Flare-ups of Fear

Around twelve years ago, I took a prescription medication for the first time to treat a gout attack. It caused a bad reaction in me where my heartbeat increased and I was hyperventilating.

Although the EMT’s said that it was not life-threatening, the trauma of my reaction to the drug had my mind thinking otherwise.

It took me a long time to work through this problem as I became hypersensitive to changes in my body, including the effects of eating certain types of foods as well as resistance to anything that would increase my heart rate.

With the recent passing of my mother along with having a madman in the White House who appears to think that a nuclear war can be won, my anxiety has now returned. Although not as bad as my initial reaction, it will be a long process to make it back to my baseline. The worst effects for me have to do with difficulty getting back to sleep after awakening at night.

As I see it, the problem is rooted in something I have yet to transcend. It is my fear of death.

I must assume that most people living in America now have, at best, a low-level anxiety occurring as those running the show are constantly feeding our fear in order to justify their solutions which always lead to loss of liberties for their security.

I can only imagine that those who have experienced the recent floods and fires across this country are also dealing with flare-ups of their fear.

America has become a fear-based nation. We initiate aggression upon others, encroach upon their borders, and continuously drop bombs on their countries while allowing this same government to take away our freedom all because of our fear.

On a positive note, our fear is there to teach us something. For myself, it tells me that I still have much progress to be made as fear and peace of mind are incompatible. No matter how we may choose to deceive ourselves, fear brings us back to the reality that we are not as we should be.

As I see it, my fear is rooted in my lack of faith. Not the faith that comes with believing some story handed down by others. Not some faith meant to produce fear if you don’t believe it. But the faith that comes with knowing that there is something beyond this life that gives meaning to our existence and the way we choose to live.

The transcendence of fear can only come with the KNOWING that there is also a transcendence of death of the body. And we don’t get past this because we act like we should be.

This is an individual journey, first and foremost. The changes necessary to make the world a better place may be made from the group, but only a group of individuals who have come to certain conclusions on their own.

I think about those who have yet to acknowledge their fear as they lose themselves in the distractions of this world. I think about what they will do when the bottom finally drops out of this society. They will know what I felt during my initial reactions to fear. And many will not survive it.

Are you dealing with fear right now? My suggestion is to face it and seek ways to find that quiet place inside yourself in order to transcend it. Otherwise, it will come back with a vengeance when the world as we know it ceases to be and all illusions have been shattered.

As I see it, no objective in this life is more important than freedom from fear. It’s time for us to get our priorities right if we have any possibility of living a life of peace and harmony rather than continuing to endure the misery going on around us and within us at this time.