The True Nature of Fear: What Everyone Should Know but Doesn’t
By Dr José Stevens, PhD
Posted on February 15, 2025
-Fear! Who does not experience fear? Almost no one. It runs uncontrolled like a wildfire through our lives.
It is there when we wake up in the morning and before we go to sleep at night and in our dreams. It is there unbidden throughout the day, on and off, on and off, a theme as familiar as sadness, anger and, yes, love. Fear is definitely to be found all throughout the natural world and can especially be seen in the animal kingdom and, because we have animal bodies, we have it too. In fact, if you look closely, you will see that fear is part of the structure of nature and it has its own properties, rules that it follows, and highly predictable aspects. Without the vibration of fear, many animals would not be able to get a good meal. Take the little mouse as an example. The mouse has its eyes on the sides of its face and so we can see it is prey rather than predator and it is hunted by many different predators. When the lowly mouse goes out at night to forage it is in a constant state of fear, eyes glancing around, whiskers twitching, body trembling, squeaking with anxiety. This is just part of the reality of what it is to be a mouse.
The owl is a fearsome predator, seeking its prey at night. Although owls have big eyes to see in dim light, that is not the only sense she uses to spot the mouse. In fact, the owl is like a heat seeking missile. It is highly sensitive to the vibration of fear and it is the mouse’s fear that lets the owl know exactly where it is. The thing the mouse thinks that will save it is what draws its death to it. Other prey like rabbits function the same way. Since they are designated by nature to be eaten by larger predators they are designed with a fear response that makes them noticeable to the predator. They are usually assured of a swift and merciful death. In fact, mice and rabbits are both very loosely tethered to their bodies so they can vacate them within a second’s notice. This is nature’s way.
What if there were a mouse that had no fear whatsoever of predators? The owl would not be interested in that mouse because in their estimation it would not be acting like a real mouse. Real mice are afraid and that is the only mouse they are interested in eating. Think about that for a while. Of what relevance is this to you?
Humans are in the simian family and they are very efficient predators with their opposable thumbs, ability to run fast and far, and their sharp strategic brains. They also have the predator characteristic of having their eyes facing forward, not on the sides of their heads for detection of threats from behind. However, as we know humans, like all predators, are sometimes the prey themselves and this causes them considerable caution and fear. In fact, the human beings greatest fear is annihilation. No matter what the threat is, whether it is being mugged on a dark street, or having to face an audience for public speaking, or being humiliated in front of others, the secret or not so secret fear is always annihilation, “I won’t survive this.” So great is this fear that it motivates people to use all kinds of strategies to lower the risks involved. This could mean avoidance, denial, projection, and a host of other defense mechanisms, all designed to avoid a perceived threat to their well-being. What humans don’t realize is that these strategies are also the very thing that will draw their worst fears to themselves just like the mice, just like the rabbits. The strategies really just mask the fear on the surface but the vibration of fear is still there, broadcasting for all to notice.
Criminals, thieves, muggers, rapists, child molesters and the like are all predators who are surveilling their surroundings for vulnerability and weakness. They readily admit this to law enforcement. They are watching for fear, for uncertainty, for low self-esteem and so on. This is what draws them to their victims. Once again fear is the magnet that brings them to choose their victims. The same thing happens with law enforcement that choose someone to bully or harass, and this same phenomenon happens on the schoolground and on the internet with bullies and victims.
Human beings have developed the rather strange logic that fear is what is going to save them from the tiger. They see it as part of the fight or flight response, the motive to get away quickly or fight to the death. The truth is that the fight or flight response can be activated without fear’s involvement. You don’t have to be afraid to seek to avoid the shark, the bear, the criminal and so on. Master martial artists know this and understand that it is extremely important to maintain neutrality when being attacked by an opponent or you are going to end up pinned to the floor. Fear is not their friend nor is it yours, ever. You are much more efficient coming from neutrality than coming from fear. In Japan it was said that among the Samurai that the soldier who was already dead was the most lethal opponent one could face because they had no fear of dying.
Fear has a number of predictable characteristics and this allows it to be used as a vicious tool by unscrupulous politicians, tyrants, dictators and their minions or toadies.
The first predictable characteristic is that fear always begets more fear. If you are afraid of one thing it makes it more probable that you will be afraid of all that fall into that class of things. A man who is afraid of a woman, for example his mother, is more likely to become afraid of all women than a man who is afraid of none. This goes for women who are afraid of men as well. If a dog has bitten you as a child and you became afraid of dogs in general this is going to make a significant impact on your life even though it is mostly illusion. All dogs are not likely to bite you. Even so it is true that people who are afraid of animals are more likely to be attacked by animals because the fear transfers to the animal and it becomes more afraid and bites to protect itself.
As an example, one time I was walking with my dog Sancho in the mountains behind Santa Fe, on an unofficial trail where leashes were not required. There were no people around and I saw no need to keep him on his leash, especially since I had a rotator cuff injury and did1 not want it to get worse. Suddenly a woman showed up from around a corner and displayed a great deal of anxiety. She began to yell at me to put him on his leash which I was already doing but she was not placated. I tried to calm her down telling her that he was a friendly dog and had never bitten anyone but she was so agitated and screaming at me that Sancho began to grow uncomfortable with her and started to growl and seeing that she could not be calmed down and starting verbally attacking me for being a man trying to shush a woman, I saw the situation was deteriorating. All I could do was trot away quickly to get Sancho away from her and her away from him. She continued to berate me from afar and the whole thing was a great example of fear begetting more fear because even I became worried of what Sancho might do if she were to try to attack me physically, which was a very real possibility given her aggression toward me. It became obvious to me that she had other issues. One fear spread quickly to a number of fears.
This example leads us to the second predictable characteristic that what you fear can easily be associated with other similar but different things. If you are bitten by a black dog as a child and you run into something that reminds you of that dog, perhaps a black coat or different animal comes along who happens to remind you of that dog, the fear will spread to all similar but different objects. Before you know it, anything that is black and furry including a person with a mop of black hair is going to remind you of that dog and you will be afraid of them all. Perhaps the actual fear has more to do with someone of a different sex or how one was treated as a child. If you are afraid of the dynamics of one conspiracy theory you can easily fall prey to others until that is your reality, everything is going to kill you. If you know this you can easily set traps for people and make them more and more afraid and the more they are afraid the more you can control their behavior.
A third characteristic of fear is that it is catching from others like a virus. This is the motive behind mob behavior. In Salem people were afraid of witches because they had been programmed by religious authorities that witches were in league with the devil and therefore, they could lose their souls if a witch was amongst them, the fear of annihilation again. So, this fear spread from person to person and mobs would set out looking for witches to turn in, burn, and kill. This too could be manipulated by those seeking power and control over others. Notice how this is as operative today as it was in the past.
Now realize that the younger the soul age of a person, the more likely they will be unreasonably afraid. Infant souls are literally afraid of everything they consider “not me.” Toddler souls are deathly afraid of anything that is different from what they feel safe with. This is why toddlers often cling to their mothers and turn away from an unfamiliar person. For a toddler, this prejudice is common and understandable. It is part of their developmental stage. However, an adult who turns away from others because they have black or brown skin is acting no differently than a toddler but they cannot see that for themselves.
A young latency age child is afraid of being bullied or losing to an older, stronger, smarter child. Young souls are afraid of losing in the high stakes game of winner take all and he who dies with the most toys wins. They are afraid of not becoming Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos.
Adolescents are afraid of not being understood, of not connecting with their peers or being considered weird or nerds. Adolescent souls are afraid of the same things. Adults are afraid of not being good parents, friends, or responsible citizens because at times ego gets in the way. Old souls are not afraid of much but what really scares them is giving up the ego once and for all. Notice that every one of them is afraid of annihilation one way or another. That is always lurking behind the human experience. The cure for the fear of annihilation is to finally get annihilated and find out that it didn’t hurt, it didn’t actually work, and that you are perfectly fine without the burden of an ego that is constantly threatening you. This is where the Taoist sage laughs long and hard.
Fear then is not necessary to human survival at all. What is necessary is to be mindful, discerning, and prudent in the situation. If someone yells shark at the beach, make your way out of the water without too much splashing. No need to display panic. If someone yells fire in a theatre it is best for people to move toward the exits in a mindful way and everyone will more likely get out safely than if everyone panics. The emotion of fear has been around for a long, long time and most people are so afraid that they are unable to remain neutral. This is what kills them and others just as fear ultimately kills the mouse and the rabbit.
To conclude, it is helpful to realize that, in reality, every fear adds up to a denial of Spirit. Being afraid is like saying, “No one cares about me enough to protect me from annihilation, not even Spirit”. The reality is that Spirit is always protecting us from annihilation infinitely and eternally. Consciousness is indestructible. Awareness is permanent. This is the truth that was trying to be told by the resurrection of Jesus story. It was archetypal story of “don’t be afraid. It’s all okay.” It always was okay and it will always be okay. Ultimately, our mission as human beings is to transcend fear in all its shapes and forms because it is merely a product of the ego and not the truth for us on an essence level. Ultimately, we are not objects that can be destroyed. We are indestructible consciousness.
Jose Stevens
