Fear IS the mind killer. I like what Timothy Leary & Robert Anton Wison say about how conciousness operates, with different level circuits (that somehow are quite similar with that pyramid of that guy Maslow).
Apart from a couple of irrational fears, like going of the rocker and flinging myself under the incoming train against my own will and better judgement I don't have any fears, really.
But in current culture there is another killer, and it is somewhat more insidious than that. I mean if you have The Fear (in a sense that Hunter Thompson uses the term) it is something quite tangible & concrete. Something that you know you have. Like what you said: "The fear of going broke".
This thing? Anxiety
Perhaps it it has to do with overcrowding. Or maybe it is the corporations that dehumanize you, and not the overcrowding itself? Or maybe it is The FNORDS? (I wonder if there is anarchopunk rock group by that name or not? If not someone needs to get one together like yesterday!)
Anyhow, my anxiety is quite mild, and it is also about money. It was actually much worse before, but got better after I realized that I have it. I mean it is really true that the first step is realizing that there is a problem.
Still, once I started planning my budget, things got much better. It did take quite an effort, but I like the results. I had a couple of tries before that weren't that successful, but this time I had a good way to encourage me. I found some people that depend on me being able to help them. It is a temporary arrangement, but it works. Also, by the time it ends I plan to have that as a solid habbit.
I think someone called it "the cat principle", that is you might be ok with skipping on doing something even to the point of not having the food on your table. But you do have to care about the cat. Or it will meow really desperately at you, and cats do it using the same frequencies as babies, and humans usually get the urges to do something to fixing it.
Anyhow, I hope that steem can help people get rid of their fears and anxieties. But first they will have to learn to use their heads. Thank you on your tips as to how to go around to doing it!
Cheers!
The only people who do not have fear are sociopaths actually.
Fear is necessary in order to survive. Properly managed fear can be quite useful actually.
It is when it is unmanaged that it wreaks havoc.
Actually, I don't think that socipathy works that way, but it is true that socipaths don't have the conventional fears that most "normal" people have.
If you mean fight or flight response, I wouldn't call it fear. It is a biological trigger that makes one respond much faster than the rational mind can process. An instinct.
What I am talking about is that a lot of people have blocks, and those blocks they call fear. Sometimes it is the same mechanism as fight or flight and it akes them freeze in certain situations. Sometimes they use it to not to do something. Sometimes people overthink and worry a lot. I am guessing word worry is much beter description for something that sociopaths lack!
And a lot of worry comes fromthings that person has no control over. That is what I am talking about. I don't worry about things I have no control over, and change ones that I have instead of worrying about them. It is just you used word fear in your post, and I used it as well. There are different meanings to every word, sorry about that misunderstanding.
And that gives me an idea. I really should write the post about The Fear. I really like Hunter Thompsons writing, and I think he was on to something. Too bad they cut that monologue in The Rum Diary movie, because it summed up his views really well. I even think it is central to understanding his writing.