“I’ve lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”
― Mark Twain
I began writing about this quote the other day and wound up on a tangent about Buddhism and embracing pain that accompanies desire. This morning as I woke from dream state I realized that Mark Twain was obviously speaking about fear! Living through terrible dread of things that never happen!
You suffer in vain if the thing you fear does not come to pass! Worst case scenario – someone who fears death. Are they dying right now? ” – Yes ? They are?!” OK, bad example.
Let’s say they are afraid of driving off of a cliff and experiencing a terrible uncontrolled free-fall just before a violent impact – and then dying. Could happen, but highly unlikely. Because of this fear, every experience of riding on a road near a drop-off causes severe emotional anxiety – to the point of audible gasps, death grips on arm rests and window sills, and compulsive beratement of the unfortunate driver (yes, beratement is a word – I looked it up to make sure).
Imagine hundreds if not thousands of these instances occurring because you happen to live in a mountainous or hilly state. Added up, these occurrences amount to many hours of unnecessary hell on earth. Unfortunately, all who suffer from phobias, and/or fear things that never materialize, spend significant portions of their lives in fruitless and unnecessary agony. I, like Mark Twain, am one of these people. Cliffs and drop-offs I can handle, no problemo. But, the possibility of financial ruin and homelessness? That scares me to the point of suffering anxiety and depression – over something that probably will not happen.
Fortunately, religion offers a solution for fearing things that may never happen (if not acute phobias). Have faith. Faith is belief that everything is going to turn out OK; that ultimately everything that happens in our lives serves a higher purpose of good. You spend a lot less time living in false realities if you have faith. Living in faith allows you to work hard toward the good and preclude the self-fulfilling doom that living in fear can manifest. So, have faith that all things work to the good, and then shoulder your burden and march uphill towards the light.
Onward!
Ben Wagner (246)
Member The365Commitment
