Uncertainty is the root of fear
Distrust is the root of uncertainty
Scarcity is the root of distrust
Hostility is the root of scarcity
Sorrow is the root of hostility
Attachment is the root of sorrow
Fear is the root of attachment
Chaos is the root of all
Harmony is the equal opposite of chaos
Fear is what we perceive to be the face of a monster that guards the gates of our forward movement. It keeps us either stuck in the same spot or moving backwards, but, in my experience, fear has only been a problem when I turn my back on it. However, when I do so, what I can’t see seems larger and more menacing than it really is. Every time that I’ve taken a deep breath and faced that fear, its threat diminished, sometimes enough for me to take tentative steps toward it. To take those steps, though, I had to release myself from the suffering at the source of that fear whether it was being emotionally honest with a friend, giving a speech to a crowd, or wondering whether Erik was gone forever.
Children seem to be more capable of facing their fears. I suppose they haven’t burned their little fingers in enough candle flames. I remember when Erik was around 18 months old, he used to be terrified by the sound of the vacuum cleaner. I didn’t like it either, but that was for other reasons altogether. But, regardless of his fear, Erik would run toward it, crying. Again, we can learn a lot from our children.
Me: Can you explain how fear is the root of attachment?
Erik: Again, the ego has to attach itself to something to feel real, like it has a stronger identity. If the ego doesn’t have that identity, it gets scared shitless of annihilation. It doesn’t want to be “nobody.” It has to define itself in some way, even if it’s “I’m not worthy of love.”
Me: Yeah.
Erik: There was a woman; her parents sold her into slavery when she was really young because they needed money. She’s alive now. Someone made a phone call cuz something seemed suspicious, so she got saved. For the major portion of her life she suffered from malnutrition and other forms of neglect. No love. Made as dependent as a little kid. She could have easily attached to that and let that ruin her life, but she found a way to say, “Oh yeah. That is me. That’s a part of me. I can’t bury it. I can’t scrape it off of me. I can never get rid of that past, but I don’t have to let it harm me. She chose to accept it without attaching to it. She’s an example of someone who understood how to accept a very tragic past of abuse and suffering and say, “I’m still in this life. That was a chapter in my life. I won’t ignore it. I’ll still talk about it if people want to know about it, but it will no longer be a part of the way I make choices that aren’t in my best interest. “ She stays in the present, and, in the present, she’s not being abused. She’s not a slave. She’s a free woman who’s married with a family, and she allows her present life to help her make her choices rather than her past.
Me: Yeah, it seems like the ego concentrates on the past and makes decisions and creates thoughts, assumptions and beliefs that don’t serve it based on that.
Sorry this was kind of short. If you guys have any requests for subjects for our YouTube videos (other than celebrities because I have tons of those,) please suggest them in the comments section. Thanks!
