Vibrant Nation

My children being harmed, losing my dearest friend and members of my family.

This might surprise you but I have no fear.  The reason is that fear is despair and to despair is to lack faith in God.  Life is a series of lessons and the learning never stops.  I submit to the will of God and believe that God turns all things for good for those who love him.  It's a giant leap of faith to be that open but the opposite of fear is love.  God's love abides always and I believe no matter what God choses for me is within His divine plan.  I know that no matter what happens in my life God will give me the strength to cope and grow.  And no matter how bad any experience might be it will be useful to someone else, it might for instance, help another because knowlege is power.  I live each day as if it might be my last.  As I write this I am nursing a husband who has just come home after a cancer surgery.  I just want God to allow me to give while my hands are still warm, grow where I can and live a life useful to others.

Interesting thoughts SeaWriter. The fear you are talking about doesn't seem like real deep fears.  Deep fears to me are those that are crippling, that keep a person from succeeding, growing and truly enjoying everything in their life.  So I agree with GILJ, I don't have any deep fears.  But I would be mad as hell if I had to go through a earthquake, and I would ache beyong comprehension if I lost someone close to me.  If I grow older and become dependent upon someone else to take care of me, I don't want that, but I don't fear it.  I think deep seated fears are really resistance . . . resistance to the unknown.  My last nightmare was that I was trying to go somewhere (don't know where) and I got a flat tire.  The left, front tire.  So I left the car and started running.  Wow!! Someone could have a field day with this, huh?

So from reading these responses and thinking about it, I see that what we fear is what we have absolutely no control over. No one said, "I'm afraid of dogs or spiders," instead we're afraid of natural disasters and death.  I guess if I had to list something, the fears that I have also fall in this category.  I fear what I can't control.

Losing my ability to take care of myself.

 my fear is not to be able to come back to my beautiful house in my country, a house in the fields, near a river, with my family.   

Fears can be all encompassing.  Hopefully, with meditation, relaxation, living a life that is a fulfillment of our dreams we do not often think of those fears. Growing up in New York City, when it was rather dangerous in some neighbohoods, I developed a tough exterior and was never afraid to ride the subways alone (as a child) or walk in any neighborhood at night.  Guess I was lucky, nothing bad happened to me throughout my adolesence.  I cannot remember having any real fears growing up.  I studied acting form many years and loved to be in front of an audience.  If I ever wore stockings, I couldn't care less if they ran, I just took them off!

But now as a business woman, an artist, my fears become financially oriented.  I would have to say the one thing I fear most is losing everything, not having a home, or anyone who cares for me.  Naturally, this is deeprooted but certainly not plausible as I have a loving husband, an adult son who is magnificent, a father and a brother.  I guess the fear is buried deep, and I never go there.  Reading this blog spurred me on to write, and see if others are equally plagued by something so far fetched.

This is an extremely interesting thread and I'm glad I had the chance to read some answers.  Fear of dying haunted my younger years, but that fear has weakened considerably due to the realization that there is far more to the universe, or perhaps endless universes, than we can possibly imagine.  I go right along with the idea that we fear what we can't control, and so I fear, in a kind of diffuse way, that one of my kids or grandkids will predecease me.  However, all is well at present so why borrow trouble?  I also have fears of becoming senile too early but this is akin to the above fears, none of which has happened.  Along with you,Seawriter, I'm really afraid of earthquakes.  I don't think I've ever entered a mall, a huge store like Costco, or an overpass, etc., without this fear flitting through my mind.  It doesn't immobilize me but I think about it.  I have intentions of moving to low income housing if I qualify, but will have to take an apt on the bottom floor because of back problems. This doesn't thrill me but I'm fatalistic about it.  Life isn't perfect but it's out of my control, so I have to deal with it.  I won't, I refuse, to let fear control my life.  So I'm on the overpasses, underpasses, malls, big buildings, underground parking, whatever.  Life on this planet is dangerous for everyone, but we go on, anyway.  And so, like everyone else, I do, too.