Tuesday 7 April 2009

From "Antidotes for Fear" in "The Strength to Love" - King.

Everywhere men and women are confronted by fears that often appear in strange disguises and a variety of wardrobes... Almost without being aware of the change, many people have permitted fear to transform the sunrise of love and peace into a sunset of inner depression.
When unchecked, fear spawns a whole brood of phobias - fear of water, high places, closed rooms, darkness, loneliness, among others - and such an accumulation culminates in phobiaphobia or the fear of fear itself.

That last one is the one that creates a mood of hopelessness. In the middle of all the things that could have created fear in the world of the 1930's, Roosevelt made sure that people heard what was really driving people into deeper despair - fear itself. This source of the fear can become nameless and thus much more able to control and direct and pervert. It is so important to help one another examine that which we say we fear. It is in that examination that we will find ourselves better able to decide what it is that is pulling us around. Many times, the fear is dismantled and loses it power over us. At other times, we expose the center of what is creating fear or anxiety and we are able to then deal with it in an appropriate manner. A real danger at this point is that we do not fall into the abyss of scapegoating that seeks out a sacrifice in order to calm our nerves and our lives. Just look what happened after 9-11. Scapegoats do not solve the situation in which we find ourselves filled with fear. They merely divert our attention...for awhile.

Connection: Maybe that which we fear is not really just "out there." Often, we are looking at ourselves when we come upon moments of fear and trembling.

You continue to be the rock upon which we can face this day, O God. This firm foundation enables us to resists the winds that can whip around us as fear is brewing in our lives. Keep us trusting in your gift of life that brings peace in the middle of our most despairing moments. Amen.