SHARED
THOUGHTS – 14.08.2016
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CONQUERING FEAR..
It was in Rochester NY, on 11th Nov'09, my relative gifted me,
what I would treasure for all sentiments in the world. Two wonderful audio CDs
- talk by Dr. Harold Kushner, a Rabbi, who is a great orator simply because he
talks from the heart and connects you to his theme almost immediately...
drawing the assembled gathering into the very same wavelength in order to grasp
the essence of his talk.
It’s my pleasure to share with you the gist of his talk on
CONQUERING FEAR ... and from my perspective as well....reading below is no
substitute to hearing him ... yet my small
attempt to summarize his 70 min talk may not be wasted, if at least one person out there somewhere can benefit from this and change the course of
his/her life.
-----------------------------------------------------
If God were to have given a 11th Commandment, He would have said, "Don't be Afraid". When Abraham was asked to leave everything behind, and go out into the
unknown, God said "Don't be Afraid". Don't be Afraid is said more than any other in the Bible.
Being afraid above a minimum optimum level, diminishes a person's humanity. It's said, God is not looking for people who are afraid. In fact, the very purpose of life, is to rise above all fears and to go forward. The purpose of life is to master Fear. We cannot lead an authentically decent life if we have not mastered to conquer fear to a good extent.
An average person is able to conquer fear in many respects ; fear of getting married, fear of having children not knowing what's ahead, fear of taking up
a job not knowing how well he can perform, the fear of undertaking long journey by bus or train or plane defying odds of facing unknown dangers.
But to some, even these common decisions are sometimes a daunting task; for example, fear of marriage..... is one we come across so often in youngsters... the fear of having to live up to a commitment ; fear of not able to measure up or coming to terms with.
There are situations when decisions need to be taken when conditions are no longer "common".
- fear of starting a new relationship especially after a failed one; fear of one's own lack of confidence basically.
- fear of a second marriage after the first one ended in divorce ( was it Oscar Wilde who said, second marriage is more likely to succeed, due to experience over hope).
- fear of re-marriage after a tragedy had terminated the first one.
For some, fear over-rules even a Blessed new path shown to begin life anew; and to those who can overcome this fear and go forward, life has more meaning and this is the way to happiness.... decisions are indeed difficult when confronting situations as above, but then, happiness is the result of difficult decisions, rather than sulking within oneself afraid to look at life through a new window of hope & opportunity.
Therefore it's strange that some people look for happiness when the least they can do, is beyond them (or so they think) and they are not prepared to
do anything about it....it's in this context, one must remember, "Man becomes free the moment he wishes to be".
Success is all about conquering fear; Alternative to success is not failure; it is the resilience to be courageous. To those who are prisoners of their past, who live within the frames of by-gone memories, to those who shield away from being able to look at a bright future.... the message from Dr.Kushner is loud and clear....Don't be the architect of your own
destruction, but be the one for your survival.
Life is put on trial, not to assess, how wicked you are, how enlightened you are, how right or wrong you are, but to assess how much you have overcome the Fear to Live!!
Failure is a part of success. Fear is a part of failure; fear causes failure. Smart people make mistakes, to get it right later on. Don't let failure in one area determine how you can fare in another field.
attempt to summarize his 70 min talk may not be wasted, if at least one person out there somewhere can benefit from this and change the course of
his/her life.
-----------------------------------------------------
If God were to have given a 11th Commandment, He would have said, "Don't be Afraid". When Abraham was asked to leave everything behind, and go out into the
unknown, God said "Don't be Afraid". Don't be Afraid is said more than any other in the Bible.
Being afraid above a minimum optimum level, diminishes a person's humanity. It's said, God is not looking for people who are afraid. In fact, the very purpose of life, is to rise above all fears and to go forward. The purpose of life is to master Fear. We cannot lead an authentically decent life if we have not mastered to conquer fear to a good extent.
An average person is able to conquer fear in many respects ; fear of getting married, fear of having children not knowing what's ahead, fear of taking up
a job not knowing how well he can perform, the fear of undertaking long journey by bus or train or plane defying odds of facing unknown dangers.
But to some, even these common decisions are sometimes a daunting task; for example, fear of marriage..... is one we come across so often in youngsters... the fear of having to live up to a commitment ; fear of not able to measure up or coming to terms with.
There are situations when decisions need to be taken when conditions are no longer "common".
- fear of starting a new relationship especially after a failed one; fear of one's own lack of confidence basically.
- fear of a second marriage after the first one ended in divorce ( was it Oscar Wilde who said, second marriage is more likely to succeed, due to experience over hope).
- fear of re-marriage after a tragedy had terminated the first one.
For some, fear over-rules even a Blessed new path shown to begin life anew; and to those who can overcome this fear and go forward, life has more meaning and this is the way to happiness.... decisions are indeed difficult when confronting situations as above, but then, happiness is the result of difficult decisions, rather than sulking within oneself afraid to look at life through a new window of hope & opportunity.
Therefore it's strange that some people look for happiness when the least they can do, is beyond them (or so they think) and they are not prepared to
do anything about it....it's in this context, one must remember, "Man becomes free the moment he wishes to be".
Success is all about conquering fear; Alternative to success is not failure; it is the resilience to be courageous. To those who are prisoners of their past, who live within the frames of by-gone memories, to those who shield away from being able to look at a bright future.... the message from Dr.Kushner is loud and clear....Don't be the architect of your own
destruction, but be the one for your survival.
Life is put on trial, not to assess, how wicked you are, how enlightened you are, how right or wrong you are, but to assess how much you have overcome the Fear to Live!!
Failure is a part of success. Fear is a part of failure; fear causes failure. Smart people make mistakes, to get it right later on. Don't let failure in one area determine how you can fare in another field.
Henry Ford got it right the third time around!!
It was Edison who said, I cannot say I failed thousand
times.... but I can say, I know thousand reasons why it won't work...
It requires mastering fear of failure to go on as these great
minds, to achieve success and happiness.
Our ability to fear and understand fear more than any other emotions, is what is taken advantage of by terrorists; their aim is not to kill, but to cause fear..... fear of Death... Kill ten people, cause fear to thousands.... Cause panic. Panic stokes the flames of fear; panic dulls; panic stills; panic destroys; panic pulls our soaring dreams down to earth.
Our ability to fear and understand fear more than any other emotions, is what is taken advantage of by terrorists; their aim is not to kill, but to cause fear..... fear of Death... Kill ten people, cause fear to thousands.... Cause panic. Panic stokes the flames of fear; panic dulls; panic stills; panic destroys; panic pulls our soaring dreams down to earth.
if I remember right, reading from Anita Nair's book
"Ladies Coupe". Dr.HK
says, Our proper response to such nefarious acts of terrorists must be to
continue to do what is normal.
We must not give the terrorists the power to control our movements.... the power to rule our lives, the power to frighten us!!
From childhood, it's the Fear element that dominates our lessons; parents and elders at home, teachers in school use this sense of fear to instil discipline - "do this or else"....its always threats with a fear of punishment... not knowing better and more effective ways to win over the young minds.
Besides such instilled fear, there is this natural fear.... fear of monsters, fear of Ghosts..... Well, what is true, is not the existence of a monster out there to catch you, or ghosts out there to scare you, but the sense of Fear.... monsters may not be real, but the fear IS real.
Similarly small minded people use religion to scare and instil fear; bordering on "religious pornography"; Why should a person be God Fearing?? Why can't one be "God Loving"?
We must not give the terrorists the power to control our movements.... the power to rule our lives, the power to frighten us!!
From childhood, it's the Fear element that dominates our lessons; parents and elders at home, teachers in school use this sense of fear to instil discipline - "do this or else"....its always threats with a fear of punishment... not knowing better and more effective ways to win over the young minds.
Besides such instilled fear, there is this natural fear.... fear of monsters, fear of Ghosts..... Well, what is true, is not the existence of a monster out there to catch you, or ghosts out there to scare you, but the sense of Fear.... monsters may not be real, but the fear IS real.
Similarly small minded people use religion to scare and instil fear; bordering on "religious pornography"; Why should a person be God Fearing?? Why can't one be "God Loving"?
Asks Dr.HK. Why can't the religion teach the followers to
'love' God rather than 'fear' God?? We often attribute acts of nature to
God....God is Loving.... but Nature is Blind...
.
=============================
When You Fear
Fear is greatest cause of misery in the world.
It is the greatest of all superstitions.
It is the cause of all our woes.
The moment you fear, you are nobody.
=============================
When You Fear
Fear is greatest cause of misery in the world.
It is the greatest of all superstitions.
It is the cause of all our woes.
The moment you fear, you are nobody.
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From my archives, dated 22.01.2010.
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Have a safe & peaceful week ahead.
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