Dharma Daze #5: 11/3/21
Why is no fear appropriate?
“Whoever can see through all fear, will always be safe”
Seemingly paradoxical. Seems like always being safe revolves around seeing everything there is to fear, seeing everything worthy of fear. But to “see through all fear”, does this mean to realize all fear is an illusion? Or does it mean to see the root of the fear, to completely understand its origins?
What is appropriate fear? It seems that according to verse 46 of the TTC, no fear is appropriate. Or maybe that’s a jump in logic. My first thought is to surmise, if you can see through all fear, and “see(ing) through” means to dispel illusions, then no fear is appropriate. But maybe all fear is appropriate, if the journey of seeing through it allows you to find safety.
Examining this line within the verse’s greater scheme, its clear that fear is referred to as an illusion. “There is no greater illusion than fear, no greater wrong than preparing to defend oneself, no greater misfortune than having an enemy.”
Fear is the greatest illusion… the most powerful fake existence known to man. Fear is the root of all negative emotions. Regardless of the negative emotion, fear is present. Fear of loss, fear of inadequacy, fear of pain, fear of change… there are countless things we fear.
Some would say appropriate fear is a positive, but can an illusion ever be positive? An illusion is a false reality, a reality apart from the ultimate truth. Anything that divorces you from the ultimate truth is negative. But if appropriate fear of loss motivates some appreciation, folks will say its not wrong to fear. This leans into relative truth, not ultimate truth. Relative to typical human dualistic thinking of right vs wrong, since fear of loss supposedly helps people “appreciate” then that's a positive aspect of fear, also not an illusory fear. How can losing our possessions be a fake reality, an illusion, when its something we’ve witnessed on earth so many times?
1st, its such a human, or maybe modern, or maybe american, idk, way to think that appreciation must be spurred by fear of loss. If you cannot appreciate without said fear, do you fear the loss of this possession or the loss of what you truly appreciate? Is this loss only a proxy to your ego? A need to possess, to keep all that you desire close to you… your supposed appreciation is really just a love for yourself. An egotistic desire to keep everything it can inside its grasp.
What can we truly possess anyways? Do we possess things or do they possess us?
our convoluted society intertwines the self with possessions, with materials. Things outside of our control, built by other hands, or purchased from another, become a part of the fake identity we’re conditioned/brainwashed to create. Either explicitly or implicitly instructed to do so by our ponzi scheme of a society. How can we possess something outside ourselves? How can we say we own anything? Because some white men decided to start signing papers they’re happy to ignore whenever they want your stuff?
“My actions are my only belongings” thich nhat hanh.
so important to keep all these modern ideas of ownership in context. This society makes us feel powerless by deluding us into thinking we have more control than we really do. at the same time, distracting us from owning our power, a power which is amazing, significant, and varied.But our focus happens to be on the wrong areas. We have more power than we know and are aware of.
If all fear is an illusion, why? What makes fear a false reality? Why is there truly nothing to fear?
Because… fear is a lack of acceptance. Fear is a lack of understanding where the boundaries between you and the universe occur. Fear is an irrational attachment to things you don’t control. Fear wouldn’t exist if we had intimate knowledge of where our influence on the universe ends. Can all our negative emotions be tied to a lack of accepting reality? Fear seems to be an integral part of who we are… who we were taught to be.
Is fear the lowest form of motivation? Doesn’t fear result in a weaker bond than one of love or appreciation? Our ideas about loss are frequently fear based. We don’t want things to change, we are wary of new happenings if we don’t expect, want , or plan for them. This desire to control our environment, to prioritize our comfort aka minimize our fear, comes from the illusion of control. One that serves as the basis for most of our understanding. From a young age we are taught to grab, hoard, possess, to lean into lower level ideas as to our purpose on the physical plane.
Is this just the continuation of the worst human instincts? Ones that have existed throughout history? or are these concepts modern in their inception?
People love to blame technology, and in some ways it has made things harder on people, making it easier to lean into our worst tendencies. But it also makes it easier to lean into our best. So is this a matter of us choosing to focus on negative vs positive? Maybe partly that but there's reasons why it seems easier for people to lean into their