The nature of fear

[ASquared]

what is fear? I would say the fear is an instinctual reaction to the unknown, incomprehensible or to that which lies outside ability to understand. This reaction can be controlled to some extent by sheer force of will and one's willingness to accept the strange, often confusing world in which we live. However, no matter how hard you try, you can never escape that initial gut reaction.
Why is that? Where does it come from? What part of our psyche is responsible? Thoughts?

[Pilgrim]

I think that covers a lot of it but I would also add that fear arises when we encounter certain things outside of our control as well, even when we understand those things. For instance I'm afraid of a criminal holding a gun to my head. I understand how it all works but I'm not in control. Or a car careening across the double yellow lines toward me.

[ASquared]

you're right Pilgrim, I didn't think of the whole control issue! dang, I thought I had it well thought out!

[Darth Executor]

I was actually thinking about this recently and pretty much came to the same conclusion: that fear is a coin and the two sides are lack of control and the unknown.

Here's the million dollars question: what's the edge?

*insert x files music*

[Pilgrim]

Hmmm....the edge would be mental acuity. The more critical you are, the more of a problem solver you are, the less impact fear has on you. What do you think?

[Darth Executor]

Really? I wouldn't have thought of that. In fact, I'd think stupidity would be more beneficial since you're less likely to accurately take in the world and assume you're still in control/know what's happening even when you don't.

[Zero Tolerance]

what is fear? I would say the fear is an instinctual reaction to the unknown, incomprehensible or to that which lies outside ability to understand. This reaction can be controlled to some extent by sheer force of will and one's willingness to accept the strange, often confusing world in which we live. However, no matter how hard you try, you can never escape that initial gut reaction.
Why is that? Where does it come from? What part of our psyche is responsible? Thoughts?

I will agree that fear is an instinctual reaction to the unknown, but I disagree that that which is feared is incomprehensible or lies outside the ability to understand.

I will say that this reaction can be controlled by one's willingness to accept the fallacy that some things are "incomprehensible."

I will also say that it is natural and a blessing that we cannot escape the initial gut reaction, but it is pathetic ignorance when one is content to remain in such a state.

Why? Where? What?

Mortality; Ideology.

[ASquared]

ZT,
i agree somewhat with you. i say somewhat because some things must remain incomprehensible. Take God, for example. If God were comprehensible, then God would cease to be God. The whole concept of God requires mystery, some degree of unknowability. "the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord"

DE,
I'd tend to agree with you. ignorance is bliss. if I could go back in time, I'd seriously cosider unlearning some of the things I know, simply because it makes me more aware of the things I don't know.
the edge, at least for me, is my God. I.m certain of my place in the hereafter, my soul is spoken for. consequently, I have nothing to fear from man. the worst man can do is kill my body. bu God can take my body AND soul, if He's decided to save me, what can man do?
I've been trying to help my wife work through some of her fears, but have been failing miserably. I thought that if I could better grasp the nature of fear, I might be able to be more effective.

[Zeta Metroid]

I don't think it has much to do with the unknown. I mean, you can be afraid of the unknown, but not everything unknown creates fear (how much cereal is left in my box?).
I think it has more to do with harm and damage than anything. The lack of control thing plays a part because that's the only time you'd let yourself be harmed: if you had enough control to prevent it.
But I think its ultimately a desire to avoid damage.

[Soyeong]

Hello Zeta and welcome to TWeb. I think it would help if you checked the date of the last post in a thread before you make a post unless you're intending to resurrect dead threads.

Anyway, on topic, I think fear is made up of both experiencing fear and acting fearfully. We can't control what we feel, but we can reduce why we feel it. We can also control how we act when feeling fearful, ranging from courage to cowardice.

[Zeta Metroid]

Who cares when the last post was?

[Soyeong]

Who cares when the last post was?

The main reason is that there could be people who posted in the thread who are no longer active in this forum who won't see or reply to your post. In this instance, I think the person who made the opening post, ASquared, is inactive, and I'm pretty sure Zero Tolerance isn't either, while Darth Executor and Pilgrim are both still regulars. Other people often don't want to start in the middle of a conversation in case they say something that has already been discussed and can't be bothered to read through all of the old posts before they get to yours, especially when dead threads have multiple pages, so it is often better to start a fresh thread, even on the same topic, and than to resurrect and old one.

[Zeta Metroid]

...can't be bothered to read through all of the old posts...

Then they should just avoid long topics, like I do :P

[Epoetker]

I think some leeway should be given to people whose resurrection of dead threads resurrects the entire subforum.

Fear is, at bottom, the remembrance of the failure to control a situation to your own advantage in the past. And that is why the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, though not its end.

Though in times of great and overwhelming fear, the simple and innocent will be sought after most of all. Or drugs that can regress one temporarily to a simple and innocent state.

[Zeta Metroid]

I'd disagree. I've never been in a situation where getting food was out of my control and I went hungry, but I've still got a fear of starving to death. I've never been in a situation where one of my limbs was threatened, but I've got a fear of dismemberment