Thinking born of fear is negative and destructive. A fearful man is incapable of right thinking. Fear dulls his mind and heart, blunting his thinking. It would be futile to expect a fear-ridden brain to function normally. Such a brain cannot think constructively. The first condition for rational thinking is total freedom from fear. The mind must be absolutely fearless. Indeed, the whole environment must be free from fear, Only in the right atmosphere will rational thinking be possible. A man oppressed by fear cannot think straight.
What makes us afraid? Why is man tormented by fear? In fact, fear is the outcome of wrong thinking. A man's individuality is determined by his thoughts. We become fearful because we accept certain ideas and beliefs. A man who has understood even a little bit of spirituality, whose dry and anguished existence has been even slightly touched by the grace of religion, cannot but be fearless. He who is not fearless cannot be spiritual or religious. Fear is the root of all disease, of all conflict and of unspiritual experiences. Can a fearful man experience truth? He certainly cannot.
People talk of soul and god endlessly, but they still live in illusion. How can a man gripped by fear know anything about highly-subtle, supra-sensual elements? The mind is never free of fear — fear of disease, fear of old age, fear of death and separation, fear of loss, etc. The soul can never manifest itself in a state of fear. Fear can only give rise to a goblin; it can never lead us to god. Fear is the creator of evil spirits. It takes the form of a ghost or demon. In the very moment of fear, the ghost begins to take shape before our eyes. It is the projection of a fear-afflicted mind. Is such a mind capable of any knowledge?
Unless we can rid ourselves of fear, there is no way that we can achieve a state of spirituality. We should strive to conquer our fears on a daily basis. For, it is only when we face fear that we are able to bring what is essentially hidden in our subconscious to our conscious. And it is when we view our fears through the prism of our conscious mind that we understand the futility of being fearful.
