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Special Portuguese Spanish    

Year 8 - N° 379 – September 7, 2014

EURÍPEDES KUHL
euripedes.kuhl@terra.com.br
Ribeirão Preto, SP (Brasil)

 

Translation
Eleni Frangatos - eleni.moreira@uol.com.br

 
 

Eurípedes Kühl

Overcoming our fears

"We classify fear as one of creature's worst enemies, because
it enters our soul, and affects our inner and deepest strength".(1)
 
Part 1
 

According to the Great Encyclopedia Larousse, fear is the feeling of uneasiness, apprehension in the face of a real or imagined danger.


The word fear also means dread, horror, terror, panic.


Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), English philosopher, much discussed some time ago in the media of psychoanalysis, defined fear: "(...) fear is a feeling that inspires us the real possibility of being affected by a real evil, by an evil we know by experience".


We, Spiritists, know that beyond the "real evil", visible, tangible, there are also the real, invisible, intangible ones, known by us as obsession...


The first moment that man experienced fear, takes us right back to the Stone Age, with our ancestors seeking refuge in caves, because of the great dangers of lightning, thunder, tornadoes, volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, cosmic eclipses and so on.


Such events today are well explained, but, at that time, were considered supernatural and determined by terrible, vengeful gods. That is when burnt-offerings, gifts, promises began. By the way they have not yet calmed down the gods' anger...


In this article, we will list some kinds of fear. 


Natural fears
 


Natural fears are those with which all of us are born with... Fire/Bangs/Imbalances /Death-dead/The Unknown.


NOTE: When we say that everyone is born with fear of death or of the dead we refer to the Westerners and their childhood. When, still very young, they see their parents with great suffering in funerals and burials of relatives or friends. Thus, they learn and it is recorded in their subconscious that death is terrible... 


Friendly fears
 


The so-called "friendly fears" are those ruled by prudence and they keep us alive, i.e.:


- The vegetable: it seeks for light and water. Thus, it indirectly avoids shade and drought. By doing this, it keeps alive.


- The animal: it runs from a predator or flees from the battle if it is in disadvantage, and it does not do this out of cowardice, but his self-preservation wants him to live.


- Man: several choices almost infinite because his intelligence opens a range of options and he is guided to always avoid harmful consequences; i.e., he does not overtake on a curve, does not play on the edge of a cliff, and does not light a match near fuel, and so on.


We strongly state that these are not fears, but, yes, a consequence of prudence, due to man's self-preservation, created by God and found in all creatures.
 


Enemy fears
 


Are those that harm human beings, not through some action, but precisely by its opposite, through inaction, i.e.:


- Fear of change: it is an archenemy of all Humanity and it shows in a job or meeting environment, for example, when there is a fear to relocate people/objects/furniture...


- Fear to face life's challenges, such as taking responsibility regarding family, profession or social life. 


Irrational fears
 


Irrational fears are those feelings that block thinking and are built and based on what goes against common sense, such as:


"Fear of going to the dentist".  If you notice it is not "being afraid of a dental treatment", but "to go to the dentist"...


If a father tells his son (as a child) that six people were formerly necessary to extract a tooth (five to hold the patient and a sixth person to use the pliers), certainly this child during his life, will be prudent and will be first one to want to go to a dentist for "prevention", thus maintaining is oral health.


If a treatment is necessary, he might even ask for an "injection" (anesthesia), to feel only a light sting...
 


Real fears
 


They are among the uneasiness that follows a trauma, such as:


- Attack: someone is attacked and is afraid of being attacked again. Therefore, he stops going out, stays at home, and starts living a life of a recluse. The correct attitude would be to continue going out normally, but with extra caution; and if he is attacked again, certainly he will be more balanced to act with lesser risks;


- Speaking in public: someone says something and someone laughs at him... this person is taken by fear then. However, if this same person practices, even if in the bathroom, in front of a mirror, and then in front of his family, he will notice that he will gradually master this technique. It is not necessary to be a brilliant orator, but someone who speaks clearly.


- Infection: to wash your hands is excellent. There will only be a problem if it becomes too much...


- "To fly": indeed, airline disasters occur, but the plane is tens or hundreds of times safer than cars...


NOTE: Generally, these fears turn into manias, phobias, then neuroses, and may progress into psychoses... 


Imaginary fears
 


They are false feelings, because they have not happened, but live in one's mind as if real. Men formulate thoughts. When these thoughts are fixed, they become a mental "reality" and this is when the imaginary fear of something, which has not happened yet, appears - this only happens among humans. This is the most harmful of fears, because, it is often rooted in the past and expresses itself now in the present. How are we to be afraid of something that has not happened yet?


Examples:


- A student (too thin, or of short stature or wearing glasses, or obese) carries with him the fear of not being accepted and, therefore, he does not socialize.


- A young man who lives distressed because he thinks he might not get a girlfriend.


- A delivery boy, who since a child was not told that the purpose of going to a dentist is to cure a "toothache" and not to cause pain. This young man will even be afraid of delivering a pizza to a dentist...


- Fear of terrorists: the level of fear can reach the stage of terror, very common in people who suffer from "panic disorder".


NOTE: Panic syndrome: this word derives from Pan, the Greek god, flute player, who terrorized the peasants with his horns and horse paws. Patients with this syndrome suffer intensely with severe symptoms, going from anxiety to heart palpitations, sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, nausea, fear of madness, and are very much afraid of death.


In the United States, post trauma caused by the tragedy of September 11, 2001 (destruction of the "Twin Towers" by terrorists) even made propaganda put a gas mask on "Barbie", the famous doll...
 


Phobias
 


A phobia is accompanied by an exaggerated and persistent fear (morbid) that has no limits regarding the causes that produce it. The phobic suffers terribly. The army of fears, on that level, is almost unlimited. (Continued on next issue).
 
 


(1)
Governor's Instruction - In: "Our Home" (O Nosso Lar), Andre Luiz / FCX, Chapter 42, pg. 230, 48th Ed., 1998 FEB (Brazilian Spiritist Federation) Rio/RJ.
 



 


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