Be Fearless and All Phobias Will Flee (satire)

If I see a bug, a spider or a mushroom, then it is in celebration of the plenitude of life. Even a picture of a snake is but a subtle reminder that a picture may be worth a thousand words.

Yet a picture that evokes a flurry of anxiety that results in fear ought to be viewed a thousand times to desensitize ourselves to the phobia until it fades away.

Otherwise the phobic person will only be enthralled by her phobia such that she relives the original exposure to the object of her fear.

Such behavior is maladaptive since it does not deal with the original fear, but instead is an unconscious choice which is sometimes made repeatedly.

Instead of reacting to my fear and raising my anxiety as a result of a fear stimulus, I find that continued exposure to the object of my fear leaves me feeling less and less afraid of the unnerving stimuli. If the feeling of fear returns I suppress all thought of fear and reaffirm my commitment to keeping my mind at peace.

Therefore, phobias ought not be cultivated and nurtured, lest you obsess about your fears and let your life be guided by them.

It is far better to keep the mind occupied on positive thoughts until those fears are forgotten. By choosing not to listen to anxiety's scaremongering, your mind is yours to free itself of fear with courage.

Sharp as a Razor (poem)

Sharp as a razor the mind cuts
through mental negativities, be it anger or fear.
Letting love bloom to transform anger
into calmness of mind, and fear into fearlessness,
the calm mind is free to remove all negativities.

Once free of the bondage of fear, I am ready to meet
any challenge with courage, tempered by love unconditional.
For it is love that provides the mind in keeping sharp.
What is calmness of the mind but love abiding?
What is fearlessness but love taming all fears?

The Ghost Story: Fear and the Human Mind (satire)

Some people are afraid of ghosts; other people aren't.

Perhaps ghost stories being told around Hallowe'en is to "scare" away the concern about dangerous tricks performed on that day with terrible consequences and replace it with the innocent excitement of going door to door to beg for candy and other treats.

Using the cartoon Casper the Friend Ghost as an example, Casper may represent a boy living in poverty who was cared for by an uncle. One day he ran away from home after being scolded by his uncle, and decided to leave their abandoned house. It was a nice way of exposing us to poverty without us kids knowing that the creator was secretly mocking the homeless and the poor.

In almost every ghost story that is a comedy, we see signs that one of the ghosts is a pauper or a bum e.g. Beetlejuice the Movie.

However, most ghost stories are created to scare us with the hope that perhaps the pandemonium may lead to a moral panic so that a ghost buster can scam them all as in Ghostbusters.

In most cases of ghosts, the gullible in a haunted scare everyone else around them. The "ghost" is actually their fear talking, and other people may pick up on that.

It is hard to tell a person who is afraid of ghosts that the only thing to fear is fear itself. When fear appears, observe it until it leaves and then follow it until you feel it no more. Eventually you will accept your fear of ghosts as unrealistic.

My purpose in stating the previous three sentences is to show that mere words cannot cure a man of fear. Rather, reason is needed to distract the fearful person from obsessing about the fear-inducing object, the ghost.

Fear cannot always be real, since it only affects our minds.

Through a person's control of the mind, it is possible to overcome fear. That is where meditation comes into the picture.

At this point in the discussion, I urge the gentle reader to ignore the ghost stories. Fill your mind with everything but the supernatural. For your fear verges on superstition because you believe in something that never exists except in the human mind.

Some people may still be afraid of ghosts; I am not.

This One's for the Atheists (satire)

It is because they fear nonbeing that certain people will try your patience when you mention God or even the Buddha. They who fear thusly deliberately remain ignorant. You cannot get any agreement from them because of that fear of death.

Yet I do not fear death because of having meditated on birth and death, being and nonbeing. Perhaps it is my faith in an imaginary friend that gives me hope beyond belief until fearlessness is my comfort and strength.

Those people who do not understand how belief and faith work are ignorant of both faith and belief. In their ignorance, their fears are revealed.

This state of being that their minds reside in is called doubt and is associated with faithlessness. I as one of the faithful shall not get an answer, were I to ask "what do you believe in and do you have faith in it?"

Gravity causes a stone to fall to the earth, but it is a man who throws it. "Let he who dares to cast the first stone be free of sin."

In writing this post, I cast no stone. It is a testimony of faith. Deal with it.

Why I Turn Back to Reflect on God (satire)

My reason for reflecting on God was due to the early influence of a spiritual yearning sparked by a Mennonite youth fellowship group. I remember the reason for falling out with the Christians was due to the error a few young men have with self-will. This led me to make statements which led me astray. As well, there was influence from my parents to choose them over the youth group.

I am attracted to Christianity because that community is sometimes outside of the mainstream of society, due to group dynamics motivated by aversion to "worldliness".

Worldliness means knowing the ways of the world. In contrast, godliness is living a God-centered life. This is a life-long quest, yet few people know of it.

Of the people who know of it, only a few of them dare follow it, for it is a strait path i.e. each and everyone of them who enter heaven pass through a narrow door that represents the Christ.

Even though I am a human being, subject to error, my belief in God does not mean I am perfect or holy, only that my actions sometimes center around God and other times, around the world.

Thus this is a personal conviction which is based on a spiritual belief in God, tempered by my Buddhist upbringing. For the Buddhist concept of the Absolute closely resembles the Christian Heaven, which the closest the faithful gets to God that any person can imagine.

Although God has no physical form, my faith in a high power helps rationalize the Godhead thusly:

"I fear God out of respect for all sentient beings. Therefore I am fearless before the world."

---

Recently edited: January 28, 2014 0727H
Originally posted: January 12, 2011 0140H

Divine Wealth

Divine Wealth: "Fearlessness (Abhayam):Among the Divine qualities, Fearlessness stands foremost. Fear is an effect of ignorance. Identification with the body causes fear. Blind attachment to the body, wife, children, house, property etc. is the cause of fear.The sage who has realised the Self is absolutely fearless.
'He who knows the Bliss of Brahman (God) from which words as well as mind turn powerless, fears nothing.' -Taittiriya Upanishad

Fear can be removed by constant thinking of the immortal and all-blissful nature of the Self. If you lead a life of honesty and truthfulness, if you devoutly observe the precepts of the scriptures without doubting, if you lead a life of right conduct, and if you remember God always, you will become fearless."

It is through worship that the mind is focused on good that results from such devotion.

One becomes open-minded and one's heart is softened until a tiny raw edge of fearlessness appears to devour any fears you have. Fearlessness is ravenous in its pursuit of fear, because fear pollutes the stillness of the mind, and prevents the mind from hearing the voice of God.

Once fear is no more, fearlessness moderates bravery by leading one to be hypervigilant against even one thought of cowardice, which is the fear that wants you to retreat from a challenge because you feel unworthy of meeting it.

In having met your challenges, you uncover divine wealth which is worth more than gold itself. For the diamond mind which arises spontaneously due to meditation shines brilliantly and is the result of facing all challenges in life fearlessly.

Even if you are not a Buddhist or a Hindu, then the wealth uncovered by the diamond mind will never fade away as long as you practice meditation.

Such is divine wealth, lasting longer than all riches and material possession. She who realizes its true value early in life shall live a long life!

---

Originally written February 29, 2004 8:17 PM

Relieving suffering (poem)

through carelessness anything is possible,
even the pain of a toothache,
or the heart inflamed with a myriad of feelings,
be it anger, fear or love.
yet through meditation it is possible
to eradicate the harm caused by anger and fear,
replacing them with calmness and fearlessness,
while cultivating loving-kindness to benefit all.

---

Originally posted: November 18 2005 at 0137H
Updated: February 8, 2013 at 2316H

Fearlessness

When I was younger, I would put off washing dishes until the dishes, plates, and utensils were in the sink...

The longer the task of washing dishes was put off, the longer I thought the task would be.

Yet the first time I started to wash those dishes, it took 15 minutes to do.

After a couple weeks of washing dishes, I realized that washing each meal's dishes would take less than 5 minutes.

Thus fear is like the prospect of washing a week's worth of dishes, all piled in the sink.

Facing fear may even seem impossible at first.

However, repeated exposure to fear led me to see that facing each of life's fears takes less time than the first time I spent tackling all of them at once.

Since then I have faced each fear as it arises, watched as it passed by me, and forgot about it.

Today I'm certain that adding Buddha Remembrance to my daily spiritual practice has helped to ward off almost all fear.

It is amazing that uttering the Name-that-calls actually works!

Perhaps Nembutsu practice is helping me to develop fearlessness.

In this context, fearlessness is the quality of mind that is empty of fear. Yet my mind does experience fear temporarily. Then it quickly goes away.

How is this possible? It is most likely Buddha Remembrance has reduced my fear of the afterlife, which has its roots in the fear of death. With regular practice, chanting the Nembutsu has accumulated the merit of fearlessness.

Could it be that Buddha Remembrance is almost like a protective mantra? Its actual purpose is to promote other power of Amida.

For the concept of the Name-that-calls is that by uttering the Nembutsu, I believe that Amida Buddha calling to me. Far from being magical thinking; this is actually a form of self-hypnosis with the purpose of actualizing my faith in the Primal Vow.

Returning to the topic of facing fear, my faith in the Primal Vow and belief in the Name-that-calls leads me to practice Buddha Remembrance.

As a result of that spiritual practice, my mind has learned to control my fears. This quality of my mind called "control over my fears" is the quality of mind that is empty of fear called fearlessness.

As such, it is the working of my faith in the Primal Vow that actualized fearlessness.

Thus I put my faith in Amida Buddha!

Love Helps Transform Anger and Fear into Strengths

In this article, I will be writing about anger and fear, from the point of view as a Buddhist. However, let me emphasize that my opinion is based on my experiences with anger and fear, along with what I know about emotions.

In context of this article, "one" refers to the self. "Others" refers to other people, such as family, friends and loved ones. Strangers are merely potential friends.


According to current social ideology, anger and fear are considered by most people to be weaknesses but mistakenly considered strengths by others.

Yet both negative emotions may be miraculously transformed into strengths by understanding two things about anger and fear.

Firstly, one has be compassionate and show mercy toward others by waiting until the heat of one's anger goes away.

Secondly, fear may be a motivator to do great things, provided that one is able to abandon it and come to terms with the anger at the core of anxiety.

Anxiety is when anger is hidden by layers of fear to protect the world from the heat of our wrath. Thus, the armor of fear becomes phobias and incessant worry that things are never right.

How could they be right when fear makes one afraid to confront the truth?

For weathful anger is not a source of strength.

Wrathful anger is not strength, for it is effective in controlling others when self-control fails.

At the root of anger is fear, which causes one to control others because he is secretly afraid of his own inability to control himself

Yet the harder one tries to control others, the less able he is to control himself.

Desperate to maintain control, he conveniently forgets that self control begins by yielding to the demand of others to be civil.

When one yields to others and becomes civil, apologies are made, anger is forgotten and forgiveness is implicit.

In the resulting calm, fear is replaced by fearlessness.

In this atmosphere of peace, the willingness to help others and be of service to them arises.

What truly motivates a person to help others and be of service to them?

Why, it is loving-kindness, the wholehearted compassion for others and especially, the willingness to let go of self-centred desires and establish ties with one's community.

For it is through love that anger and fear are transformed into their strengths, calmness and

---

Originally posted: July 6, 2011 at 2223H
Updated: February 8, 2013 at 2219H

Deathlessness is Fearlessness

…You can confront the prospect of your own death and try to analyze it and, in so doing, try to minimize some of the inevitable sufferings it causes. Neither way can you actually overcome it. However, as a Buddhist, I view death as a normal process of life… Knowing that I cannot escape it, I see no point in worrying about it.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama

In confronting the prospect of death, I shall not analyze it, lest I minimize even a bit of the inevitable sufferings that arise from such a confrontation.

For I cannot overcome or escape death in this life, nor can I escape it. By viewing death as a normal process of life, I no longer worry about it.

For samsara, the natural cycle of birth-life-death, is Nirvana; and Nirvana, the transcendence of birth-life-death, is samsara.

Fear not death, and its hold over you will disappears. Yet treat the deathlessness as empty of fear of death.

Such fearlessness helps us to stop worrying about the prospect of death.

In no way should it inspire anyone to give up on life on impulse.

Think first about examining your life and about the prospect of aspiring to live a well lived life. For you have so much to live for, and all the time in the world to live it well.

The Dharma of Love (poem)

When love persists, nowhere
is fear to be found.
In the dharma of love,
be generous with all.
For love profits none, and
leaves each lover fearless.

Why Fear?

From the Dhammapada 212-216 (a collection of sayings of the Buddha):

"From what is dear, grief is born,
from what is dear, fear is born.
For someone freed from what is dear
there is no grief
-- so why fear?

From what is loved, grief is born,
from what is loved, fear is born.
For someone freed from what is loved,
there is no grief
-- so why fear?

From delight, grief is born,
from delight, fear is born.
For someone freed from delight
there is no grief
-- so why fear?

From sensuality, grief is born,
from sensuality, fear is born.
For someone freed from sensuality
there is no grief
-- so why fear?

From craving, grief is born,
from craving, fear is born.
For someone freed from craving
there is no grief
-- so why fear?"