Neurotic no more

Love takes off the masks that we use in fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. - James Baldwin

Fear is the belief in limitation, a denial that the Divine is the Center and the Source of all good. – The Science of Mind pg 404


In our teaching we don’t encourage fear as a tool for living, and sometimes we wonder if it’s possible to live entirely without it. A consideration might be, “If it isn’t, which particular fears would I choose to hang onto?” I find it beneficial to draw a distinction between “healthy respect” and “fear.” The Bible speaks alternately of loving and fearing God, and in both instances it means respecting, deferring to, and feeling awe about – not cowering before God’s dreaded wrath.

For example, in the rainy season, which in my area is pretty much anytime, there are snakes around. They like to nest in swimming pool filters, which can add excitement to any party. Some snakes have fangs and bite people, and some don’t, but I can’t tell which is which at a glance, and a glance may be all I get, so I pay them all healthy respect. On the other hand, an abnormal, obsessive fear of snakes would have me seeing them everywhere, slithering out of my shoes, say, when they weren’t there – this would be dysfunctional and neurotic.

Many of our fears qualify as neurotic, way beyond taking care of business. Dealing with a situation in the moment is one thing. Carrying it around our heads, or whole bodies, in the event it ever happens, can definitely get in the way of normal living. We can shake this off by filling our minds with other, more pleasant possibilities –as well as giving our minds plenty of downtime to just be, without needing to chew on any particular topic.

Today I can do what needs to be done, notice the way before me, and pace myself accordingly, I go my way in trust.