Where to Now?

The most powerful aspect of experience is that it is undeniable. It is direct. And it is real. What follows is totally up to the person. We may interpret our experiences in some past context or we may actually be open to learn something new. For example, as a result of growing up in the South, I may interpret a comment by someone white as racist. Such as, "That's a stupid idea." If I have the insight to distinguish between my idea and myself as a person, I might also have the insight to discover that my idea might, in fact, not have been very bright.

The first address my past context wanted to go to was "You're stupid," and possibly "inferior." Following this line of "thinking," I'm off on tangent to confirm what I programmed about white people, as a group, from some early age. Group descriptions like these are what we call stereotypes. They're really used to protect ourselves and make us feel superior to others--albeit, a false sense of superiority. If we can get enough group agreement, it starts to feel like a truth--at least, within the group.

The question is what does all of this have to do with living without fear? The answer is we fear most what we do not understand or that which is in "apparent" opposition to our own individual or collective beliefs! I use the word understand to mean an insight that is the result of a transformational learning experience. Not some intellectual ability to self-confirm what we already believe. From my "southern" example above, I now understand that discovering who am as a person is a continual process of self exploration provoked by experiences that elicit an emotional reaction. Such exploration allows me to distinguish between a "stupid idea" and me being "a stupid person." I no longer fear the person saying it or the self exploration.

The conclusion I come to is that the more I apply this way of learning to anything I fear, that is not an obvious direct threat to my physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, the less fear drives and controls my life! The authentic experience of someone is the most powerful way of discovering one's self. The more we eliminate those ideas and beliefs we fear most, through direct experience and not by what others try to convince us of, the freer we will feel and be. True freedom is living without fear. And that comes from within, in addition to the external structures and beliefs we use to govern a democratic society.