FEAR

I met a Ground Hog today, a fat little feller who at first seemed scared of me but once I stood still for a while, he plucked up courage and moved a bit closer. I guess because I continued to keep still, he sat up on his back legs and began eating, seemingly ignoring me completely. I was able to study him and as I’d not seen one up close before, was very surprised at just how big he was. I had always imagined they were more the size of moles in England. How wrong I was. They are several times larger but, I guess because they are so fat and furry, seem to be more cuddly.

He made me think about fear and our reaction to it. So often it seems to me we act like the groundhog did at first and we try to run away, thinking thereby to escape it. Become a little bolder however and hang around and perhaps, like him, we will find that the apparent threat that led to the feeling of fear, is more imagined than real. If we stop and look fear in the face, like my friend the groundhog did to me, it will just stop, as I did. Once it stops we can examine it more closely and of all things we meet, fear is the least able to withstand close scrutiny. While we are running, fear is like the king without any clothes, totally unaware of the fact and bent on its chief objective. Stand and face it and suddenly it becomes aware of its nakedness and runs for cover or at the very least, stands still and tries to cover itself with its hands.

I am likening the reaction of the groundhog to our own attitude to fear but I like to think he learned something from our encounter too. Groundhogs are very timid creatures where humans are concerned and they spend a lot of time underground, out of sight, where they feel safe and comfortable. However, a human being in a motor vehicle or on a tractor seems to pose not threat to them, so they blithely ignore us. I like to think that he learned maybe it might be worth trying to trust human beings a bit more. Don’t let them get too close but carry on normally if they are a distance away and especially if they are not moving.

Maybe we are the same. When fear approaches us in an unaccustomed garb, we are able to ignore it and carry on just as my friend would if I were driving a tractor. If that is the case, as I believe it is, perhaps we should try ignoring its presence when we do recognise it. Our fears often focus around the unknown or the unexpected, or result from misunderstanding. For instance, many people are afraid to be near a cemetery, particularly after dark. This is invariably due to our imaginations becoming over-active because of lurid tales we have heard or movies we have seen that exploit the ignorance surrounding death and the possibility of communicating with the living afterwards. For its own reasons, religious orthodoxy has encouraged such fears as a means of exercising control. It is far easier to control a person who is full of fear.

Once we learn the true facts about life, death and the continuance of life being as natural as breathing, such fear evaporates. It is the same with the fear of death itself. Huge numbers of people are petrified of dying, despite the fact that it is one of the few things of which we can be certain during our lives. The reason for this fear, which I believe, orthodoxy does little or nothing to alleviate, is ignorance of the true nature of life. In their rush to frighten people into becoming converts to their beliefs, these churches do not speak the truth about life. They do not tell us that God is not some vague being “out there somewhere” but is within each one of us. The light of God shines brightly within us for we are spirit here and now and always will be and the spirit is God. When the Christian bible speaks of us being made in God’s image this is what it really means. God is “The Great Spirit” and we are spirit also. Therefore to learn about God and his pure, unconditional love, go within yourself and be still.

All fear of death will disappear for we will know that we are divine, eternal beings that death cannot touch. Death is merely a change of consciousness; it is literally like moving into the next room. Our physical body is just like a coat that we need in order to express ourselves properly in a physical world. Once we are ready to return to our natural environment in the spiritual world, we don’t need it anymore. We are perfectly equipped to function in the spiritual world and we will find when we arrive back there, that it is almost identical to the physical world we have just left. To us as spirit people, everything there appears just as solid to us as everything here seems to our physical selves. There is absolutely nothing to fear. It has been said “The truth shall set you free”. It does so because it banishes fear that cannot bear the glare from truth’s light.

“For the thing unknown there is no desire” has also been said. I have never been able to fully agree with this because discoverers of some of the great mysteries of the universe were not afraid. I do however, understand and accept the implications behind the words. They are telling us that ignorance is something we need to correct in order to gain the most from this wonderful life.

I want to thank my friend the groundhog for his influence on my thoughts today and for the trust he showed in remaining near for quite a while before finally going about his business elsewhere.