fear - alive why

fear

it is said that the only thing that you need to fear
is fear itself*
this is yet another one of the pieces of confetti
swirling in the breeze of human wisdom

the general thrust of this* aphorism
is that fear is potentially harmful

but this is too simplistic
perhaps it is put this way
because it sounds smart
but it is necessary to expand on this

because fear is clearly a useful emotion
as are all emotions
they all tell us something :
either things are good
or things are bad.

the trouble with this labelling
is that it is powered by and for dna survival
which is not what we all are aiming for all the time
but our dna is
always
so we have to temper the labeling always to see if
it really leads to our happiness
which is not the same as the survival of dna

the problem with fear
as with any emotion
is the issue of how to act on it
generally it means that we should be careful
sometimes we avoid
sometimes we continue and adjust behaviour
but our choice is helped if we are aware
that fear is not us but :
that we have fear...
...a particular neural circuit operating at the time...

this realization helps us to
avoid being consumed and engulfed by fear
because we recognise it as emotion...
as a warning
then we make adjustments in a sensible way

our DNA gives us a carrot and a stick as positive and negative emotions
these are to get us to promote survival of DNA
into future generations
craving or wanting or desire for... positive emotion, the carrot
and cringing and avoiding... negative emotion, the stick

FEAR is the cringing to avoid negative emotion
so fear is just
the opposite of wanting
fear is wanting something not to be or happen
...so as to avoid negative emotion