-motivator
[3] Panic (From Dictionary.com)
1. a sudden overwhelming fear with or without cause, that produces hysterical or irrational behavior, and that often spreads quickly through a group of persons or animals.
2. an instance, outbreak, or period of such fear.
The following links are for starting points only if someone wishes to explore further. I recommend that no one accepts any of my points on any of these subjects without doing their own research first.
[4] Whooping cough reaches epidemic proportions in Texas and could hit 50-year high
By Kevin Murphy, Reuters
Sep. 05, 2013 6:28PM PDT
http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/nm/whooping-cough-reaches-epidemic-level-in-texas-official
[6] THE DDT BAN TURNS 30 — Millions Dead of Malaria Because of Ban, More Deaths Likely
American Council on Science and Health
By Todd Seavey, Posted: Saturday, June 1, 2002
http://ruby.fgcu.edu/courses/Twimberley/10199/DDTPaper.pdf
UK Mail Online
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