Is Fear Helpful?

Or is there a better option?

Here I am scanning the early evening sky for alien craft at Evergreen, after watching a Netflix documentary on the subject of alien abductions.

I recently watched a couple of documentaries on Netflix which included the subject of alien abductions.

I sit in my lounge chair, eyes open wider than usual as I absorb graphic depictions of prone people, in flimsy nighties or blue-striped pyjamas, rising from their beds and being whisked through the ceiling to an awaiting craft emitting green flashing lights and containing beings with bulbous black eyes that remind me of Prada Butterfly sunglasses.

My fingers grasp the cream leather chair as my jaw drops and my head starts pounding because my usually normal blood pressure is rising through the ceiling as well.

I am exhibiting classic signs of fear.

‘I don’t want to watch any more of these documentaries,’ I say to Rob. ‘They’re frightening me.’

Thankfully, he turns it off. As we head upstairs to bed I stick as close to him as possible, hoping his 74-year-old body is strong enough to drag my rising body back onto the bed should aliens arrive tonight with spooky intent.

I am frightening myself. I am filling myself with fear.

Is this fear a good thing? Is it useful? Will it save me from the thing I fear?

The answers to these three questions are: No, No and No.

I recently heard the renowned American theoretical physicist Michio Kaku recommend that if I was abducted, I should pay attention to what is going on and be alert for an opportunity to bring something tangible back from the experience. In other words, steal something. Perhaps an intergalactic paperclip, an alien pen, or (I mentally add) a surgical instrument still glistening with my blood. Then scientists like Kaku could study the object and learn something useful from it, rather than just being skeptical about my possibly fanciful, bizarre story.

This is good advice.

Is Fear Necessary for Survival?

In most cases, what I fear is imaginary. It hasn’t happened to me yet and it probably won’t. But if it does – like if aliens invade my bedroom tonight – fearing it won’t help me survive the experience. Being fully aware will.

Fear is a form of personal torment. It’s a whip we use on ourselves, a grievous burden we insist on dragging around, a choking toxin we choose to ingest.

No one gives us fear. Fear is self-inflicted.

Where do racism, wars, economic slumps, riots, and crime come from?

Look deep enough and you’ll find fear.

‘But isn’t fear a good thing?’ I hear you ask. ‘It keeps me safe. Stops me stepping on snakes, going down dark alleys, drinking sump oil, and walking tightropes over canyons in high winds.’

But surely just being sensible does the same thing?

Why use fear to keep yourself alive when common sense can do the same thing without all the negative side effects?

It’s believed that fear is necessary for our survival. It signals our body to increase our heart rate so we can run faster from danger. It sharpens our eyesight and prepares our brain to create a strong memory of the event for future reference.

But couldn’t awareness do these things just as well without the element of fear being involved at all?

Fear can do damage.

It can lock muscles. Overwork the heart. Fill the mind with frantic thoughts. Bring on breathlessness. Cripple the digestive system.

Awareness doesn’t do these things. Awareness is being alert, thinking clearly, and using your body for maximum benefit to you and others.

Fear makes your heart pump faster. Awareness can do the same. Or it can make your heart pump slower, which may be a better option that fear never considers.

A Better Option

Fear is a human habit. Its benefits are overrated. We’ve come to believe we need it to function, but we don’t. Just being fully aware is a better option.

Back to me possibly experiencing an alien abduction, or falling into a black hole, or being bitten by a butterfly, or whatever my highly charged imagination can come up with.

If something like this happens, the best thing to do would be to pay attention to the experience. Be fully present as it unfolds.

Fear nothing.

Face whatever happens.

And bring something useful back from the experience.

With love, Marlane

PS: In an earlier article I mentioned Proverbs 9:10, which states: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, the Hebrew word for fear in this verse is yir’ah, and its meaning is reverence, respect, awe. So even the Bible doesn’t suggest we fear (run away in fright from) God. In the context of this article, I recommend that if you ever have the privilege of meeting God or an alien, you stay fully present. Fear nothing. Face whatever happens. Then come back to tell us all about it. (And don’t forget to bring back a memento so Michio Kaku can examine it.)