Enlightenment Work and Fear

[TDW1995]

Can enlightenment work alone gradually reduce our fears (social anxiety, death, etc.)?  Fear would obviously melt away with the death of the ego, but I'm asking if this can happen with the progression in this work.  In other words, even if a person is not at full enlightenment, will fears gradually reduce with the raising of consciousness?

[Raptorsin7]

I think so. A couple weeks ago i was really scared of awakening, i made a thread about it and everything. Now i don't feel afraid, and i'm eager to awaken. I'm not enlightened, and nothing changed from when i was scared to now except more meditation and yoga.

[erik8lrl]

Yes, it can, it is a transition from fear to love. The higher the consciousness, the more love you experience.

[TDW1995]

I sometimes think of enlightenment work as a binary thing.  Either you are enlightened and free from suffering, or you are identified with the false self and suffer, no in-between.  So if we take an example of a shy person, I'm assuming with the progression of enlightenment work and dis-identification, he will slowly eradicate his fear of social anxiety.

[Raptorsin7]

@TDW1995 I think it's a progression. The belief about it being binary just takes you further away from it because you will always think i'm not enlightened. I think enlightenment changes the relationship we have with things in our direct experience. So maybe an enlightenment person can still be a "shy person" but it won't cause them any suffering or problems. The labels are meaningless without the value we attach to them.

[erik8lrl]

@Raptorsin7 Yes

[Nahm]

2 hours ago, TDW1995 said:

Can enlightenment work alone gradually reduce our fears (social anxiety, death, etc.)?  Fear would obviously melt away with the death of the ego, but I'm asking if this can happen with the progression in this work.  In other words, even if a person is not at full enlightenment, will fears gradually reduce with the raising of consciousness?

Yes, very much so. Even aside from any spirituality, consciousness work, etc, you could simplify that very much. It is only going one step further in inquiry / thought, than what you have so far. You can do that in a very comfortable relaxed way. Getting some meditation going, a quitter mind helps a lot, but either way, yes. An important distinction, very important, you would not actually be uncovering fear, you would only be taking a look at your thought about fear.  Dream board is also great for this. You can write a thought or two about fear (preferably on the back side of a doubled sided dream board on wheels) and just let it go, leave it at that. Later, unpin, or undermine that thought about fear you wrote down, by writing the opposite perspective, no matter how wild, untrue, or unbelievable you find it to be - just write it. Then let it go. When you feel like it, come back and ask yourself if you can consider that opposite perspective might be true, might have just a pinch of truth, even just like .0001% truth in it. This will slowly uproot the key beliefs & repeating thoughts which sustain the fear. Hopefully some solid purification occurs too. Soon enough it does begin to dawn on you that life & death are topical, perspectives, and you are transcendent of life & death, because you are the magical one, the free agent, which can change perspectives readily, like it’s nothing. That absolute truth can be found in any perspective, absolute truth must also therefore be like you - transcendent of all perspectives, free, unattached (& therefore fearless). 

[zeroISinfinity]

Magical one, secret agent of Love. ♥️

Endless timeless journey and adventure of Love ok with some hippie elements well nobody is perfect or they are. 

Wake up stay present, be present. Be loving and good no problemos possible. 

Edited December 6, 2019 by zeroISinfinity