Fear is ingrained in all of us, It’s a primitive human emotion that everyone experiences from time to time. It can be very useful as it alerts us to the presence of danger. Avoiding dangerous situations is what keeps us alive which is why most people would agree that being fearful is a good trait to have.
Fear can also be is a very personalized human emotion. It’s well know that some people intentionally seek out fear-inducing situations such as sky-diving, swimming with sharks and investing in crypto.
We’ve all been given plenty of reasons to be fearful over the past few years, but what if I was to suggest that fear, can also be a drug. A very harmful and addictive drug that has destroyed countless lives. This may sound absurd to some people so I will begin by comparing the effects of a very well know illegal substance to the effects of fear.
Cocaine vs Fear, Can you tell the difference?
| Exibit A | Exibit B |
| Release of adrenaline. Dilated pupils. Heart palpitations. Sweaty palms. Dry mouth. Shortness of breath Heightened alertness. Irrational thoughts. Bursts of energy. Feeling of impending doom. |
Release of adrenaline. Dilated pupils. Heart palpitations. sweaty palms. Dry mouth. Shortness of breath. Heightened alertness. Irrational thoughts. Bursts of energy. Comedown. |
Pointless exercise?
To compare cocaine to fear may seem like a pointless exercise but the title of this post requires me to make that connection.
If fear is a drug, who are the pushers?
Fear is a very powerful weapon that can be used against us, when we are fearful or feel under threat we lose the ability to think rationally. We feel helpless, we start panicking and if the threat feels to big to deal with we look to others for protection.
Governments know this all to well which is why we are bombarded with fear porn to create the illusion that we need them to keep us safe. This goes way back to ancient times when we would all pay a tax to the Sun Guru who had the 'power' to bring the sun back during an eclipse thus saving us all from impending doom. It's the oldest trick in the book.
Mass Formation Psychosis.
During recent times we have been experiencing a tsunami of dread and fear related messages from Governments, mainstream media and social media. This has led to what some call "Mass Formation Psychosis".
Mass formation psychosis is when a huge part of a society focuses its attention to a threat(s), leader(s) or a series of events. Their attention focuses on one small point or issue. Followers can be hypnotized and be easily led. Sound familiar?
Applied Behavioural Psychology
This is new trick that was played on all of us during the last two years. It was played out by a group of government behavioural psychologists called SPI-B, which is part of SAGE. In their freely available document found on the uk government website.
In this document, you will find such quotes as:
A substantial number of people still do not feel sufficiently personally threatened.
And this little gem.
The perceived level of personal threat needs to be increased among those who are complacent, using hard-hitting emotional messaging.
This is real, it happened, and it lead to utter devastation. Governments spent billions on advertising campaigns to instill fear into the masses using this document as a template.
Apparently it was to save lives.
How To Kick The Fear Habit?
So, by now I'm hoping we have established that fear can be a likened to a drug, and it can be addictive. We also know that governments have and will push this drug on us to nudge humanity in the direction they want. Now I would like to suggest a way in which we can all overcome these fears.
- TURN OFF THE TV!!!!
- TURN OFF THE TV!!!!
- TURN OFF THE TV!!!!
If the threat is not in front of your eyes then it does not effect you, therefore it doesn't exist. Being fearful of something that might happen in the future is the biggest waste of imagination ever know to man/woman.
That's it..........It's so simple.
If you got anything from this post or would like to add your perspective then please let me know in the comment section. I will also be writing a post about the "POWER OF NOW" by Eckart Tolle and how this book helped me live in the moment. How to stop being depressed about the past and fearful of the future.
sadly today we have to also say
-4. turn off facebook
-5. turn off instagram
-6. turn off twitter
-7. turn off the internet!
what can i say,.!?
i did 1,2,3,4,5,6 and almost 7..
i also decided to stop trying to convince people of anything as i realised it makes things worse, and then i just get frustrated.. and i also realised the denial aspect meant that it just polarizes us more and creates such a divide.. the more we push the less it helps.. as i say,, its like trying to convince someone of the existence of God. utterly pointless.. if someone hasn't realised this for themselves there's nothing i can do to change it.. when they are ready they will wake up,, not when i tell them to!
i loved the power of now, and my ONLY focus these days is meditation and learning to use the innernet to learn and to effect the world in a positive way. I promised myself no posting about these things, but once in a while i cant help myself!..
:0 ><3
Yes Alex, I think it's about finding a balance. When we lean to far one or the other we fall flat on our face. I think it was Alan Watts that I learned that from.
You are right about trying to convince people, it needs to come from within. Although, I do like it when someone comes back to me after a few years and thanks me for planting a seed which lead them to the light, or in most cases lead them to good investments.
Thank for stopping by @eco-alex
Although I have to admit that I usually try to just read and have my own opinion about these things nowadays, I could not pass without leaving a comment. It's exactly this, it's a drug, and mass hysteria has been created, for sure. I have no doubt about that. But I also have to admit, that with my past, going against my government, I still try to remain a bit more silent than I was a few years ago when writing it all of my chests.
Just know that I too see what's happening, and I certainly have my thoughts about it, as a matter of fact, I'm planning to move back to Spain before a certain date just because I want to avoid being stuck here in case they do push these vaccine mandates through. I hope it all won't come to that point though. It's sad to see how people have been deliberately been divided into two camps and only the people that are pro-choice seem to be the ones respecting the people that call the other camp nut heads. I think it's sad...
I did share this post on Listnerds for you because that's been a massive engagement tool for me and it also allowed me to have a sweet extra source of income on Hive. You can check it out by clicking on the image below. Probably you will see comments pop up soon from sharing it.
Thanks anyway for sharing your thoughts!
Thanks for your reply @thisismylife
I find strength in knowledge, and these subjects are just that....knowledge.
Knowing and speaking about these subjects shouldn't be depressing or painful, truth resonates on a higher frequency, and these higher frequencies protect us from fear and anger which resonate on lower and more harmful frequencies.
Thanks for sharing my post, I shall look into linstnerds.
Don't fear the mandates, they are empty threats and will never be made law. Always do what you know to be right and don't fear the consequences. Follow your heart.
Speaking for me personally, I tend to avoid these subjects usually because I know often it will lead up to endless (heated) discussions or even threats, and with a clear focus on where I need to go in life short-term, I will not allow that in my life at this moment. But I will never be silenced completely probably. Even though the main reason that I'm being more careful is also still a bit of trauma/trigger situation from what my own government did to us before we left for Spain.
I sure hope that these mandates are empty threats! Many have been saying that, so hoping all of them are right :) haha
Absolutely! If a person is in control of their fear by practicing fear management (placing themselves in a situation like skydiving or bungee jumping), it can be managed and controlled. Then when legitimate fear comes (war or famine), they can better manage the situation with good decision making and maybe even get a thrill out of it. They are comfortable being uncomfortable and will not immediately seek the comfortable and easy path.
Most people form a fear addiction from things OUTSIDE of their control. They are tricked into believing an invisible threat could harm them or their loved ones. When they are given nonsensical or irrational suggestions on how to "be safe" they will latch on to it with an almost religious zeal. I could give some examples, but most readers could come up with their own examples. Then when legitimate fear comes (war or famine), they will not think independently or rationally. They will not be able to manage the situation with good decision making, they will be terrified and do WHATEVER is suggested for them to do, even if it involves action that will have harmful, permanent long-term effects. Their thrill comes from "compliance" and the mental relief they believe it offers them.
Amen, amen and amen! TV is fiction, a circus, for amusement. All that "infotainment" is code for INDOCTRINATION through PROPAGANDA. Turn it off, seek wise council, mind your own business, live your own life. It's the cure for collectivism.
Like staying indoors, not hugging loved ones etc.
Yep! You've got it.
Hello @ironshield, lovely to see your message and thank you for the warm welcome on my first hive post. I see a lot has changed but one thing will always be the same, the genuine, kind hearted people who are wide awake. It's a breath of fresh air. Happy to be back.
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I don't think I'm addicted to fear, but living with depression & anxiety all your life will give you a high tolerance lol so maybe I am, but just don't know it because I'm in fight or flight mode so much of the time.
You asked the question:
And I completely agree with what you say. Governments habitually use fear as a tool to manage people's expectations of what is acceptable behaviour for said government.
They had a field day with covid, and now they're having a field day with the war in Ukraine. Don't get me wrong, I think the invasion of Ukraine is aweful and should end. But I also think the habitual apartheid against Palestinians in Gaza should end, the war in Yemen should end, the legalised rape and torture of paid foreign servant women in places like Saudi Arabia should end and a whole host of human rights abuses by China's government should end, but none of these other terrible things direct the public's fear/attention in the direction that European governments want their populations to focus right now.
I personally ascribed to what the late great bill Hicks said: All governments are liers and murderers.
Great comment @raj808
The mega blockbuster film production called covid was a clear example of government's not letting a good crisis go to waste. The multi billion dollar advertising campaign for this movie was record breaking to say the least.
A real pandemic does not need an advertising campaign, just like the sun does not need a 'do not touch' sign
About anxiety and depression, we all suffer from time to time but since I read the power of now and discovered frequency meditation I have not suffered from these illusions. We can't change the past and the future never comes. The NOW is where it's really at.
Yeah, as you say a pandemic doesn't need fckn advertising. Basically, the whole thing needed to be treated in a sensible scientific way, all the fear-mongering from government and media was transparent to anyone with even a modicum of intelligence.
In regards to this, I'm not in complete agreement with what you're expressing. I too have read 'the power of now' and love the way Ekhart Tolle points to the power of living in the present, as Buddhists and other practices ancient practices like the Dao Te Ching have helped people reach that state that facilitates healing both mentally and spiritually, Ekhart seems able to express these pointers in a way that the western mindset can grasp easier. I've certainly had many moments of 'no thought' listening to Ekhart speak, or just putting into practice techniques like body scanning.
But the part I highlighted above is where I'm not in complete agreement -
we all suffer from time to time- not true for people with clinical depression and anxiety disorder. They do NOT suffer depression and anxiety from time to time, it is there always in the background and from my experience, the practice then becomes to not identify with the suffering it causes. In the case of clinical depression and anxiety disorder, a chemical imbalance might be happening in your brain, but teachers like Ekhart Tolle have helped me immeasurably in allowing me to disconnect from the reactive habits that form as a kind of defense mechanism. Often through years of learned behaviour, these defense mechanisms often don't work anyway, so letting go of them becomes a liberation. And as you said, when you can live in the now, even for a short time, that is truly life-changing.Fear is the worst way to live, and for me as long as I am taking steps toward the positive mentally or physically, it takes the sting out of the tail of fear. And eventually letting go of it all together is true magic.
Agreed.
Yes, Eckart Tolle is great and getting the message across to westerners, before him I found Alan Watts to be a great teacher, though he claims he has nothing to teach.
Thank you for the interaction @raj808
I love Alan Watts too and really like listening to chillstep mixes of him speaking on Youtube. It seems like a strange thing but it kinda works, Alan Watts dropping some wisdom with chilled out music in the background.
I like listening to it when walking through town if it is particularly busy.
This one resonates with me at the moment as I'm writing a series of Haiku and reflections on the chapters of the Tao Te Ching (the Dao).
That is one hell of research, brother. I am glad I found you through ListNerds!.
I always wondered if we somehow feel good having different feelings that are labeled negative. I don't know if good is the right word, but you get what I mean.
I think some fear can be like a thrill and thrills can be addictive. Thats maybe what keeps us going back to the news because it scares us.
Thank you for the interaction.
I don't watch tv for anymore especially the news and I also don't read the newspaper either and I try to stay away from social media as much as I can except Hive, which I still sometimes need to take a tiny break from.
I go on the news sites every now and again just to see what the current agenda is, but I never take any of it seriously. If it doesn't effect me personally, then it personally doesn't effect me. That might sound selfish to some but it's how I stay sane in this wobbly world.
Thanx for your comment @joalvarez
You must watch different TV shows than I do. I can't remember a show that makes me afraid other than the news. Thanks for your post.
Well said. Although turning off the tv might not be enough, since much of what we are programmed to be afraid of is coming through algorithmic manipulation of our social media feeds :"(
Yes! I am hoping people can use The turn off your TV method and apply it to any device that helps government spread fear. and if they all join hive and ditch fb that problems also goes away :-)
Thanks for your imput @dandelion
Turn of the TV but not the tablet. We need them to keep that on to read the posts. lol
Instinctive behaviour is not fear. Fear is bad experience or imposed opinion of dangers.
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That is an interesting comparison between fear and cocaine. I agree on some level that turning off the TV and social media is a good idea. Of course when I watch TV I am not watching the news. And if I see something on social media that pushes a button I don't respond. I did once, without thinking and it caused me some issues with a family member. I have come to hate flying on airplanes. I guess it has something to do with fear. Fear of encountering someone who will cause trouble. And that is one reason why I don't want to watch the news. Because I have seen those kinds of incidents broadcasted and said that I won't go anywhere if I have to get on an airplane to get there.
I must confess I hate flying, which is why I avoid it as much as I can. I have traveled all over Europe and North Africa but I drove.
Thanks for your comment @lisamgentile1961
You're very welcome, @markwhittam! The last couple of experiences I have had on planes and in airports have put me off of flying. The last and most recent one was months before the COVID pandemic. The thing about road trips is that you are on your own timetable and mostly in control of your surroundings which to me would make for a much more pleasant travelling experience. Have a great day and week ahead. 😀
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