by Gerald Vest

Created on: May 11, 2007   Last Updated: November 05, 2007

Free ourselves from fear-

"Jonathan Livingston Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull's life is so short, and with these gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed." - Richard Bach

I remember some words of security from one of my spiritual teachers that made good sense to me and I have passed them on to my children and grandchildren. That is, don't let the fear of God, Sex or Sin prevent you from developing, supporting or maintaining your courage to be your true self.

One question is, "What is there to Fear?" Some of us still remember FDR's Inaugural Address during the tough times of the Great Depression:

"So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

Yes, fear can paralyze us and prevent us from taking responsibility for ourselves. What is often referred to as "Mindfulness" in our lives to promote health, responsibility and freedom can prevent us from being taken over by fear. Fear for many of us was and still is transmitted to us by our early care givers, our parents, teachers, other adults, peers, politicians and religious leaders. I believe that fear, ignorance and prejudice are all part of the same equation that make us incapable of fulfilling our dreams and aspirations for promoting and supporting a healthy, happy life for us and for our families.

I believe that we can acknowledge that the human being is a delicate creature as we literally have no real inherent self-defense, unlike our animals who have attributes to protect or defend themselves. We hopefully will use our mind to protect our physical being and sense of trust, safety and security through proper exercise, nutrition, relaxation, work, activities and friendships. In other words, finding a balance in our lives physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually offers us the best possibility to be fully and securely human.

God is not to be feared!

So for me, my mind does not accept that God is to be feared. I view God as our Creator of all and everything. I accept that I am part of God and part of everything. We are one body, mind and spirit. I do not view my self or anyone or anything separate from 'All that Is'. Thus, to be fearful of God is to be fearful of all and everything.

Who in their right mind' would create such a division between us and our true nature? By recognizing our delicacy and insecurity as a human species, opens up vast opportunities for those in power and authority to manipulate the truth by deceiving us and by playing on our ignorance about ourselves, our emotions, our sensitivity and our unity. We see fear provoked every day by our politicians to build and continue to expand the largest military defense systems that our world has ever known, at the expense of the health, education and welfare of our global family and wider community.

An example of raising the level of fear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkzDGJVW6Uc&eurl=

I know that we can free ourselves of fear by taking one step at a time and learning more about ourselves, inside and out.

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