Fear: A Useful Emotion or a Negative State of Mind?

There’s a lot of talk in New Age circles about how fear is a primary emotion that human beings need to overcome in order to be enlightened. We hear some talkers tell that the great cosmic being, Archangel Michael, has a specific “job” to help humans move beyond their fear. There is an endless supply of repetitive channeled material about letting go of fear. Many spiritual people have disciplined themselves to think in these terms and often attribute a lack of spiritual progress to not overcoming their fear.

In this article, we are going to take a look at this very powerful human emotion and explore its negative impact on human life, as well as the useful, nature-induced aspect of fear that serves an important purpose in this world. But before we get down-to-earth about fear, let’s get into the high-minded stuff first. Let’s talk spiritual!

Infinite Consciousness and Eternal Spirit

We are not just human beings: we are Infinite Consciousness. We are eternal spirits with Souls that span all incarnations, in all dimensions of time and space. We are immortal beings. Yet, many people don’t tap into this personal spiritual knowledge because they remain disconnected from their true Identity as “divine spirit in human form.” Enlightenment or spiritual awakening is nothing more than an applied awareness of this truth. (The trick, here, is the word “applied” but that is a subject for another post.)

Besides being spiritual in nature, we are also physical and mortal. Humans are biological animals. It will do no good to focus on being “spiritual” if we don’t understand what it is to be human and embrace that, first! Why? Because we weren’t born into the human condition to run away from it and have our heads in the stars all the time. We were born to experience what it is to be human, and then to be the most divine human we can be!

Intrinsic to the human experience is animal instinct, and the instinct for survival tops the list. Key to the survival of our species is sexual drive, hunger, and an inbuilt ability to know fear. The fear instinct has kept humankind from extinction: our progenitors knew better than to eat their food with a pride of lions or swim with the crocodiles or sleep in a viper pit. Without fear, the biologically-based, neural instinct that signals danger, pain, injury, or annihilation, humans probably wouldn’t be here today!

Fear forces addictive and stressful hormones through the body, and motivates us to act in necessary self-protection. For example, if a person makes an inappropriate move on you, your fear instinct raises an alarm to beware and engage appropriate measures. If your health is deteriorating because of a preventable habit and your doctor tells you to change or ways or you’re outta here, the fear of dying can motivate you to make the changes you need to make. The fear of burning your house down is what makes you unplug the iron and turn off the stove before you go on vacation. So not all fear is a bad thing: it is a human survival instinct and needs to be honored for its proper place in our lives. Sadly, many look to experience fear as entertainment, for the hormonal surges it activates within the body cause reactive processes that become addictive and harmful in many ways.

Born to be a Better Kind of Human

It’s when fear becomes reactive and dominating in our lives that we need to do something about it.We were born to be a better kind of human.

In our next and final post on this topic, How to Overcome Fear with Spiritual Power, we’ll examine how to deal with fear in a constructive way to get free of its damaging consequences. Don’t miss it.