Fear is a byproduct of uncertainty. It is often described as an emotion caused by exposure to the possibility of some adverse event or force. It’s the uncertainty that gnaws at us, in the pit of our stomach. Fear cannot be found in certainty; when our fears become reality we are no longer afraid but living the adverse reality. If we fear the dark because we don’t know what is there and we trip and fall in the dark, falling is the one threat of darkness that we don’t fear at that moment, instead feeling the pain and disorientation of the fall. We need not fear absolutes, instead we navigate about them as they subtly and overtly affect our experience.
Faith or conviction is therefore the antithesis of fear. If you have complete certainty you leave no room for fear, no matter how bleak your situation might be. However conviction does not guarantee outcome; while total conviction protects from fear it can leave you totally unprepared for when the reality of your experience diverges from your expectations. These reality checks may leave you in worse places than you would have been with a little bit of fear, or at least a bit of skepticism. For example you could believe wholeheartedly that there is nothing beyond the mountain walls of the valley you live in and be totally unprepared when a predator wanders over and attacks you. Though you were never afraid of being attacked by something from outside of your valley you experienced the pain you may have feared if you knew more.
Fear is a learned emotion, and an emotion based off of learning. Fear is a projected emotion, occurring when past experience leads to certain expectations about the future based on the current situation and what has come before. If one believes in the power of manifestation than fears become quite the quandary. On the one hand one would want to avoid manifesting that which they fear by dwelling on it, but on the other hand no one has complete control over their future and consciously avoiding fears can keep them from coming to fruition. Fear is a tool; fear is an instrument of momentum. If you let your fears consume you then even if you never experience them in reality you live your life constantly experiencing them mentally. If you live completely without fear then when those momentous moments strike you are completely unprepared. As in all things you must walk the course as best you can as you think best.
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