© 2016 Matt Mumby
Written on 2016-05-14
Fear is not useful.
It is often useful to act in a similar fashion to how fear would have you act, but judgement is sufficient to cause you to act in such a manner, so fear is not necessary. Fear is also addictive and dangerous, so it is to be avoided.
Whenever you find yourself engaging in the delusion called fear, disobey it.
This does not mean to do the opposite of what the fear would have you do. It means to disown it as your master.
Its command is this: "Pretend I am in charge of you!"
Disobey That. When you do that, it will no longer have any power over you. It will not occur to you, "What will happen if I disobey my fear? What calamity will befall my body and mind? What pain will occur to me? What disgrace will I endure? What lowness will I experience? What worthlessness will I bestow upon my self-definition?" You will be free.
Free yourself, and disobey fear at Every opportunity.
Be also mindful and watchful, that you should catch every fear you bedeck yourself with.
Watch when any action of yours is performed or is restrained, limited, or held back because of fear.
Watch when you fail to act out of fear.
Identify the fear, and be done with it.
Also watch out for hate, another form of fear.
There is a statement in the Bible, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" (the beginning of Proverbs 9:10; the rest of the line is "and [the] knowledge of the holy [one] is understanding." (NIV/KJV)).
This statement is not terrible, but it seems that it would correctly mean that when some idiot who has no clue how to act begins to fear god, he begins to act in a better manner, and that is true. However, such a being's development reaches a state where he obeys god, or truth, simply because it's right; not out of fear. Fearing god would be like fearing someone who knows better than you, always has your best interests at heart and in mind, and always gives you exactly what you need. You would fear such a being? You would be a fool.
There are other statements in the Bible about the fear of the lord, I believe (I have not read much of the Bible, in fact). I just wish to reiterate that it makes no sense to fear god, whatever the Bible might say or however what it says might be understood.
Some people are strongly affected by a fear of going to hell forever after death if they should fail to meet the conditions they think are required for avoiding that. This is one of the great "downsides" to Christianity.
I tell you, however, that it is not possible to experience suffering forever.
No god would set things up in such a way that any of his children might possibly suffer that fate, nor would any powerful, intelligent being, like you, allow himself to fall into such a fate.
You are smarter than you realize, on levels you are not aware of. Let me make that clear.
I do not know for sure if the Bible is simply wrong on that point or if it is the present mainstream interpretation of the Bible that is wrong on that point, but if anyone tells you eternal suffering is possible, he is wrong.
Jesus did rise from the dead, and it is certainly fine to believe that, since it's true, but it is not Necessary to believe that to avoid going to hell forever, since it's not possible to do that in the first place.
It is also true that the wages of sin Is death, after a fashion. There is really no such thing as death, but cells die, the body dies, pain is experienced, and in sinning one misses what one could have if one hit the mark. One may go about in arrogance - and I tell you, arrogance is death. Perhaps there is even a greater truth to this, in that if one did not sin, he would shortly attain such an attainment that there would Be for him no more death, such as what the Buddha called nirvana. I cannot speak with knowledge on that topic at this time.
Sin also leads to things like sorrow, anger, sadness, fear, and despair. Those may also be called death.
What is dead?
The ability to respond intelligently.
Do not let anyone convince you to do anything by appealing to your fear, not even your husband, not even your wife, not even your parents, children, pastor, guru, or me. As I said, fear is addictive and dangerous; be very suspicious of anyone that causes it to increase in you.
I myself do not indulge in fear as you understand it, although I do experience the bodily reactions you associate with it, and there might be other levels at which I could be said to still have fear, possibly.
I would like to get you to emulate me in that respect, so that you too do not do anything for the sake of the "pleasure" that is fear.
Be brave, friends, until you stop indulging in fear and have no need of courage.
Be wise.
Let your understanding guide you, let your interest in being free of all bondage guide you
and dispense with the shackles
called fear.