It is December, and I have again undertaken the challenge of focusing on Peace, and writing something about it each day during the Christmas season. For the next 25 days I’ll do everything in my power to post a daily reflection of my thoughts. Perhaps more importantly however, 5 other fabulous people are joining me in my quest! You won’t find their posts on my site, so head on over to Facebook and like the 25 days for Peace page (we are considering a website to collect the posts with as well…more on that later). While you are here, I wanted to say thanks for stopping by, and I really do appreciate you taking the time to read (and maybe even subscribe to) my thoughts. I’d love to hear what you are thinking as well, so leave a comment below and I’ll get it approved as soon as I can! Merry Christmas, and I hope you find peace in this season.
I keep reading posts on Facebook that say things like “all Muslims are bad” or “all refugees are terrorists”. I have seen people post similar statements about Democrats and Republicans, those who are Pro-Life and those who are Pro-Choice, and even about police officers and other public servants. Everyone seems to have a group of people they don’t like, or that they feel can’t be trusted. Everyone has someone they fear.
I used to be afraid of loud noises, like fireworks or airplanes flying by at airshows. The loud noises filled me with fear.
In skimming the Wikipedia article about fear, I notice that there are lots of little sub-categories and niches that fear falls into. There are irrational fears, learned fears, taught fears, and phobias, to name just a few. The article discusses them in depth (far deeper than I chose to go) and mentions possible causes for each. When you ask google the definition of fear, it describes fear as “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.
Wikipedia points out (and I agree) that all fear is not bad. The learned fear of pain is what keeps us from touching things we know will burn us. We know that falling from something 10 feet can hurt us, so we are cautious at great heights. A person who can not swim, is often afraid of falling into the water. We justly fear things we know will cause us harm, whether emotionally or physically. In many cases we are kept alive by fear, it is an essential emotion!
In some situations fear is not a benefit to us, but is rather a hindrance to us. If I am afraid of rejection I may not be willing to take important calculated risks at my job, or in my personal life, If I am afraid of the people around me, I won’t ask for help when I need it. If I am afraid of failing at a task I want to pursue, I may never start the task in the first place. This kind of fear is difficult for us to ignore, because it is an emotions based fear, and emotions can be fickle things. We often do not have the ability to predict emotional outcomes, so our fear can be justified to ourselves.
When we are afraid, when we are full of fear, we need to seek peace.
I don’t mean a simple “lets hold hands and sing Kumbaya” kind of peace, but a real inner peace. Wikipedia describes inner peace below:
“Inner peace (or peace of mind) refers to a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress. Being “at peace” is considered by many to be healthy homeostasis and the opposite of being stressed or anxious. Peace of mind is generally associated with bliss and happiness. ”
Peace can drive out fear. We often find peace going hand in hand with knowledge and understanding. When we understand fireworks (and are expecting them) we are not afraid of the loud noises but can enjoy them for what they are. By learning that the noise of a firework is part of how the beauty is created, I chose to accept the noise because of the beauty. A person who learns to swim may find that they have little reason to fear the water anymore. Knowledge can drive out fear, understanding can bring peace.
How many times do we fear a religion, refugees, and people who are of a different race, simply because we do not know them, we do not understand them? Maybe we do not have enough knowledge to correctly judge between people who are a threat, and people who are threatened. Perhaps we lack the understanding of the reality of racism in this country, since we have never personally experienced it.
I am not saying that we should blindly risk everything for everyone, but I am saying that we should make an effort to confront our fears by making an effort to understand them.
What if we started with pursuing knowledge and understanding first? Wouldn’t we know more precisely what we SHOULD fear, and take steps to solve the problems we understand to be there? Wouldn’t we find ourselves at peace more often than we do now?
Learn about the things that scare you.
Try to understand them.
Give peace a chance.
It’s always a good idea to know what your fears are and why you have that fear. After much consideration and after traveling to other countries and understanding the connectiveness of human beings, I realized that we REALLY aren’t born with a spirit of fear. Fear is learned. That being said, my biggest fear is ignorance – because ignorance makes humans do deplorable deeds.
Well said Sam, well said! It is so easy to become afraid of the unknown. Where have your travels taken you?
I had no idea my fear of those things went back that far. Interesting that I chose to put them in this piece together since I didn’t know I had ever seen them at the same time.
I miss you too, Nicole!