Fear is in the eye of the Beholder

FEAR IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on't again I dare not…. Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures; 'tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil. If he do bleed I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal; For it must seem their guilt.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

The human emotion of fear is one of the human demons as well as one of her angels. It plays the paradoxical role of being remedial and destructive. It is both a stimulus and a response. This demon so heavily of concern is a common denominator to man. It is only a fool who would say never a time has he feared. This human cracker is so influential in man that excess of it could wreck a whole man and the absence of it could similarly wreck a man. But this demon has no physical existence like other human emotions and so it is only in the eye of the beholder. But since this phenomenal enigma is both good and bad, what sort of fear is needed or does it remain purely a figment of our imagination and really could and should be avoided. Can we do without fear? If fear is no less than an effigy, and could be highly destabilizing, why do we still behold it? To behold a thing shows a conscious desire. Do we really desire fear or it is an imposing impostor? In this work, we shall be looking into the character and nature of fear and then tell what kind should be beheld.

Psychologists have described fear as an innate emotion and it is often a response to a threat. Fear is quite similar to anxiety but the difference is while the former is with a threat, the latter is without a threat. Fear is related to specific behaviours of escape and avoidance. More so, fear always relates to future events, such as worsening of a situation, or continuation of a situation that is unacceptable. Fear could be an instant reaction to something happening. (Cf. Wikepidia Encyclopedia). Fear is often preceded by astonishment and often means something taken by surprise. Fear is not a phenomenon that grips an individual alone; it can also grip a community or a body. In this way, personal fears are compounded by social influence or mass hysteria. From a certain Gallup poll conducted in the US, it was found that a majority fear terrorism. In this case, terrorism becomes a mass hysteria.

But what causes fear? Fear is a result of learning. Supposing a person goes to swim and almost got drowned but was rescued. He may likely develop fear for water. That fear is a product of the swimming experience. So, we say that such fear is a product of learning. This is the same with children who seeing fire a beautiful sight, and so what to behold it; their attempt and the subsequent hurt makes them scared of fire and naturally learn from that experience that fire hurts. This is what psychology calls fear-conditioning. Apart from the fact that fear is learned, it is part of human nature. The human nature probably has fear as a constitutive element.

There are varieties of fear. Fear could be manifested in the form of terror which is an intense or an overwhelming fright. It can also be manifested in phobias which are a strong dislike for situation or things. We also have paranoia which is more of a psychological disorder caused by distrust or cynicism. We could also have personal fear which is what could be called house-hold fear. While fear is generally understood to be a condition of anxiety of a threat or apprehension caused by the presence of a threat, it could more fittingly be used be used to describe our personal fear, since personal fear is a common denominator. While personal fear, a brand of fear is both common and maybe healthy, the other graduated versions of personal fears are unhealthy.

Personal fears are products of anxiety. In life, we are shaped by our past and what the future would hold for us. We are often clouded with the air of becoming relevant, not getting cut of our goals and ambitions, being a misfit and all what not. These are what yoke to form our personal fears. These personal fears serve as restraints for unbridled passions and motivation or impulse to conquering the demon of fear. Far from being a case of mere denunciation, this capturing goes to tell that personal fear are often created and not necessarily borne because of practical dangers. It is the fear of a thought danger that is personified and animated and which we now in turn dread. This illogic of a movement from a probability to certainty is one that comes to generally influence how people come to view life. At first sight, we think a particular thing may go wrong (probability) and all of a sudden, we are afraid, then, personifying it (certainty). Personal fears are compounded by social influence. Society gives false image to certain structures and things and so this false belief is what comes to influence the slant of our fear. This kind of fear may lead to delusion if taken to some extreme. However, personal fears have more positive sides than negative.

There is still another kind of fear which is closely mixed with deep respect. This is the kind we give to authorities or people who are our superiors for the sake of their position, and sometimes not because we necessarily want to accord them such but merely because of what they are capable of influencing in us positively or negatively. This kind of fear is one many have argued usually regulates morality, religion, civil and religious authorities and arguably, God. The point which is not far-fetched here is that such respect or loyalty factored by fear is not authentic and so merely skin-deep and a deception. This kind of fear is more pathological than rational. It is one that leaves a person less himself. It is a product of infantile mentality. This can better be called infantile fear.

Infantile fear is one that guides the obedience of regulations when a person may not be convinced of the meaning or true value. He may merely obey the law and once he observes the regulation or law loses its grip, he does away with the law. The direct understanding is that this law was not hitherto borne from a deep conviction of the law but because of the end we want to achieve which we may be convinced of. Similarly, many people believe in God and obey certain moral laws because they believe they want to gain heaven and never want to suffer the damnation of eternal punishment. Infantile fear generally does not bear good fruits. It does not bear good fruits because; the actions were deceptive or feigned. This kind of fear is a power inhibitor. We limit ourselves by such fear; we cease to become or develop with this kind of fear. Man is a process being and infantile fear inhibits this process. This approach to life, religion, God and even death yields repressive results. This kind of fear makes us approach those things with the lenses of illusion and delusion. This is the kind of fear that is unhealthy.

Once an infantile fear is discovered, it behooves on us to see the reason why we feigned obeisance and see how it could be corrected. If I go to mass because I don’t want to be queried of religious negligence or poor spirituality and just perfunctorily attend, then, I may just not get the graces due to the Holy mass. I may just be losing at both ends: not resting well and not gaining the graces of mass. While I may end up getting a pass for a good spirituality, I would not be able to live this out. Infantile fear stunts our rationality and challenges us to be authentic. Fear could only be conquered if we are able to look with a proverbial third-eye that we are afraid of. A deep pry would just reveal that we are yet to know what we want. And unless, we get at the spirit of a thing, that thing may just only gain for us surface value. Such fears continue to remain False Evidence Appearing Real and only in our eyes. While personal fear not too far taken could be healthy, infantile fear; fear borne out of feigned obeisance is unhealthy. And while both are in our eyes: the former could be beheld and the latter repudiated.

IKHIANOSIME, Frankl