Krishnamurti , our great philosopher , has solved this problem of fear over and over . What prevent us to learn and therefore be free from fear.
The Amygdala. āTogether, these findings indicate that the amygdala plays an extensive role in regulating the fear response in humans as well as animals.ā (Amygdala Activity, Fear, and Anxiety: Modulation by Stress - PMC)
Your silly old amygdala?
Yes, those survival mechanisms in the brain are responsible for fear. When removed, fear and aggression are reduced. Meditation actually shrinks the amygdalae. How Meditation Changes the Brain | Mindworks - Mindfully Rewire
But fear is in relationship to someone or something.
And now days fear of fire and flooding . Physical explanation of fear doesnāt prevent fear. Surely fear or thought originates in the Brain.
Fear is not the problemā¦ it is what follows our failure to realize the problem is desire.
We donāt see that desire is the problem because we enjoy desire; it is a pleasure, the opposite of fear. The only time desire is a problem is when itās experienced as temptation, the conflict between what I want and what I believe is wrong to want.
Desire incites fear when I know I canāt stop wanting what I believe I should not want, and Iām like an automobile with no brakes, headed for a crash. If I could always nip desire in the bud, I would never fear the consequences of my behavior, and that is the worst kind of fear.
When temptation arises and whatever chemicals are triggered by the brain, thought saying āno!ā only seems to increase the desire, any motive to stop, resist, etc is blown away by the images of the āforbiddenā pleasure. Is there any sure-fire way to ānip it in the budā?
Legions of drug addicts, child molesters, thieves, rapists etc. would like to know!
āFreedom is the first and last stepā.
For me the above is the key.
I would say this:
Freedom acts only in freedom.
Now, the brain is like a land of paths (desires, directions). In here, while the brain is āworkingā on a path, a 1st step occurs. The directional desire looses its direction. Something else acts in the brain now. Not the desire. Or, one could say, the desire is transformed. It is free of direction. Everything is seen in freedom, by freedom.
What precipitates this 1st step ?
This is the same as asking : what is more important than me? (that I might surrender without resistance)
And I suppose that before we could entertain the idea that my absence might be beneficial, some understanding of the mechanics of selfishness is needed - some revulsion against suffering.
I donāt get it ā¦
So, you say that I canāt ask what is more important than me ? I think it is a super question !
We can ask the question - Iām just saying that in order to actually find something more important than me, I might need a clearer picture of what I am
(ie. the feeling that I am the central most important point in this universe might not be totally accurate - I might actually be the cause of suffering itself)
I am important, and I want to be more important than you, but then I fear I canāt, cause I know I am a bit stupid.
So let me find an important person like you to help me ? To live in your shadow a bit ? To imitate you a bit ? This is what I doā¦(?)
K would say be stupid, be important, be what you think you are.
What is then the question ?
Is it: let the I ā¦be alone! Is the āIā ever ā¦alone in the real sense? The āIā canāt be alone, it has to compare itself at all timesā¦it wants to be seen but is always in a shadow ?
The āfeelingā is probably spot on . Itās consciousness itself, it has no ācenterā that is thoughtās mistake of attributing it to itself. That is confusionā¦.and suffering.
Your āimportanceā doesnāt lie in being āsmartā or āstupidā as I see it but in being āThe Worldā as JK put it!
Wow
So when the I comes out of the shadow of comparison - is when the I expands into āI am the world ā.
It depends on how compelling the desire is. On many occasions we donāt give in to a craving or an impulse.
There is no āIā, just the World?
Yea
- and now I am stuck in the I cause I know I am not the world
The āIā is stuck in the āIā, āyouā havenāt discovered what you are. Not the āIā which is a āthingā invented by thinking.
Correct
The I which is so important is helpless, canāt be the world.