Faith in God can be a great help in confronting any danger, real or imaginary. When we believe in a benign Divine Being whose presence and power permeates the universe, we feel protected.



When we believe all that happens is in some way controlled or allowed by wise and just Universal Laws, then we have faith that even seemingly accidental and unjust events have some higher purpose, and thus a higher justice, even when we are not able to understand it.

This is a matter of faith, which means we believe in a power or higher law that we cannot perceive or prove exists. If we could see the divine or its laws, we would call this knowledge instead of faith.

Faith and knowledge are the ultimate solutions to fear. No one can guarantee that something what we fear will not happen. It is probably very unlikely, but the possibility is always there.

Thus, the ultimate solution to fear is positive thinking:

a. A belief that all will turn out well.

b. But at the same time, we know that whatever happens will be the best possible solution for our growth process.

c. And that we do have the power to handle it.

The situations we fear offer us an opportunity to grow stronger and more self-confident. Faith in a Divine Justice allows us to enter openly into every situation knowing that we will encounter only what serves our own evolutionary process, whether it be pleasant or unpleasant.

Guilt and Fear

Some of us who are ridden with unreasonable fears may be suffering from subconscious guilt. Often our fear is based on the belief that we will be punished in some way for "sins." We have been programmed to believe that we are not pure or good, and that because of this, we have lost divine protection and that we might be punished. Thus, guilt leads to fear.

Conversely, recognizing our inner divine nature and our innate oneness with the universe will allow us to experience inner security.

Wisdom

By practicing spiritual knowledge or discrimination between our Selves and our minds, we can observe fear functioning on its own. The idea here is that since we can observe the mind and comment on its activity, obviously, we cannot be the mind, but rather some higher entity that is observing it.

Thus, we can see that it is not our true Self that is expressing fear, but the mind, which is only an organ or instrument. We can watch the mind, the imagination and the whole passing drama of our lives as a witness.

We can reaffirm,

"I am not this body.

I am not this mind.

I am not this fear.

I am the witness of all this."

Those who believe so can add,

"I am a soul in union with all other souls and with God."

When we begin to feel the truth of these statements, we no longer fear others, because there are no others. We realize our oneness with all. We feel a loving union and thus security with all.

The fear created by the cut umbilical cord and the feeling of separateness is removed, because a spiritual umbilical cord has been reestablished to the all Creation.

Pure Love

The development of pure love is also an ultimate solution for fear. We cannot fear what we love. Love is based on unity and fear on alienation - separateness.

St. John the Evangelist wrote in one of his letters, "There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone who is afraid?"

Love and understanding walk together hand in hand. We love when we understand others, and we understand when we love. When we are filled with love for all, we will not feel isolated and therefore intimidated by our environment.

Many children and young animals feel this loving union with their environment, having not yet learned fearful reactions. A dog, cat, snake and lion all growing up together from infancy would feel no threat from, or fear of, each other.

This reminds me of a true story told to me by a friend. He was hiking in the mountains of Colorado and began repeating a prayer as he walked. The more he repeated the prayer, the happier and more in love he was with all he saw around him.

He began running down the path in ecstasy feeling unity with all around him. As he turned a bend in the path, he found himself face to face with a mountain lion only two meters away.

He looked into the lion's eyes and said with love, "Do not be afraid, I will not harm you."

He could not feel fear in his state of love and unity.

The lion turned and walked off.

We suggest that you read the previous and forthcoming sections of this series.