Fear

If you do not get to know the nature of fear, you will never know fearlessness.
-Pema Chodron

According to Buddhist teaching, the enlightened one is said to be completely fearless.  Are you completely fearless? I know I am not.  Fear is the one thing that will likely be the most challenging for me to overcome in this awakening process.  I fear a lot of things and unfortunately I still fear letting go.

I am in the process now of understanding what fear is so I can transcend it.  (Thus the book I wrote: Beyond Fear and Shame, There is Love.) This little video I came across where Pema Chodron is lecturing students on how to become fearless helps. (see below).

Understanding fear involves understanding ego. Ego wants us to numb and avoid anything uncomfortable.  According to Chodron, the definition of ego is trying to get away from direct experience. Addiction and our mind numbing activity, our habit of over thinking is all of the ego.

She suggests to attain fearlessness we need to place fear in the cradle of loving kindness[maître], which is one of the four limited wants of Buddhism. (The other three are compassion, joy and equanimity.) Loving kindness will help us to understand fear, accept it and then heal from it.

All is well in my world.

Have a look:

Pema Chodron: Once you get this, then everything will change.(full lecture). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EznAKT3L_zM