Reflecting Fear
Sojong Reminder from Anam Thubten 1/2022
Dear Dharma friends,
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If there are no leaves, the flowers would not be as beautiful as they are. Similarly, our life won’t be colorful if basic emotions are removed from us. Not only do they give us a sense of being alive, but they are accompanied by intelligence, which is essential to our survival. For example, it’s quite obvious that love is full of wisdom and nourishes our hearts, making this life truly rich. Humanity would not survive without it. How dreadful life would be if love were not part of it.
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Fear seems to be the opposite of love from a certain point of view. But this turns out to be a partial understanding of its many sides. Fear is not intrinsically negative and can sometimes be a form of intelligence, guiding us to maneuver around danger and leading us to safety. It only becomes a force of negativity when it rules our mind.
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With the pandemic, political uncertainty, and climate change, fear is causing people around the world to suffer. There are questions that might be occurring in many people’s minds: How do you work with fear? Is it possible to overcome it? In trying to find answers, our first attempt is to do psycho-spiritual analysis on its nature. Through inquiry, we often find that this sense of being a separate self is the basis of almost all our fears. This insight can be liberating and can help us let go of an internal burden.
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Right now, fear is collectively felt because of the volatile nature of today’s world around us. While our mind sees that there is no reason to fear, it can still take us over when it gets triggered. It can color our perception of reality and close our heart. When that happens, we might miss the chance to live in the present moment, to feel the beauty of everything, and our ability to feel love and compassion can become dormant.
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During this Sojong, let’s reflect on how we are responding to all these ever-changing situations. If we find that fear is often on the way, we can have the intention to hold it in awareness so our heart and mind can arise above it. Let’s hold the aspiration that we become a source of equanimity in a world that needs many blessings.
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With palms joined,
Anam Thubten
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