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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Amen, Arianna, Fearlessness equals Trust.
Arianna, to those who believe, no explanation is necessary; to those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.
AMEN My Friend who was created by the same God I was!
The battle between the flesh and spirit has been going on for a long time and all fight this battle in our daily lives!
For me I find the best way to step back away from me and see the truth is to remember that the God who made me or as it is written: "God is Love and Love is God" Therefore if I don't love all people than I am far from the God who created me in His SPIRITUAL image! Mankind was made from the dust of land and on the sixth day He blew the breath of life into that which was standing there only as dust of the land! And therefore you are correct the Universe is unfolding as it should and nothing we can think of matters. Now I ask, because I think therefore, I must of come unto existence for He whom created me or for my own purpose? No I feel we all were made to be a part of His purpose! And we all seem to forget that don't we?
As humans, we inherently have an inner spirituality. The earth and man's relationship to it is full of mysteries yet to be revealed. Please do not confuse this spirituality with organized religion or any so called holy books. There may be some gems in all holy books but when these books are put in the hands of organized religion, they become evil. Organized religion is evil. What is religious about flying a plane into a building and killing inocent people?
If the right conditions exist to permit life, life itself will flourish. All religious myths exist because there was a need for people to have someone or something to believe in.
If you choose to believe in a higher power, that is certainly your right to do so. And, if I choose not to believe in a higher power, that is certainly my right to do so.
If I did believe in a god, he would be tolerant of all beliefs; of all races; of all living things. I do sense a spiritual presence in the universe that cannot be explained.
But, for me, religion can't explain it as I believe (like Joseph Campbell) that all religion is nothing more than myth. Myths which were necessary at the time to explain the mystery of life and death.
To be spiritually fearless is to be free from believing in myths, and free to celebrate life and embrace death. Spiritual freedom is a universal right of all living beings.
Sounds like somebody read Chogyam Trungpa's
" Shambhala, the Sacred Path of the Warrior ".
Arianna… While I value your shrewd political commentary, I wish you’d dig deeper on the psychological-theological front. It may be a good topic for a popular book but it's not necessarily true. You’re essentially saying that either a person, culture or world must believe in a hidden God -- whose hand may not be evident but is seamlessly at work in all things, events and future possibilities -- or that person, culture or world has no hope of achieving fearlessness. That’s absurd – one of the most ridiculous arguments for God yet (in a realm dominated by the ridiculous). Leaving aside the proper place for fear in the human psyche – and whether utter fearlessness is a) achievable, or even b) desirable – my ability to rule my life by something other than fear can be thoroughly independent of whether I believe in God and, if I do, what kind. Making one dependent on the other is spurious. Your belief in God may distort your view of the subject – just as I believe it led you to radically oversimplify and misrepresent Norman Mailer’s view of God and reincarnation.
Many years ago, I read an article in a scientifically oriented magazine wherein an astrophysicist speculated that NO2 (aka laughing gas) is the primary chemical component at the center of the galaxy.
Ever since then I've said humor is my religion and that through laughter everyone can access the "Creatrix."
I made up that term for the primary deity because it is playful, not associated with any dogma, and non gender specific.
The only other truly playful spiritual systems of which I'm aware, and I've studied many, are the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Buddhism, and possibly the UU's.
I've always wished to learn a joke in every other language and thought that if everybody did that we'd arrive at a place of lasting world peace much sooner.
The ruse of original sin being rooted in sexuality has not only created deviance in many but also allowed religions to suppress their followers through guilt and fear. I've felt for a long time that the original sin if there ever even was one, is far more than likely to have been impatience as I see more people shooting themselves in the foot through impatience than anything else.
Einstein once said, ‚”The problems that face us cannot be solved at the same level of consciousness that created them. What we need is a shift in consciousness.”
I don't think that our political system will be ameliorated through traditional or linear means exclusively. We're going to have to use both hemispheres of our brains to get out of this mess.
I've been foolishly and fearlessly been crafting prayers and visualizations to influence the collective consciousness and heal our national malaise for a long time.
I even went so far as to write one to "neutralize any malicious code in the vote tallying software in the voting machines" and posted it the day before the midterms. The responders to that one were outrageously entertaining.
The prayer I'm writing now is for an incredibly rare astrological aspect on December 11th at 2:26 pm EST.
to be continued. . .
The suggestion and use of the word 'accidental' is somewhat baffling. Do the mountains erode 'accidentally'? Do the waves pound the rock into beaches of powder-fine 'accidentally'? Does this year's crop of super-viruses evolve 'accidentally'?
Where's the accident in all of this, Ariana?
You should live your life courageously not fearlessly. Only sociopaths are truly fearless! A little fear is a good thing, reminding us that our actions have consequences. It gives us pause to consider what those consequences might be and only then to cautiously proceed. Courage is a hallmark of a truly responsible person and deserves to be cultivated. Overcoming fear is its own reward.
Fearlessness on the other hand comes with hubris, not caring about consequences. And for the truly fearless person there is no reward. As an example, consider for a moment the mess that our fearless leader, Bush, has led us into.
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Very few decisions in life take more courage than coming to the realization that there is no magical divinity who will intercede for us. Once one does that, the feeling of liberation is bracing, enlightening and motivational.
I take it that when you say spiritual fearlessness, you're referring to a humble but honest recognition that our instincts are still with us and guide us...the internal chatter about spirits and divinities is just the effect of our big brain architecture echoing to itself with the echo that lasts the longest being the one we usually listen to most carefully.
My inner voice always encourages me to see survival of my self and my family best served by helping those around me. I don't need a big guy in the sky to tell me that, my genetic programming does that quite well.
Why do you go from 'accidental' to 'indifferent?' I am here as a result of things I can never understand, and I care! I care because I am human, not because the Big Pig in the sky is taking notes.
Here is to being fearless with our spirituality!
"Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Luke 12: 27
I just got through telling one of my dauters friends that screwed up and didn't listen to the grandmother who took her in and got put out.
I've always been a caregiver wihich best describes my nature.
I'm a firm believer that God puts you where you need to be at any given time. It's like sometimes when you go to church and it seems the messenger has a message just for you.
We have the gene, but the free radicals in DC are slowly using divisive tactics to separate that gene from our critical thinking, through fear.
That's not the American Spirit I grew up to love. We faught the enemy of the country, not the enemy of the presidents father.
Vengeance is mine, thus saith the Lord.
I guess George didn't read that part though cause he broke our country all in the name of vengeance.
Perhaps if Bush I didn't feel the need to attack or back an attack against Iran, then maybe a hit wouldn't have been put on the most powereful persson in the Amrican country or CIA.
Amrica has multiple sins hidden form the people who vote these popular fools in.
Sure you wanna have a beer with him, but you don't want to stick around a spoiled drunk that can tear up a bar and walk away throwing a check at the damage from his father.
Our spiritual souls, cannot afford to go bankrupt of doing good, we are God's children.
why would you think fear would be an outcome if you believed in an accidental universe or an uncareing one. We will pass from our need of a parent in the sky, just as we passed from our need of a parent on the throne. Man will rejoice in his contact with man, he will worship the betterment of our condition by the labor of man. We will no longer fear the voyeristic eye in the sky, nor need to gain solace from fairytales
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