The Cause of Fear

[Kay100]

I finished watching the 2 parts Leo's video of "How Fear Works". It's got so many helpful contents. 

Usually phobia are caused by one or multiple incidents that happened in someone's past right? Like someone had a narrow escape from fire and then developed phobia for fire. Leo didn't mention about finding out which incident in the past that was the cause of the fear. I wonder when you try to overcome a phobia or a type of anxiety, is it important to find out exactly which incident in the past was the cause? Or is it ok just to work on the fear without knowing which past event was the cause of it?

Often people have a fear of certain things but they can't exactly recall which event in the past that caused it. Sometimes the past event happened when they were very young so they can't remember. Or traumatic memories might be suppressed into the subconscious. Hypnosis is often used to help find out the past event that caused the current problem. 

So is it important to find out exactly what happened in the past? How does finding out about it help? Can you overcome the fear without finding out what happened? Does the fear disappear after finding out the past event or there will be more work to do after that? 

[erik8lrl]

Fear is caused by desire and ignorance. 

You want something that you don't have, and if you can't get it, You will fear. 

You can't get it because you don't know how to (ignorance). 

To overcome fear, you either let go of that desire or learn how to get it.  

Finding the root cause of your fear is like finding out what you desired/don't have. 

Very often when you find the root cause, you will realize that it is something you already have and always had. 

Thus the fear goes away.

Or if you don't have it, you then will simply have to learn how to get it, there is no reason to fear because you can change the situation.

 

As an example, if you are afraid of not being good enough to do something, let's say you were looked down upon by others when you grew up. 

Or if you are afraid of dogs, maybe you have been hurt by them when you were young. You didn't know how to defend yourself against the dog or didn't know how to interact with the dog in a way that befriends them. 

By looking at it with the knowledge of what fear is, you will realize you have all the power to change the situation, thus the fear will fade away because it is not the truth. 

Edited October 12, 2020 by erik8lrl

[Preety_India]

You have to do shadow work for that. 

Shadow work means intense contemplation and self introspection to explore the deeper part of the psyche and  understand where the roots of the feeling or belief are coming from.. It's like psychological investigation. 

Once you do it and realize the root of the issue, then heal that trauma or bias and conflict 

 

 

[Kay100]

2 hours ago, erik8lrl said:

As an example, if you are afraid of not being good enough to do something, let's say you were looked down upon by others when you grew up. 

Or if you are afraid of dogs, maybe you have been hurt by them when you were young. You didn't know how to defend yourself against the dog or didn't know how to interact with the dog in a way that befriends them. 

By looking at it with the knowledge of what fear is, you will realize you have all the power to change the situation, thus the fear will fade away because it is not the truth. 

You mean by acquiring the proper knowledge I'm able to change the situation? Like for the example of fearing the dog, I can get the knowledge about how to defend myself against a dog, and how to interact with a dog that befriends it. When I have acquired those knowledges and had success of using those knowledge to be with a dog safely, then I will not have anymore fear. Is that what you mean?

[Kay100]

@Preety_India So it's called shadow work, psychological investigation. That's what I mean but I didn't know the exact word for it. 

What are the different ways of doing psychological investigation?

Once find out the root cause, what are the ways to heal it? 

[Preety_India]

@Kay100  i don't have perfect knowledge on this topic 

I have done some shadow work in 2018 where I used to constantly ask myself a lot of questions during meditation and keep exploring a trauma or issue. I eventually got the insight that it is coming from my childhood. 

After that, I'm trying to heal by uplifting my self esteem, these days I'm trying to work on self love. 

I'm myself a victim of trauma so I try whatever method works for me. But I have very limited knowledge 

I suggest you look up online for resources on shadow work and trauma healing. Lots of videos and articles on it. Even I need to explore them. 

 

 

[Kay100]

@Preety_India Thanks. Do you know any of Leo's videos that talk about it?

[Preety_India]

 

@Kay100  I doubt if it's that helpful but here it is. 

 

 

[hyruga]

3 hours ago, Kay100 said:

You mean by acquiring the proper knowledge I'm able to change the situation? Like for the example of fearing the dog, I can get the knowledge about how to defend myself against a dog, and how to interact with a dog that befriends it. When I have acquired those knowledges and had success of using those knowledge to be with a dog safely, then I will not have anymore fear. Is that what you mean?

Yes but different dogs will induces different fears. 

For example, a pitbull and a poodle require different levels of handling and awareness.

[electroBeam]

False

Evidence

Appearing

Real

[erik8lrl]

@Kay100 Yes

[Kay100]

@erik8lrl but there are some cases that you can’t really gain any knowledge to get control of the things you are scared of. Like the fear if fire, there is no knowledge you can learn to control the fire.