Every Possible Fear

Nihil timendum est is a Latin phrase that can be translated as "fear nothing". I've never really forgotten about it ever since I've came across this phrase many moons ago.

At that time, I was in my chaotic era, in the sense that I had all these thoughts and emotions coming through me and couldn't really tell what's what.

My perception of fear hasn't changed much since I've heard this phrase that's edged at the back of my mind.

I think as empowering as it may sound, there's an unacknowledged or rather an arriving at the destination event without really going through the journey.

Put in another way, the idea of fearing nothing still carries a certain power, but it also feels like reaching the top of a mountain without climbing it.

Of course, having the end state in mind is very important when beginning any endeavour.

This acts as a guiding principle, helping one to stay focused and motivated, and through that, one could work out ways to overcome obstacles and achieve the desired outcome.

A Single Lifetime

If I want to reach a stage where I fear nothing, then doesn't one of the prerequisites require I experience everything there is to fear and work out the "fear process" on each of them? Is that even possible?

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Upon reflection, I think that truly fearing nothing might not require experiencing every possible fear. It could instead first come about through understanding that many fears are irrational or based on misconceptions.

Based on that premise, I think then through gaining knowledge and experience, one can demystify many many sources of fear.

Fear of the unknown can be reduced by learning more about it, whatever it turns out to be.

So, perhaps the path to fearing nothing is through continuous learning and exposure, rather than trying to experience every fear directly, which is probably impossible. At least not from a single lifetime.

One of the points I'm trying to get at and understand is fear often comes about through lack of experience coupled with a pre-conceived idea on what an experience is about based on the second hand information gathered from others.

Experientially, fear can be borrowed, a hand-me-down emotion that doesn’t even fit our lived experience.

For example, someone will fear flying because they've heard stories of plane crashes, even though statistically, flying is very safe.

Unreal Real Threats

The other point that keeps resurfacing is that fear, while usually seen as something to be overcome, can also be a valuable emotion.

This is more obvious to understand, especially from direct experience. I'm appreciative of this mechanism that alerts us to potential dangers and can motivate us to take action to protect ourselves against the harsh realities of life.

The challenge is to distinguish between fears that are based on real threats and those that are not, and to respond appropriately.

Which I think it's really hard for modern people to get right, mostly because we live in a hyper stimulated world where unreal threats are very good at masquerading as real threats.

Is it really the case that most of our daily anxieties are tied to genuine survival threats, or are they just sophisticated illusions crafted by our hyper stimulated environment?


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