2000-7-28 11:39:00
Saul speaks:
"If it is allowed to raise a different opinion about fear without being accused of disrupting the class or some secret agenda, JJ, I would like to say that I disagree with you on a few points about fear."
JJ:
Different opinions are welcome here. You can disagree with me 100% of the time if you wish and this does not bother me. I think it would be good for your own evolution however, to ask yourself why you're almost always post in disagreement. I believe it would be good for your soul to put some attention on principle 17 which reads:
"Put your attention on finding that which is true rather than that which is in error."
If you applied this principle, then maybe once in a while you would see a positive point in what I teach and then add some comments that are supportive rather than negative. I admit that such a bold move on your part may put some in danger of a heart attack but I think the group would be willing to take the risk.
Perhaps you could take a hint from our old friend Zina. She disagreed with me on a regular basis, but then there were moments that she saw things of value and when she did she commented in a way that added to the truth being pointed at, rather than always pointing minds in a different direction than the end goal of the discussion.
Saul:
"Fear is fear because it is related to illusionary beliefs.
JJ:
Where do you get the idea that fear is based on illusionary beliefs? Are we to accept this just because you or someone else says so?
Saul:
"If it were not based on illusionary beliefs what would it be based on? Truth, true belief or true knowledge?"
JJ:
I may be the first to tell you this but yes, fear is based on truth. How one reacts to truth perceived determines the fear.
Let me give an example. Let us suppose that you are living a very positive life and the thought of any type of fear is the farthest thing from your mind as you are enjoying a ride in the country with your wife and kids. As you descend down a mountainous range, you feel quite secure for you have traveled it many times; but this time is different. This time your brakes go out. You press the pedal several times and nothing happens as you speed around corners barely managing to evade running off the edge, which would surely end the lives of you and your family. Because you have traveled this road many times, you know things will only get worse because the incline just increases. You make a calculation that tells you that the chances are very great that you and your family are going to be greatly injured or die.
This "truth" brings numerous fears to your mind.
As we said previously, fear always involves a loss of some type and the possible loss here is very real. The fears in this situation revolve around the following losses:
(1) Loss of your own life
(2) Loss of your family's lives.
(3) Loss of opportunity for your kids to grow up and face the challenges of life.
(4) Loss of an earthly relationship with your family.
Numerous other losses could be cited here but the point is that all theses fears, revolving around loss, are based on a very probable truth.
Now even if a miracle happens, and you regain control, this does not mean your fear was based on illusion. At the time that you were descending without brakes, it was indeed true that you had a high probability of disaster. The only thing that averted it was the fact that your fear did not let you accept such a fate and you did all in your power to change the future.
Even a fear within a dream is based on truth. I used to dream on a regular basis of this grotesque monster in various forms that chased me. It often pursued me for some time and often caught me at some dead end and, as it approached me, I experienced great fear and usually woke up about that point.
Now one may object here and say "That was just a dream and not reality so your fear there was based on illusion."
Not so my friend for it is indeed true that I was having a dream and that within the dream I was perceiving a monster and there was a real possibility of loss.
What were the possible losses involved?
(1) I was enjoying most of the dream and the monster threatened the loss of an enjoyable dream experience that I wanted to savor.
(2) Loss of sleep. I didn't want to wake up and have to struggle getting back to sleep.
Then one night when I was having the dream something different happened. The monster had me cornered and there was no place to run. I was to either die within the dream, never a pleasant experience, or figure a way out. I looked up at the monster and he was ferocious indeed. He was about twenty feet tall and mean as hell and appeared ready to devour me in about three seconds.
As I contemplated, the thought of fighting back occurred to me for the first time. But I had difficulty in accepting it, for the monster looked a hundred times stronger than me. When I realized that I was faced with the choice of fighting or doing nothing, I decided to go out fighting and I attacked the monster. To my surprise I saw fear in the monsters eyes when I attacked. This gave me courage and I continued and when I pressed forward I discovered to my joy that I was much stronger than the monster. I then proceeded to give him a good beating and finally picked him up with super human strength and threw him off into oblivion.
Just as the monster caused a fear in the dream state, just as real as a fear in the awake state, even so did I feel a joy at overcoming the monster that was just as real as anything while awake. In fact I felt great for about three days after the dream.
The reason I talk here about truth within dreams, is that I'm sure you are going to tell us that life in these dualities is not real, therefore, all fear is based on perception within the dualities which are not real.
Whereas the real truth is that whether we be in the illusion of physical duality, or a dream state, it is indeed true that our consciousness is there and the perceptions we have there create a real experience. Even though the monster did not exist in this higher reality, the experience of the monster was real and this made the fear real.
If you lose your brakes going down a steep incline, it does little good to tell yourself, "this is not the true reality." It is a true reality that you are in the experience and if you do not make the best of it you will suffer loss.
Listen to what a Master of Wisdom has to say about fear: "You ask: What are the basic causes of fear? To that question, if carried far enough back into the esoteric history of the solar system, there is no intelligible answer to be given. Only the advanced initiate can comprehend. Fear has its roots in the warp and woof of matter itself, and is par excellence, a formulation or effect of the mind principle, and a result of mental activity. The fact that birds and animals know fear puts the whole subject upon a wider footing than if it were simply a human failing and the result of the activity of the functioning of the human mind. It is not incident upon a man's possessing a reasoning mind; if he used his reason in the correct way, he could eliminate fear. It lies in what is called "cosmic Evil", a high sounding phrase conveying little. It is inherent in the fact of matter itself and in the play of the pairs of opposites-soul and matter." Djwahl Khul
In harmony with this Joseph Smith made the interesting statement that "God created the worlds with fear and trembling." This would explain why "fear has its roots in the warp and woof of matter itself."
Now some have said that all fear is caused by a lack of love, but such is not the case. In the example of the fear generated by the failing brakes, the intensity of it was increased because of love for wife and children.
Fear is overcome through using the mind to calculate the best possible moves to eliminate the perceived future loss. For instance, in my dream I mentally calculated that the only possible way out was to fight and this eliminated the fear. I did not overcome the fear of the monster by loving it, but by defeating it.
It is true that many have fears that are not justified because of wrong perception. For instance, one may fear that his spouse is cheating on him because of misperception or a wild imagination, but when he has attained correct use of the mind, then his perception will be accurate. When perception and calculation are accurate then fear will be based on the real as in the example of the loss of the brakes.
This portrayal of fear by many teachers of the day, as a thing held only by the deluded, the unloving, the unevolved or the ignorant, has led many into great illusion. Because many seekers have swallowed this pleasant sounding doctrine without processing it through the mind they enter into a world of deception and denial.
When a fear surfaces, instead of facing and defeating it, they generate a "fear of fear" and they will think something like this:
"This fear is not real so I can not be experiencing it. Only the lesser evolved and the unloving have fear and since I am evolved and loving I cannot be experiencing it. Therefore, I deny this fear."
Thus the seeker deceives himself rather than facing the fear and transcending it. That fear which is denied or suppressed does not go away. Instead it foments and grows and when it resurfaces it will loom greater than it was at the moment of burial.
The Now is the time to face and overcome and join in the company of the Great Ones.
Copyright 2000 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved