~LOVE REPORTER AND FIRST CONTACT TEAM MEMBER WILL HARADER~
~FEAR OF THE UKNOWN~
~People aren't born unconscious,
they're taught to be that way before they know any better.~
It's societal programming that fills people with so much fear and anxiety that they can barely think for themselves. Then society fills their lives with so many distractions that their fears are rarely noticed and original thoughts are few and far between. The way beyond this is to let go of societal conditioning, but this can be difficult as the conditioning itself contains certain elements that impede the process of letting go. I mentioned three of the major ones, though there are certainly more than that. The three I'm going to address are, the need to be right, the need for outside acceptance, and, the subject of this essay, fear of the unknown.
Fear of the unknown is an enormous part of our society. We even have clever sayings like "Curiosity killed the cat" and "Ignorance is bliss" to reinforce this fear. It's unlikely that anyone told you explicitly to be afraid of the unknown but you were likely taught things like, stay away from strangers and not to go to certain places after dark. More subtly, you've been taught through the actions of your parents, teachers, and friends to seek what is comfortable and familiar. Your parents were likely slaves to routine, same food, same TV shows, same dull schedule day in and day out, until they were so entrenched they actually became anxious anytime there was a hiccup in the system. They weren't in charge of their own lives, rather, their systems ran them. They became machines and even though this never quite satisfied them, it was comfortable and they didn't know any other way. Even if your parents weren't this way, though the majority are, I'm sure your schools were. They taught you to jump when the bellrang, to obey "authority", and to sit down and shut up.
Everything ran by routine and if you didn't, you got in trouble. You were taught that if you didn't follow the system, the system was gonna fuck you. The system was the routine, the comfortable, the known and if you went against that it was going to give you something to fear. And how did your friends teach you to fear the unknown? Well, it's likely that if you didn't wear the right clothes, say the right things, act the right way and have the right interests, you probably didn't have m/any friends. Outside of the narrow range of experience that society considers "right" lies endless possibilities. But these are the unknown and hence usually avoided.
Most of the examples I've given so far are how society teaches people to seek what's comfortable and familiar. This is caused by fear of the unknown, but there's one example I can give where society teaches people directly to fear the unknown. The fear of death. What most consider the ultimate unknown. This is most people's largest fear, so much so they don't even admit that to themselves and try to avoid even thinking about it. Even the religions, who deem themselves experts on such things, can't give people a straight answer. I can tell you that you are indestructible consciousness and all that happens in death is a letting go of the body, but without experience of yourself as such,it's probably not going to do much to calm your fears. You have to make the choice yourself to face those fears.
Now I've traced some of the root causes of fear of the unknown and hopefully brought them into your consciousness, but how does one overcome those fears? Remember, this whole essay is written within the context of letting go of societal conditioning and what lies beyond that is the unknown (at least for people who haven't begun the processyet). To let go of your fear of the unknown, go and face the unknown, within yourself and without. Go out and do the things you've dreamed of doing but never have. Take a dance class, build a boat, volunteerat a homeless shelter or anything else, you can probably think ofbetter idea for yourself. Do whatever it takes to break your routine.
It will probably be uncomfortable at first, but this process is to getover that. Call in sick from work and go fishing. Take a differentroute. Ride a bike. Even better, tell someone how you really feel (notrecommended in all cases). Buy flower for someone you Love for noreason other than Love. Go far beyond your comfort zone! Tell off your boss and quit you job! Give someone a hug! Whatever makes you feel Alive! Turn the unknown into the known and share it withEveryone!
