What overcomes Fear?

[Holy shit this makes sens]

What overcomes fear?

Fear seams to be of change and more specifically the unknown, qualities and truths it may hold.

What constitutes fear?

Fear is of the unknown>


Why is fear prevalent in humanity as civilization and individual?

Fear has the prestigious award of being ALLLL POWERFUL. which i mean as the ultimate ability to be powerful.

Fear spawns from death? or desires?

LEt others know what your thinking to progress.\

 

[own8ge]

desire > fear (Devil) > power (God)
Desire can effect in Fear (The devil will take you over), and Power is the detachment of consciousness (To embrace the devil and desire More fear) (To be 1 with your soul, God)

Fear comes from desire not death.

 

[Solitaire U.]

Courage...

 

[IdeasNotTheProblem]

What overcomes fear?

What constitutes fear?

Why is fear prevalent in humanity as civilization and individual?

Fear spawns from death? or desires?

LEt others know what your thinking to progress.\

I happen to have been thinking a lot about that recently. I don’t think people realize the impact fear has on daily life. The affect fear has on the individual and society is so vast that much of it goes unnoticed. Fear derives from the instinctual concept of self-preservation. However, there’s far more to it than the primal fear that exists when in a “life or death” situation, just as there is far more to the concept of self-preservation. Self-preservation can be interpreted as increasing the chances of survival. The ability maximize the chance of survival is what separates Humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. However, with even with this vast depth of knowledge, when faced with a non-life threatening situation, fear is capable to overriding all logical assumptions and trigger in us the “fight or flee” response typical of that in an actual life or death struggle. The reason for this is that even if the threat were miniscule, the fact that we ran away or quickly stepped on the ominous looking spider, eliminated any possibility of a negative outcome, therefore, increasing the chance of survival. If this were a survival mechanism, the premise could be applicable to all sorts of maladaptive phobias as well as symptoms of high anxiety.
As social as humans are, the chance of survival has as much to do with their social group as it would with the individual. For much of human history survival of the individual was dependent upon the survival of the group. To the individual, this connection to the group had great personal meaning in the sense that it greatly improved their chance of survival. If this sense of security were lost for whatever reason, fear would be a natural reaction.
The social dynamic puts a limit on the “fight or flight” response. When faced with danger, the group, being less capable of “fleeing”, is far more likely to “fight” as a response to the agent producing the danger. Whether verbal or physical, all anger and aggression is either directly or indirectly a result from fear. In modern society, this is most evident within politics and religion. The well defined values and social dynamics of both, is why religious and political affiliation is held sacred by many. The physical aggressive response to the fear of being challenged is well documented, but nowhere near as prevalent as the verbal aggression witnessed in heated arguments and debates. When the individual’s values, which represent the group, are presented with an argument or challenged, the fear response, which is so easily triggered, overrules all logic and reason. To the observer, this most heated, defensive and passionate reaction to the challenger, can give the impression that their life depended on it, which would be true from a psychological perspective.
Understanding the cause and effect fear can have on our daily lives and knowing how easily it can be invoked and used against us may give rise to more physical restraint and less abusive dialog when faced with challenges to ourselves and our political or religious affiliations. It is critical, to at least be aware of the great fallacy produced by fear. Nowhere is this fallacy better exemplified than in the so called “War on Terror”. Logic and reason would call for justice, while only fear would call for the complete and total destruction of all those who challenge our values. All violence is a product of fear, and fear is always a product of violence.
“There is nothing to fear, but fear itself.”

 

[Holy shit this makes sens]

I tend to agree with you. Though i don't neccasarly think fear is illogical. Fear when seen in the context of anxiety is simply about failure. Life preservation sure but i think that has more significance when it placed moment to moment. Plato touched on fear as fundamentally being that the reality we know and perceive is not the actual reality there is. Everyone has a fear of being completely different then how one thinks they are. This may go on to say if "there is nothing to fear, but fear itself" then fear is a mental disorder analogous to paranoia.

Fear acts as a deterrent in power.
Fear threatens everything you hold dear in life. To overcome fear as such is to let go of life (attachment). To say this is to say fear is innate in life. It also deepens the notion of death in fear.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

Confidence.

Fear is rejection(active-passive; behavioral) and uncertainty(psychological).
Passive rejection is denial, and active rejection is rebellion.

Confidence dissolves the uncertainty of fear, and wrangles its energy into action.

A couple fears and how confidence overcomes them:
Fear of the unknown - Understanding, knowledge, competence
Fear of annihilation - Courage, strength, authority


Fear of death is too broad; it encompasses the anxieties of pain, insignificance, defeat, loss of loved ones, annihilation, and the unknown.

 

[ℜεмїηїs¢εη¢ε]

All of our actions stem from desire, we must want to overcome the fear.

 

[Holy shit this makes sens]

All of our actions stem from desire, we must want to overcome the fear.

Yes desire is prevalent. fear derives from desire and desire from life. Are you saying as desire increases so to does fear but desire will ultimately trump fear. greed is more powerful... ?

 

[ℜεмїηїs¢εη¢ε]

I'm saying that your desire must be stronger than your fear. Lets say, for example, that you want to start a business (for selfish moneymaking purposes) but you are afraid of failure and losing money. In order to overcome that fear, your desire to make money must be stronger than your fear of failure and losing money.

I don't know about the others here but I have a hard time actually getting such a burning desire about anything.

 

[crippli]

I tried to jump in a bungiee once over a river in Switzerland. It was free, so I decided to try. Instruction was to just fall slowly over the edge. I decided to experiment. So I decided to jump. The weirdest thing happened. I couldn't jump properly. Even if I knew it was safe. My knees went weak. Not a proper jump at all. And mentally, I actually felt the barrier that was there. That turned off my own control over the body. It was so strange to experience. Like the time froze when I give the neural command downwards to initiate a jump. Sort of like I was pushed out, and had to observe my mind give the musculature a different command. Mine was overridden/or at least tampered with. Could this have been fear? Or what is beyond fear? The last barrier that one should not brake?

 

[ℜεмїηїs¢εη¢ε]

I tried to jump in a bungiee once over a river in Switzerland. It was free, so I decided to try. Instruction was to just fall slowly over the edge. I decided to experiment. So I decided to jump. The weirdest thing happened. I couldn't jump properly. Even if I knew it was safe. My knees went weak. Not a proper jump at all. And mentally, I actually felt the barrier that was there. That turned off my own control over the body. It was so strange to experience. Like the time froze when I give the neural command downwards to initiate a jump. Sort of like I was pushed out, and had to observe my mind give the musculature a different command. Mine was overridden/or at least tampered with. Could this have been fear? Or what is beyond fear? The last barrier that one should not brake?

I think it is fear and once you have bungee jumped enough times you will no longer be afraid.

 

[Holy shit this makes sens]

I tried to jump in a bungiee once over a river in Switzerland. It was free, so I decided to try. Instruction was to just fall slowly over the edge. I decided to experiment. So I decided to jump. The weirdest thing happened. I couldn't jump properly. Even if I knew it was safe. My knees went weak. Not a proper jump at all. And mentally, I actually felt the barrier that was there. That turned off my own control over the body. It was so strange to experience. Like the time froze when I give the neural command downwards to initiate a jump. Sort of like I was pushed out, and had to observe my mind give the musculature a different command. Mine was overridden/or at least tampered with. Could this have been fear? Or what is beyond fear? The last barrier that one should not brake?

This is a good example of death in fear. I don't think you faced fear so much as your body felt death (not understanding the safety of the bungiee). Your desire to jump was there and it overcame the fear which in your situation would be of the bungiee breaking. your knowledge and understanding of the bungiee and its history of reliability overcame a fear or rather trust overcame the fear of it breaking. on the other hand your sub-conscience which is similar to your self indifferently watching a movie of your life snapped into action not paying attention to the bungiee.



In regard to desire overcoming fear, both this example and ℜεмїηїs¢εη¢ε's example deal with.....ill let someone else figure it out
but... intention vs will comes to my mind. You intend to get rich but it means you are willing to become poor doing so. This is to say for any intention you have you must be willing to face the consequences/risks. Weather the risks involved are considerable or not is the next question. To make money (or become rich) which has a risk of failure but it is a small risk compared to not having money.

If your example is of gaining mass amounts of money when the person already has a steady lively hood it shows that that person considers the risks of the stock market or business proposal less then the risk of not taking it. Meaning that this person believes the risks involve in getting rich arr to his advantage and if he/she doesn't take the risk they fear the will regret it for the rest of their life.


Fear as motivation is an old and well founded philosophical concept. Is their something that will dispute it?

 

[Holy shit this makes sens]

I also have herd from one of my teachers.. that freud said we desire our fears..

Desire = the completion of knowledge (or check out the define 'want' thread(y)
Fear = The unknown. ...sooo...

Good discussion so far (Y)

Pretty sure its Hobbes who said Fear is fundamental for the formation of society and its motivations as a ruler. Why do we lock the door.

Fear vs Trust - whats left to the imagination

 

[IdeasNotTheProblem]

I just stumbled on this randomly. I think it coincides with the feelings I had written about just the other day.

http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/127?cid=&e=stangor-ch11#stangor-ch11_s02

Research Focus: How the Fear of Death Causes Aggressive Behavior

"Fromm believed that the primary human motivation was to escape the fear of death, and contemporary research has shown how our concerns about dying can influence our behavior."

"Participants who had been provoked by a stranger who disagreed with them on important opinions, and who had also been reminded of their own death, administered significantly more unpleasant hot sauce to the partner than did the participants in the other three conditions."

"McGregor et al. (1998) argued that thinking about one’s own death creates a strong concern with maintaining one’s one cherished worldviews (in this case our political beliefs). When we are concerned about dying we become more motivated to defend these important beliefs from the challenges made by others, in this case by aggressing through the hot sauce."

http://images.flatworldknowledge.com/stangor/stangor-fig11_013.jpg

 

[PhoenixRising]

There are a couple ways to overcome fear. The first is with logic. If you recognize why you are afraid, and deconstruct the logic, then you can control the fear response. This approach causes self-actualization and personal growth, and it has a pretty predictable chance of success.

Also, akin to what @ℜεмїηїs¢εη¢ε said, you have to have a desire that outweighs the fear you are experiencing. Love, for example, often gives people the drive to overcome fear. In some circumstances, it is enough to make someone give their life (overcome the fear of death) in order to protect the person they love.

As for the fear of the unknown, I've actually done a lot of study about that. This type of fear is caused by the conflict between the cerebral cortex and reptilian brain. Our higher brain seeks to expand our understanding in order to devise creative solutions, while our reptilian brain seeks to defend its territory, the safe little niche it has carved out for itself in the world. When we face something unknown in our search for understanding, the reptilian brain tries to preemptively defend itself. What we are trying to discover may be completely benign, but what the reptilian brain doesn't already know, it automatically assumes is dangerous.

The way to overcome the fear of the unknown is to recognize that attaining the knowledge you seek outweighs your instinct to hide from new things. This can be backed by both logic and emotional desire.

 

[snafupants]

Alcohol overcomes fear.

 

[Solitaire U.]

Alcohol overcomes fear.

Heh, yeah, but so does stupidity.

 

[snafupants]

Heh, yeah, but so does stupidity.

And stupid people tend to chronically imbibe - double awesome.

I guess some folk are too numb/insentient to comprehend the world or their own triviality.

 

[ℜεмїηїs¢εη¢ε]

This type of fear is caused by the conflict between the cerebral cortex and reptilian brain. Our higher brain seeks to expand our understanding in order to devise creative solutions, while our reptilian brain seeks to defend its territory, the safe little niche it has carved out for itself in the world. When we face something unknown in our search for understanding, the reptilian brain tries to preemptively defend itself. What we are trying to discover may be completely benign, but what the reptilian brain doesn't already know, it automatically assumes is dangerous.

Do you think that this defensiveness has any benefits?

 

[PhoenixRising]

Do you think that this defensiveness has any benefits?

Not usually, unless you are talking about jumping over a cliff in the dark or something of that sort. But common sense should have as much influence in a situation like that as fear would. Knowledge gained from the objective observation of reality is never "dangerous". The reptilian brain is innately irrational and emotionally driven. It is more of a hinderance to our evolution than a help at this stage of our technological development.

A truly progressive intellectual mind will know when to pay attention to fear, and be wise enough to overcome it when it stands in the way of evolutionary progress.

 

[TriflinThomas]

Anger. Anger at whatever is causing the fear (at least for me).