Exploring Fearlessness through Embracing the Unknown
Delving into the depths of the Diamond Approach, one encounters the profound realization that fear, in its essence, is a manifestation of our own consciousness. By exploring fearlessness, we learn to embrace the arising emotions, whether it’s fear, hatred, or any other form. This exploration is not about avoidance but about allowing these feelings to reveal their true nature. As we give these emotions space, they naturally unfold, illuminating themselves and guiding us back to our True Nature. By understanding and following this thread of truth, we not only confront our fears but also discover the boundless potential of our inner selves.
There is objective fear and there is psychological fear. Objective fear is when you’re standing on the road facing a speeding truck or on a bridge getting ready to bungee-jump into a canyon – the reptilian brain is assessing raw data from a primitive place in the body, instinctual wisdom.
On the other hand, psychological fear is when we project the past onto a situation and the limbic brain starts a cascading effect of emotional and mental responses – some conscious and others unconscious. These are patterns of reactivity that run our lives, that we often assume to be part of who and what we are, that bore us to tears with their repetitive nature AND we mostly defend them to death – literally.
Fear is the same thing as desire. Fear and desire are two ends of the same stick. If you are afraid of being hurt, then you desire not to be hurt. If you are afraid you’re going to be rejected, then you desire acceptance. So fear is like desire, based on a rejection of what is now.
A. H. Almaas, Diamond Heart Book Two: The Freedom to Be
The Intertwined Nature of Fear and Desire
The journey of exploring fearlessness brings to light the intricate relationship between fear and desire. At the core, these two emotions are two ends of the same spectrum. Our fears often stem from deep-seated desires, and vice versa. For instance, the fear of disappearing or disintegration is intrinsically linked to our desire for existence and identity. By recognizing and understanding this interplay, we can navigate our emotions with greater clarity and purpose, leading us closer to a state of fearless spontaneity and genuine self-expression.
The optimizing thrust of life is on our side. It is constantly urging us to break out of our shells and frequently, in an act of compassion, will crack a few eggs.
The Curious World of Not-knowing
If we strip away the past from our present experience, we find ourselves in a very intriguing situation – we don’t know based on the past, we can only discover.
Fearlessness is not the absence of fear, nor is it the courage to meet or push through fear.
Fearlessness is “beginner’s mind” with fear.
Fear is a fresh, unknown experience. There is no comparison with past experience. There is what’s happening right now and the subjective phenomenology, the sensations of the happening.
Exploring these sensations, we might name an extreme openness, an infinite blackness, a high energy of immediacy, a total absence of what’s next, and so on. There might be the fullness of potential, a pregnancy of possibilities accompanied by excitation and a sense of thrill.
When we aren’t projecting the past onto the present and into the future, these are possible perceptions of the immediacy of what’s happening. When our interest is captured by what’s happening now instead of the future of the body, fear is supplanted with fearlessness, a state prior to the capacity for and habituation to fear.
This state is bare-naked perception, an on-the-edge-of-your-seat engagement with not-knowing and revelation.
A great inquiry for us is, “What is fear?” Exactly, what is the experience, the phenomenology, the experience of our experience of fear?
Transcending Fear Through Understanding
The path to exploring fearlessness is paved with understanding. Many of our fears, such as the fear of disappearing or the fear of the unknown, arise from misconceptions and unexplored territories of our psyche. The Diamond Approach teaches us that by confronting these fears head-on and seeking understanding, we can transcend them. Embracing the emptiness or the void, which might initially seem terrifying, can lead to profound peace and liberation. By surrendering to the process and allowing ourselves to dissolve into the vastness, we not only overcome our fears but also open the doors to boundless possibilities and true freedom.