On Becoming Spiritually Fearless
Our conventional way of thinking about the world remains profoundly dualistic. The physical and the rational in a supposedly eternal and inexorable battle against the unseen and the spiritual. In fact, the barriers between these two dimensions -- built by the narrow rationalism of the Enlightenment -- are now being dismantled by modern science and a growing chorus of personal experiences. What we're seeing -- if we are willing to look -- is that we are not alone in an indifferent universe. As Goethe put it, "This life, gentlemen, is much too short for our souls." If this life were sufficient for our souls, we would not go through it consumed with fear.
Reintegrating the spiritual and the everyday is the key to fearlessness. But ending this division is not easy when we've stopped even acknowledging that we live caught between these two worlds. When we're consumed with climbing the career ladder or just making a living, the spiritual seems unreal and far away. So we keep it conveniently penciled in one day a week, we seek it out only in moments of crisis, or we deny it altogether while trying to convince ourselves that we can overcome all fears and obstacles on our own.
Which is not to say we're not religious. Seventy percent of Americans belong to a religious organization and 40 percent of adults attend services once a week. "The downside to all this," writes Jeffrey Kluger in his 2004 Time article "Is God in Our Genes?" "is that often religious groups gather not into congregations but into camps -- and sometimes they're armed camps. . . .Why then do we so often let the sweetness of religion curdle into combat? The simple answer might be that just because we're given a gift, we don't necessarily always use it wisely."
Here's the bottom line: If you believe in a God who only judges and punishes, or if you believe that there is nothing but an accidental, indifferent universe, it's going to be incredibly hard to move from fear to fearlessness because, after all, the essential characteristic of fearlessness is trust. It's the trust that there is meaning in our lives, even when our limited minds are unable to see it, the trust that's captured in one of my favorite verses in the Bible: "Not a sparrow falls but that God is behind it."
The alternative is a pessimism and an impatience that despair of life and seek hope either in the end of the world or in worldly panaceas.
This excerpt was originally published in On Becoming Fearless by Arianna Huffington.
Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
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I am Godless; I am a proud Secular Humanist. I believe in science & reason, tolerance, eliminating discrimination, protecting human rights, I believe in an open pluralistic society & democracy that protects human rights. I believe in the common moral decencies: altruism, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility. It is a virtue to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, and strive to work together for the common good of humanity. I cannot help that I just do not believe in this supernatural intelligence. When human beings are working together and being the best & noblest they can be, this is what your God would want, it feels like heaven. We have made our hells here on earth and we, not God, are responsible. That's why it is so disheartening that our Christian President has blurred the lines between the separation of Church & State (he started a "them" vs. "us" war) and created this ugly divisiveness in our own country ... all for one thing CONTROL. It saddens me and it is dangerous. I believe in the wonder of the universe and that we are all interconnected. Each day I stamp fear out and take my first step, some days are better than others, but my heaven on earth depends on me here and now!
The thing I can't fathom with an aethiest's view of the cosmos, is an infant born with AIDS, who knows nothing but pain, neglect, blame, and the horrors of cunning mutating virus the very few years it exists...a
I would like to hear an aethiest's oppinion on such a child, or those who's whole families went into creamatoriums in Dachau?
Reincarnation and a Buddhist belief system come close to my beliefs, I especially like Kuan Yin incarnatio
As many of you are stating your beliefs about God, Truth, etc., this article allows us to express our views about this subject. I accept that with Truth there is no contradition. The Truth represents facts, not opinions. Truth=Law(s)
Religions and politics are based on belief rather than upon Laws and that is why there are so many conflicts and wars. People with strong beliefs go to war based on their opinions and their beliefs about others. They take positions and use their authority, money, power, and their resources to crush the opposition. Using fear and propaganda are their major tools to gain support.
Anyway, once we accept and acknowledge that Spirituality-Truth is our source of understanding, appreciation and respect for the Laws of Nature and of our relationships with all that is, we will find balance and harmony in our World. We will no longer be vulnerable to this idiocy that exists with our politicians, religions and our vulnerable and delicate human populations of the world, once we experience this fact. We are an integral part of Nature, we must recognize that we are the only creatures that are in contradiction and opposition with all that is. We are One.
I accept what Oscar Ichazo describes as our unitary relationship:
God is Eternal,
Is in All of Us,
Is in Everything,
Is One without Second.
Thank you, Ariana. You are a valuable light in the universe and doing what you can to improve lives, health and relationships on our planet.
Using the word "spiritual" as if it were self-evident is usually only worsened by trying to explain it. I am aware of no agreement about what it means.
Associating it with fear or fearlessness puzzles me. Yes, H.G. Gadamer wrote extensively in the hope that locating something universally religious, whatever that means, would provide an alternative to a world torn by violent conflict.
In a recent paper, Jens Zimmerman writes that such appeals to impersonal abstract transcendence, "for humanity's sake," "asks a large percentage of humanity to forgo their positive religious identity, the very thing that defines their humanity, their particular beliefs...
Also as I watch the seeds being crunched on my bird feeder by critters ever on the alert, I wonder why we have a fear of fear. It keeps them alive.
Great post. For a supposedly Christian nation, we lack compassion for the poor and disadvantaged and are remarkedly intolerant. The God I talk to each day, in fact several times a day, isn't judgemental or interested in punishing me or others.
I've tried unsuccessfully to get my kids/spouse to regularly attend Christian church services. They quickly call me on my hypocrisy. "Why does God only want me to worship one hour one day a week and in this place dressed in a certain way with people who look just like me and have no real problems? If I do this and think this way I get rewarded in heaven and those people of other faiths in other countries don't, even though their lives on Earth have been infinitely more difficult than mine? I'm entitled to all the good stuff, the easy life and the ticket to heaven because I was born the right color, in this nation to parents of the right socio-economic class? Wouldn't God really expect a little bit more of me than that? It's difficult to argue with their intuitive logic and legimate questions. They teach me more each day than I've ever learned in any church.
I find it interesting that we don't see a connection between the negative energy we create with conflict, war and excess and the resulting situation in the world. Hate breeds hate, war destroys people/places and waste destroys valuable resources whereas love, faith and kindness build bridges and create miracles. There really is no such thing as coincidence and as Shakespeare once wrote "there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy
As easy as my life is as a middle class white female with no real problems, I still find this road (faith/no fear) difficult to travel. So each day I strive to be a better, more tolerant and compassionate person. Thanks for being a positive influence and example. This world needs more of that
I keep thinking of what was meant by the words "Land of the free and home of the brave"
I am a Unitarian Universalist and my fearlessness in derived from religion. Thanks for the post and following comments. Peace on earth. Goodwill towards men.
Arianna:
I respectfully disagree.
To stare into the indifferent universe and know that this is it -- this is all there is --and to find happiness, contenment and fullfillment anyway, that is real courage.
To know you will not be rescued by the Tooth Fairy, or Santa or some other myth of magical thinking and yet be satisfied -- that is real courage.
To seek and find meaning in your life, your endeavors, and in the love and care of your fellows; to chart your own destiny for no other reason than it is what you believe to be right and good, that is the highest expression or our humanity.
To boldly take responsibility for your life, your happiness, and the very meaning embedded in it, this is true fearlessness.
"One must believe that Sisyphus is happy."
I roll with Sisyphus.
Some suggested reading on spirituality;
Lao Tsu's Tao Te Ching
R.W. Emerson's essays, Spiritual Laws, and The Oversoul.
Immanuel Kant's, Critique of Pure Reason
There many others. Few in the western world have a real grasp of spirituality. The wisdom of the east is incomparable.
I would never have expected this from you. I'm offended by your narrow-minded and simply fallacious perception of nontheists. Fear? I live in far less fear, I believe, than the sanctimonious believers around me. Because I am confident that this is my only life, and have come to terms with this fact, I am more committed to the embetterment of THIS world, I would contend, than any believer. I do not do what I do out of fear of divine judgement, or even for the promise of eternal bliss. I do what I do because I love my fellow men and I firmly believe I have the strength to help others in this short life.
I am perpetually awed by the magnificence of our earth and the wonder of the greater universe, but I refuse to jump to absurd conclusions simply because we do not understand everything around us yet. I do not buy into the egocentric center-of-
Hmmm.....S
The search for verifiable cause and effect reality is the goal of the sciences. (No, not perfect.) The ability to think in cause and effect terms would seem to be a native ability in VERY few people (Newton, etc.), but analytical thinking CAN BE LEARNED through math and science education; in fact it must be learned. This is where the U.S. is falling flat on its face.
Spirituality has nothing to do with superstition or religion: spirituality requires a path of individual development; of honest self-examination and the generous surrender of one's ego to the REAL WORLD.
Sadly, at this point in human evolution very few ever get to truly experience the Other.
Especially in the West, religion has been stripped of a true spiritual quest. Instead, it has become top-down socio-political institution with little resemblance to its arcane and esoteric origins.
True spiritual experiences cannot and do not result in pronouncements of hatred, intolerance and aggression. Yet this is how religion has become defined in our world.
When a man who exemplifies these negative attitudes can become the most powerful man on earth while professing a strong belief in Jesus--who preached against all of these things--it only proves that "the God gene" still has some mutating to do before mankind can truly understand its profound nature.
from ANGELS IN AMERICA
Roy Cohn: [under the impression that Belize is the Angel of Death] Can I ask you something, sir?
Belize: [going along with it] "Sir"?
Roy Cohn: What's it like? After?
Belize: After...?
Roy Cohn: This misery ends?
Belize: Hell or heaven?
Roy Cohn: ...heh...
Belize: Like San Francisco.
Roy Cohn: A city! Good! I was worried... it'd be a garden. I hate that shit.
Belize: Mmmm. Big city. Overgrown with weeds, but flowering weeds. On every corner a wrecking crew and something new and crooked going up catty corner to that. Windows missing in every edifice like broken teeth, gritty wind, and a gray high sky full of ravens.
Roy Cohn: Isaiah.
Belize: Prophet birds, Roy. Piles of trash, but lapidary like rubies and obsidian, and diamond-colored cowspit streamers in the wind. And voting booths. And everyone in Balenciaga gowns with red corsages, and big dance palaces full of music and lights and racial impurity and gender confusion. And all the deities are creole, mulatto, brown as the mouths of rivers. Race, taste and history finally overcome. And you ain't there.
Roy Cohn: And Heaven?
Belize: That was Heaven, Roy.
Roy Cohn: The f*ck it was!
Fantastic! Very well put.
To write a brief sermon on spirituality is something akin to getting a woman a little pregnant. But I’ll try to make it quick and still get the desired result!
Our entire life is fear based. We are all like politicians maneuvering to get what we want from/in our lives. We seek to do this with integrity but always compromise our beliefs to survive. We give up how we would have it in order to have anything at all.
Most who have kept their integrity are dead or imprisoned. Few will discover how to keep it and remain free. The lies we tell ourselves outweigh the truth we speak.
Integrity is part of the ego that must be satisfied. (Sometimes by force.)
Spirituality is self-fulfilling. It is not about us, but about all. In practical terms it is what you can bring to the table; how much love, understanding, mending and giving of yourself. It is bringing/creating good where there is none.
Therein lies the fearlessness. For what you have to give is often rejected by those in the greatest need. Achieving fearlessness will break your heart an endlessly. Only the truly courageous can muster the strength to not give up. They are the spiritual.
I was at a retreat once where ten of us were asked to list our resentments and how long we had held them. The ten of us were holding onto 1472 years of resentment, and most were becoming the very thing we most resented.
I have come to believe that gratitude and emotional connection are the goals, but our favorite dramas, resentments and false beliefs deny us those states.
I have settled on a daily ritual of lighting a candle at the end of each day, expressing gratitude for the day and willingly accepting whatever happens tomorrow - no wishes for a painless "winning" life. Works wonders, and you feel gratitude replace the checklist/
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