Fear

"but that's the point, innit? you're still afraid, you're afraid that it won't be good enough or whatever. that's why you can't get started; you're still being controlled by a contrived emotion. let it go, write words, who cares how they sound? you can rewrite it later if it's shit, but just do it. write a word, that's not impossible. then write another one. don't be afraid of the words, they're just words, and they're yours."


Good point.


So recently I've been thinking about emotions. Fear isn't so much an emotion as it is a survival tool, and any tool held the right way can be used as a weapon (See WESTERN SOCIETY). So much runs off of self-based fear. People mistake fear for natural instincts that we have neglected and are slowly losing in the "progress" of civilization. Sensing when it is going to rain is an instinct. Being paranoid that a stranger that looks different than you is going to jump you is fear. There is a difference.


Fear even imitates other emotions that are actually loyal to us, smearing their names and making us FEAR them. Oh, look at that.
For instance anger. Anger is a legitimate emotion evoked in defense of the fundamental self in light of being faced with some injustice. Anger is not just punching random things when you are overwhelmed with life. That's fear for loss of control.


What good comes out of fear? I mean sure, if you look at community based fear we have all sorts of good things. Protecting family and friends, building communities, having an understanding for those who are also trying to protect their families and friends. All of that adds up to a general increase in the overall quality and of human life, or really, life in general.


But we don't run on community based fear. We run of a personal, self-based fear that is all about survival of the individual over the whole. So we get paranoia, distrust, misunderstandings and assumptions. Those lead to an ignorance of other people's situations/culture/beliefs/intent etc. Ignorance breeds apathy.


Apathy means a lack of compassion and understanding or general interest in the well-being of others. With this severe emotional distancing, wars can be happening, and nobody really cares. So you get a whole lot of death, debt and lack of interest in anyone's well-being, and only individuals survive, because that is the goal.


Now, I'm not saying that community based fear is great, but I'm saying it's still a step up from where we are at right now. So if we went from self-based fear to community-based fear, we could make some serious improvements. From there we could try to implement a respect-based system-- that is once people have learned what the meaning of respect IS. Uggh. But that is an entirely different story.


But you see, fear has an entirely different agenda outside of the fundamental self, and so it is not a loyal emotion. If an emotion is not loyal to you, how is it yours? So we see, fear is a contrived emotion. That isn't to say that it isn't real, I'm just saying that it is something that does not occur naturally in the core of us. It is an outside thing that is learned or acquired as a means or basic survival. Outside of that function it is no longer useful and only causes harm.