Fear Not

Fear is one of the basic emotions that all people possess.   It seems to me that often our actions and inactions are controlled by what we fear and often we are not even aware that these fears are controlling our behaviours.  The Enneagram personality type system identifies nine basic personality types.  Each type has a different basic fear:

Type 1s: Fear being wrong or lazy. ...

Type 2s: Fear being unloved and unwanted. ...

Type 3s: Fear being worthless and disrespected. ...

Type 4s: Fear meaninglessness. ...

Type 5s: Fear not knowing. ...

Type 6s: Fear chaos. ...

Type 7s: Fear deprivation. ...

Type 8s: Fear being controlled.

Types 9s: Fear of conflict

I am a type 9 in the Enneagram and I can affirm that I try to avoid conflict where possible – or perhaps I should say, “if at all possible.”  Being a peacemaker as a way to avoid conflict can have its positive aspects but it can also have negative ones as well. 

Have you ever noticed how often fear comes up in the bible?  I did a check with an on-line Thesaurus and discovered that ‘fear’ occurs in 995 verses.  The appearance of angels is often accompanied by the directive to “fear not.”  One of the best known if the passage that is usually read in a Christmas pageant when an angel appears to the shepherds, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.”  The implication is that the shepherds and probably all people are naturally afraid when they are visited by an angel or any form of divine visitation.  On the other hand, we are also told in Proverbs, “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

It is wise to fear things that are potentially dangerous such as driving recklessly or running with knives or falling from great heights.  Or to use a current example, not getting a COVID vaccine unless there are medical reasons that prevent it.  Fear does serve a useful purpose and is no doubt one of the reasons the human race has survived for so many millennia.  However, as we can see by the many phobias which people can suffer from, it can be a force which imprisons us as well as one that can protect us. 

Fears can occur in dreams or nightmares in the form of being chased by a monster or some dark, dangerous unidentified thing.  One way to deal with a recurring dream of this nature this before you go to sleep, have the intention that in the dream you will turn around and face the monster and ask what it wants of you.  There is a great example in the literature of someone who had a recurring nightmare of being chased by a fire-breathing dragon.  The dreamer faced his fear and turned around and faced the dragon and asked why it was chasing him.  The dragon informed him that his smoking was going to kill him and he should give up that bad habit. 

The most positive thing you can do is to be conscious i.e., recognize when fear is operating in your life and decide if this a realistic fear.  Then you can strategize ways in which you can work with that fear and live life more fully.  IN no way do I want to imply that this is easy - I know from experience it isn’t.  But it is a possible way to move our lives forward in a positive way.

May you know your fears and find the message for you on your journey.