Do you, from time to time, experience the fear of robbing a bank?
How about when you consider it now? Does fear rise up from your belly?
No. Of course it doesn’t.
And why not? Why aren’t you feeling fear?
Wouldn’t you worry about getting caught or shot? Isn’t that scary?
You don’t feel fear, because you don’t actually have any desire to rob a bank.
Even if you pretend, in the back of your mind and in your heart, you know that you have no real desire to do it, therefore no fear arises.
You can only experience fear for things you have desire for.
You fear public speaking, because deep down a part of you wants to do it.
You fear talking to that man or woman, because deep down you want him or her to like you.
You fear that job interview, because you want the job.
You fear getting on an airplane, because you want to live.
You don’t have to feel fear.
Of course you don’t have to experience fear for every desire you have.
Maybe you want to live and you do NOT fear getting on an airplane.
Maybe you want that job and you do NOT fear the interview.
Maybe you want that man or woman to like you and you do NOT fear talking to him or her.
Maybe you want to be a public speaker and you do NOT fear doing it.
Fear & Desire are two sides of the same coin.
Imagine in the palm of your hand you hold a coin. At any moment, either the heads or tails can be facing up at you.
In this same way, at any moment, you experience fear or desire based on which you focus on.
You feel fear or desire based only what you think about.
But can you fear things you don’t want?
Just as you can have desire without experiencing any fear, you can have fear without experiencing any desire.
Maybe you fear public speaking, but you think it doesn’t matter, because you don’t even want to.
Maybe you fear going for a new job, but you say you don’t even want it.
Maybe you fear getting on a plane, but say it doesn’t matter because you don’t want to travel.
Maybe you fear talking to that man or woman, but you tell yourself that you don’t care to anyway.
It’s BS though.
You can have fear without experiencing desire, but you can NOT have fear without there being desire.
That which you most fear is what you most desire.
What is that thing that scares you the most? What is your reoccurring fear?
In the face of such fear, have you ever told yourself, “Oh no, I don’t want to do that!”
It’s as if you are holding a coin in your clenched fist and most of the time you just ignore that it is there. But sometimes you forget and you open your hand, looking down at your palm, and you see that’s its tails – you feel the fear.
Every single time you open your hand – you feel the fear. After awhile it seems as if that is all there is. You become sure fear is the only way you can experience it.
But really, you have just never bothered to turn over the coin.
Reverse engineer your deepest desires from your greatest fears.
In the same way that you do not fear robbing a bank because you don’t really have any desire to do so – you have your greatest fear, because on the other side, you have a deepest desire.
If you don’t know what it is you most want – if you don’t know what is you must do – then consider what it is you experience the most fear around.
Face your fear, flip over the coin, indulge in imagination and allow yourself to be raptured by desire.
