WHAT IS FEAR?
Fear is defined as “an
intense emotion that can be caused by the anticipation of danger, pain or evil.
It can be real or imagined threat.”
There is hardly a person
in this world who is free from all sorts of fear. Even if you do not commit a
wrong, you may be fearful.
Diseases, accidents, losses,
anticipated legal actions, separation
from dear and near ones, natural calamities – all these and many more are there to make you fearful.
The best way to avoid
fears is to commit no wrong, live a disciplined life, accept natural fears as a
universal phenomenon, and trust in God for standing by you in every adversity.
There are universal
events which happen to everybody like falling ill, growing old, losing near and
dear ones, facing occupational hazards and
Cherishing worries about unexpected events.
The English
poet-playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) said : Present fears are less
than horrible imaginings.
And the Irish poet and writer Oliver Goldsmith
(1728-1774 ) said: Fear guides more to duty than gratitude. For one man who is
virtuous from the love of virtue, or from the obligation he thinks he lies
under to the giver of all, there are thousands who are good only from their
apprehension of punishment.
The American clergy Henry
Ward Beecher (1813-1887) had this to say: God planted fear in the soul as truly
as he planted hope or courage. It is a kind of bell or gong which rings the
mind into quick life and avoidance on the approach of danger. It is the soul’s
signal for rallying.
One of the ugly sides of fear is that it can
make some people commit evils.
Finally,
the following words of the French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal (1623-1662):
There is a virtuous fear which is the effect of faith, and a vicious fear which
is the product of doubt and distrust. The former leads to hope as relying on
God, in whom we believe; the latter inclines to despair as not relying upon
God, in whom we do not believe. Persons of the one character fear to lose God;
those of the other character fear to find him.
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G.R. Kanwal
10th March 2025
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