Here are my two previous articles:
Since a year ago, the fear theme is very strongly recognized in so many people I meet in my daily life. I started questioning why people whose life seems beautiful still have a lot of fear. They’re the people who live their life like:
- Something bad/evil is coming after them
- Other people will always judge/reject them
- Avoiding mistakes like they’re the end of the world
Those attitudes become apparent to me when the owners of the attitude are near me. The attitudes get amplified when the owners react to me embracing uncertainty, letting go of identity, and welcoming failure. They seem to feel unsafe around me. That’s what has been bugging me a lot!
“Why are you afraid of me?”
That’s an important question, because I’ve always felt like a pretty safe human being to be around. In public space, people ask me for help when they get lost, even when I am equally lost in that place. Strangers talk about their problems and share their secrets with me even when they still see me again (no longer strangers). So, what makes certain people feel unsafe around me? What do these people have that I look intimidating instead of safe to them?
That’s the reason I’ve been writing about fear. I’ve been trying to discover our deepest fear. According to science, the most fundamental fear is fear of the unknown. That still doesn’t answer my question. Those people in public space and new acquaintance sharing secrets obviously don’t know about me, but they didn’t fear me. Fear of the unknown is just a part of the equation.
Then recently, I think I discovered the root of all fears. It’s the fear of rejection, because it’s a direct blow to our ego. If we don’t fear any rejection, facing the unknown is not a frightening endeavor. I observe the fear of rejection everywhere, because our society has been developing into a fertile ground for human’s ego to grow wildly.
I want to help creating a society that makes us safer to each other, hence allowing ego to stay necessary and stable like our breathing. That kind of society would allow us to embrace uncertainty, experiment with multiple identities, and forgive mistakes. That kind of society would promote people who are less likely to abuse power, discriminate, and punish (this is too far — another discussion!).
How does this idea of making us safer to each other sound to you?
Let me know :)
