Fear
In my role as an Employee Benefits Financial Advisor I am receiving many queries based on members’ emotions which are driven by fear. I feel compelled to provide my opinion on the topic about which I will start by saying that in this modern world fear is a serious and dangerous virus. It is infecting everyone and the coping mechanisms are few and far between.
Fear of COVID-19, fear of prescribed assets, fear of WMC, fear of RET, fear of EWC, fear of foreigners, fear of lack, fear of the unknown, fear for a future, fear of the past, fear of NHI, fear of downgrade, fear of the status quo, fear of change, and even fear of the spider or mouse. The list is endless and infinite. Let me be in my truth, I am not Julius Malema or MR. (minister fear Fofol), I am just as vulnerable to fear as the next person. A politician that is not fearful would not fear another be it based on gender, race, education, financial standing or other measure, and would not need to preach violence and division. In politics fear sells. In advertising the mantra used to be that sex sells. Both engender a fear and premise that compels one to feel incompetent. Fear creates separation, distrust, emotion and suspicion.
Referring back to COVID-19, I would like to reference the story told by Osho about a similar virus. A Guruji is sitting under a tree in meditation and feels the presence of a horse and rider on the road to Delhi. He stops the rider and asks his business. The rider says I am the plague and I am going to Delhi to kill 5000 people. The Guru, satisfied with this response, returns to his mediation. Three months later from a deep meditation the Guru becomes aware of the plague and horse returning from Delhi. He stops the rider in his rage. He lambasts the plague saying that it claimed that it would only kill 5000, yet 50 000 have died. The plague calmly replies, “I only killed 5000, the rest died from fear.” There is underestimated power in emotion as well as thought.
I am a practicing yogi and my teacher had a few choice comments to make about fear. Besides the obvious impact which leads to trauma, anxiety and stress one further experiences changes in one’s adrenal activity, nervous system, subconscious mind and physical health. He said that as long as one acts out of fear one becomes compromised. The same can be applied to the field of financial services. The key investment principle is to buy low and sell high. With markets crashing as a result of the COVID-19, fear urges many to run for cover by selling in this low environment and counter the good investment principle. This is a prime example of fear compromising people.
The major issue with fear is that it alters our thinking by making it inspired by the short term. Thus, one easily loses sight of carefully laid plans and strategies where decisions are made using intense emotions which almost always leads to a personal compromise. Fear makes one’s concepts narrow. At present, the large scale lock down of entire cities and communities is a physical example of becoming narrow. Even if authorities lock us down, we do not have to accept the fear. With patience and mindfulness we can avoid the anger, frustration and fear of this enforced isolation. We can find peace in everything being temporary which shall all pass with time. Fear forces us into fight or flight mode, or into survival mode. Effective decision making and survival are not good bed companions. We can be confident that in survival mode induced by fear mixed with the cocktail of good decisions are a contradiction and the fear will render us stupid.
Much of life today is guided by fear and misery. Both do not like to be alone and both thrive with company and many friends. Fear and misery are a great sales team and like to recruit others into their darkness. We are constantly afraid and fearful of loneliness, rejection, lack of love, poverty and that we will not have food for tomorrow. Fear and misery are reactive.
The only fear we should entertain is the fear of being a bad person. Fear shrinks us and we are designed to be expansive. There is a relevant story about two wolves. The one that grows strong is the one we feed. Love makes us kind, fear makes us blind. Nobody wishes to be wrong. We all wish to be right all the time. It will go a long way to living right if we can recognise fear and rather than continuously react with survival mode, we should realise that we have the ability to be responsible. This means that we have the ability to respond in an infinite number of ways. Thus, we can make a decision based on these alternative possible responses on which no limit is imposed. The rule is, if one responds through fear one is sure to sabotage oneself but, by removing oneself from the fear and taking the responsible decision route the chance that of expanding is highly improved by not experiencing the negative impact of survival mode and the constant dangerous rush of adrenaline and hypo activity.
Fear is a dangerous virus, just like the plague they are both killers. Choose rather to thrive.
Thriving requires discipline which comprises grit, strength and courage to face the gravity of a situation or situations. Today’s challenges may be easy to respond to. As my brother-in-law says: “fu…. toughen up”. Respond rather than react. Be present. The map is not the geography. Everything is temporary and shall pass. Be patient. Be mindful. Be kind. Be in service. Be considerate. Help those in fear. Please be a good human to all who share this earth.
Happiness and grace result from the ability to face, confront and challenge fear and ultimately kill it. If fear controls us we cannot confront it. When we challenge fear the result can be the opposite which is pleasure. When we deny or avoid fear we end up cluttering our subconscious mind and this is just garbage that we should not keep.
Meditation is the sanitizer of the subconscious.
Phil Britz
