I sense much fear in you.

"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.  I sense much fear in you."

There are many sources of fear.  However, it usually boils down to the fear of being able to influence a situation is such a way as to make it turn out favorably for ones self.  This could be true of losing a job (how am I going to support myself), being chased by a tiger (how am I going to survive), wetting pants in school (how am I going to live with the embarrassment) or failing a test (how am I going to explain the failure to my parents, how am I going to get into college, how will I live with the negative perceptions of my teacher and friends). 

If you really believed you could turn the situation around for yourself favorably, you wouldn't be afraid.  To use the above examples, if you had a new job lined up that paid more, if there was a cage around the tiger, if no one saw you, you were in the bathroom alone and you had a spare pair of pants to change into, or if you knew that the test wasn't going to be graded, or that you knew the questions ahead of time and knew the answers would you be afraid?

Fear comes from the belief that you don't have the ability to act in such a way as to make the situation acceptable. 

There is plenty in this world to be afraid of.  Unemployment is 9% nationally.  Underemployment is around 18.5%.  The national debt just surpassed 15 trillion dollars.  The price of gas is high.  Hole in the ozone layer/global cooling/global warming/global climate change is going to irradiate, melt or freeze the earth.  Big banks/oil/retailers/anyone are making a lot of money (which must mean they are big, powerful, evil people).  The costs of healthcare are increasing dramatically.  Nuclear waste might pollute something.  The plastic water bottle you used today won't ever decompose.  Racism didn't end with the election of the first African-American president.  Muslim extremists are going to blow up something else.  Iran is going to nuke anyone they can.  China is going to own the rest of the world.  Europe's debt crisis is going to make the rest of the world implode.  The zombie apocalypse is just around the corner.  The Mayans predicted the world's end in 2012. Playgrounds don't have 5" of shredded rubber tires under the swings.  Our kids aren't wrapped in bubble wrap.  Guns might shoot me.  Knives might cut me.  And on and on and on.

However, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.  I'll pick one example from the list above and illustrate.

If I am afraid that I might get shot by a gun, I would want to do everything I could to limit the number of guns around me.  So, I would be opposed to a "shall issue" concealed carry law.  I would view anyone who was for a "shall issue" concealed carry law as someone who was personally contributing to my potential danger.  I would view the "extreme" groups who supported the law as a group of people that cared more about their desire to have what they wanted, in spite of the danger posed to me.  If I thought a group of people were actively trying to expose me to more danger, I would hate them.  I would view their actions as a personal attack on my health and well-being.  That would cause me to actively seek to stop them.  If I had a strong belief that I would die as a result of their support of the law, I might even perform some extra-legal actions to try to stop them, with the reasoning that to save my life (and who knows how many other lives) extra-legal actions would be justified. 

Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.

The biggest problem with my example is that, statistically, it has been proven that, in that situation, people are safer with a "shall issue" concealed carry law.  And there lies the biggest problem.

Fear doesn't have to be based upon fact.

And now we get to the reason I wanted to talk about this quote and fear.  If you look at many of the important issues of our day, you typically get at least one side that is based upon fear. Unfortunately, many of these issues are being clouded by fear.

In the 70's it was environmental damage.  In the 80's it was the hole in the ozone layer.  In the 90's it was global warming.  In the 00's it was global climate change.  I can't wait to see what it morphs into in the 10's.  However, the major focus is on the fear that man's progress is somehow ruining the world.

The cost of healthcare is increasing dramatically.  It was easy to see this coming.  There was a clear imbalance between power and responsibility.  Companies began offering health insurance as a perk.  Insurance companies covered most services.  Government, over the years, mandated that even more things be covered (wellness, birth control, etc.)  The consumer had no financial incentive to make fiscally responsible choices regarding his healthcare.  Costs increased.  Eventually, a crisis point is reached.  The fear is that I will get sick (truly ill) and not be able to be made well.



When you view situations in the future, examine whether one or many sides of the debate are acting out of fear.  Then, try to discern whether or not their fear is justified.  If it is not, run the other direction from their views.

For example, I have taken a look at the CCW, global warming, fear of the "rich", fear of losing a job/giving children a bad education and evil big oil arguments. 

http://gung-ho-man.blogspot.com/2011/07/global-warming.html

http://gung-ho-man.blogspot.com/2011/07/true-answer-in-battle-of-ideas.html

http://gung-ho-man.blogspot.com/2011/08/tax-rich.html

http://gung-ho-man.blogspot.com/2011/07/school-funding-in-michigan.html

http://gung-ho-man.blogspot.com/2011/07/evil-big-oil.html

In retrospect, it is amazing how many of the issues of our day are shaped by fear. 

Be good critical thinkers...and check your fear at the door. 

Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.

Aloha.