Is fear the root of all evil?

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I used to think that money was the root of all evil- but the love of money is derived from greed. And the root of greed is fear.

So, is fear the root of all evil?

I understand that it times we can all be afraid, and that this fear is a part of self preservation and survival. Fear serves a purpose, it make us aware of our environment, it can teach us about our surroundings, and protect us from making the same mistake twice. Fear also highlights the things that are most important to us- the things that we seek to protect and are afraid to lose. Fear may help keep us safe but it also keeps us from growth, progress and love. Facing our fears teaches us courage, wisdom and love.

Im thinking that fear is the opposite to love.

What do you think?


Some good quotes
Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering - Yoda

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified, terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance - Franklin Roosevelt

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain - Dune, Frank Herbert

And some quotes from favourite thinker - Zindell

The power of ahimsa is not just the readiness to die. It is the willingness to live. To live utterly without fear - this is a fearsome thing.

'All living things are afraid to die'
'No, you're exactly wrong, the only truly alive beings are those unafraid to die.'

Yes, I could create myself, but to create I must uncreate first. To die is to live; to live I die.

All rules and boundaries must someday be broken. How else can we go beyond ourselves? A thallow chick must break out of his egg, but this does not mean that the shell is without value.

You must remember that an oak tree is not a crime against the acorn.
 
Wait, before we continue on this path of reasoning, how did you come to the conclusion that the root of greed is fear?
 
Asarya said:
I used to think that money was the root of all evil- but the love of money is derived from greed. And the root of greed is fear.

So, is fear the root of all evil?

I understand that it times we can all be afraid, and that this fear is a part of self preservation and survival. Fear serves a purpose, it make us aware of our environment, it can teach us about our surroundings, and protect us from making the same mistake twice. Fear also highlights the things that are most important to us- the things that we seek to protect and are afraid to lose. Fear may help keep us safe but it also keeps us from growth, progress and love. Facing our fears teaches us courage, wisdom and love.

Im thinking that fear is the opposite to love.

What do you think?


Some good quotes
Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering - Yoda

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified, terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance - Franklin Roosevelt

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain - Dune, Frank Herbert

And some quotes from favourite thinker - Zindell

The power of ahimsa is not just the readiness to die. It is the willingness to live. To live utterly without fear - this is a fearsome thing.

'All living things are afraid to die'
'No, you're exactly wrong, the only truly alive beings are those unafraid to die.'

Yes, I could create myself, but to create I must uncreate first. To die is to live; to live I die.

All rules and boundaries must someday be broken. How else can we go beyond ourselves? A thallow chick must break out of his egg, but this does not mean that the shell is without value.

You must remember that an oak tree is not a crime against the acorn.
Click to expand...

I've not heard of this "Zindell" - but I sure do like their quotes! :)


I'm not into calling things good and evil. Life is lived in the grey areas and "good" and "evil" seem too black&white....

I do agree the root of grasping/clinging/greed is fear. It can usually be found at the base of anger and hatred too.

The fear I will not survive drives me crazy.... In other words - I do harmful acts when I'm reacting from the position of fear. Harmful acts to others - maybe. Definitely harmful acts to myself. :nod: It holds me down - keeps me frozen(in fear) - blocks my energy - damps down my creative thinking ability.

I also agree that Fear is the other side of Love.

Every day that I show compassionate love to myself while noting my current fear state - is a victory over my Fear. It's a constant struggle...
 
I can't help it but I am cracking up right now because this discussion is making me think of the movie Donnie Darko.
 
Jill Hives said:
I can't help it but I am cracking up right now because this discussion is making me think of the movie Donnie Darko.
Click to expand...

Why Donnie Darko?

Hey. I can always use a moment to laugh in the face of my Fear.
 
Kgal said:
Why Donnie Darko?

Hey. I can always use a moment to laugh in the face of my Fear.
Click to expand...

[video=youtube;w_COrb6scJM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_COrb6scJM[/video]

This is the particular scene from the movie I was talking about. Seemed easiest just to post a clip...haha.

Also I don't mean to imply by this that I think this general idea is quackery or something, it actually makes quite a bit of sense to me. I just thought that scene was funny and so I giggled when it reminded me of it.
 
[MENTION=3240]Jill Hives[/MENTION]

You're right! It is funny! I burst out laughing at the end when the idiot teacher described what he told her!

Thanks for the guffaw! :w:
 
Money beeing the root of evil also always puzzled me. So I agree with greed beeing the root of evil. But I'm very interested in how fear is the root of greed, for I don't how this might be right (at the moment).
 
My sense is that one cannot ascertain cause and effect in a uni-verse of no-thing-ness by means of dualism in thought.


cheers,
Ian
 
aeon said:
My sense is that one cannot ascertain cause and effect in a uni-verse of no-thing-ness by means of dualism in thought.


cheers,
Ian
Click to expand...
i dont know what you mean, could you elaborate please?
 
I haven't shared this too much. More than that, it was the realisation of me, the one which made me want to live again, the one which made me feel truly alive again. It was the realisation of how fear controlled my life.

And it's the conclusion of many different great thinkers, all over the world. Perhaps the most important one. I don't want to fear anything anymore. And when I truly am free of my fears, I'm good to go. I can go wherever I want. I can be whatever I want. And it will make me feel alive.
 
Kmal said:
i dont know what you mean, could you elaborate please?
Click to expand...

I think (i might be wrong) that he is referring to the idea that we are not really experiencing our physical reality but creating a projection of it. This illusion of reality (maya) is an illusion of duality. In this case enlightenment is understanding and experiencing that everything and everyone are one and not seperate.

So the idea of seeing things as either fear or love is an unenlightened view because it is enforcing the duality that upholds the illusion that is our reality

Some spritual paths are about transcending the world of duality ('non-dualism')

In this physical plane (malkuth on the tree of life) we see everything in terms of dualism and our very creation comes about by the act of self awareness with which comes a sense of seperateness and fear as we become self aware units of consciousness

In this sense fear creates the reality and the matrix is solidified by fear

These are old concepts and tie into ideas of occult groups exerting control over humanity through the use of fear, duality and seperateness

The news churns out fear inducing stories all the time, the media has people stressing over whether or not they are fitting in with all the latest trends and we are conditioned to see oursevles as seperate from others whether it is by race, religion, nationality, sports team, social class etc and this ties into the idea that there are people who have occult knowledge behind the mainstream media and that they are using fear to control people.

As Asarya's quote from dune said 'fear is the mind killer'. Fear closes down the mind. We get flooded with adrenaline and it induces a fight or flight response. Reality becomes more tunnel visioned and we think less rationally.

So if you are a power elite and you want to get the support of the public to go to war so that you can exploit the resources of another country then you have to 'manufacture the consent' (Chomsky) of the public and you do this by waging a Public Relations campaign through the media to demonise your enemy, blame problems on them and to make claims that they are a threat to the public (eg they have or will have weapons of mass destruction)

As an economist said the power elite 'manage perceptions'. The power elites who run our countries invest vast amounts of money in engineering and managing our perceptions and that process starts at birth.

So in a sense fear really is at the heart of many of our problems. It is a fear born from a failure to realise our interconnectedness. The power elites who cultivate so much fear among us know how to use fear to manipulate us and this fear increases the sense of duality and seperatedness and solidifies the reality of duality and seperateness that we are all projecting, binding us to it.

However what enables things to continue is ignorance, so the real battle is against ignorance.

The power elites big fear is that we will all wake up from their spell and overthrow them so they are making preparations for this event because they know more and more people are waking up.
 
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Asarya said:
I used to think that money was the root of all evil- but the love of money is derived from greed. And the root of greed is fear.

So, is fear the root of all evil?


What do you think?
Click to expand...

the part i bolded seems backwards. it's the love of money that creates greed, not the other way around.
therefore, the root of greed is money, not fear.
 
You can be greedy without money though, so what is the root of greed? The self?

I don't see how fear and greed go together, or how fear is evil. Idk. I'm watching tv too. Probably shouldn't comment right now. Lol. I always saw fear as having to do with lack of control, not a self preservation thing. Most fears are irrational.
 
Greed - clinging - grasping - of anything always arises from the fear of losing _______ or fear of not having enough _______.

You fill in the blank.

Example:

Mostly it's about the fear I will not survive. The fear I will not survive past the next 4 months is driving me to be greedy. To grasp on to perceived assets that might help me survive. I act small - shallow - am limited in my thinking ability - not able to generate other options. I want what my sister allegedly has received from my mom after Dad's death. I want the things I should concede over to my ex because I think they may provide me with a short term income in the months to come.

Can you see where my greed is rooted in Fear?

The part about me worrying if I will survive after June is true. The rest of it is (thankfully) not true. Although I caught myself reacting that way a couple months back. I have since let go of it all. Whatever happens to me....I will not be greedy or grasping or small or mean. It just doesn't feel right for me to act in that manner. Besides...I'm attempting to face - or dance (if you will) with my Fear so I can be free. Might as well look at it face to face. :scared:

[MENTION=3255]Sali[/MENTION] asked what's wrong with loving money. [ugh] Loving money seems weird to me.
But Desire I can see being an appropriate word. There's nothing wrong with desiring money as long as it doesn't control your life or make you react with fear when you don't get any.

As with any act a human can do - it's the grasping/clinging/holding on to it - at all costs - that indicates one is into the fear zone.
Greed is the word to describe it all.
 
aeon said:
My sense is that one cannot ascertain cause and effect in a uni-verse of no-thing-ness by means of dualism in thought.


cheers,
Ian
Click to expand...

Yes. aeon. Of course you're correct. But I need to dance with my fear - to dive into the maw of my monster - before I can arrive at "that" place of understanding.

It's a pleasure to see you here! :D
 
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