The Selfish Side Of Fear

The Selfish Side of Fear

Those who are in great fear are so intent on their own passion that  they pay no attention to the suffering of others.

Thomas Aquinas Cited in The Christian Mystics

Matthew Fox looks at the nature of fear and comments on how Aquinas looked at the implications of having or holding fear in our lives…

Fear is a great passion. It can take over our souls. That is why Aquinas warns us that to build our lives on fear is to banish compassion. Our fear can swallow our care for others. It ruins our lives, and it also ruins our potential for making community, building friendships, and exercising love. If fear is the opposite of love, it is also the slayer of love and compassion.

Beware of fear! Develop a prayer life that stands up to fear and keeps fear outside the door of our hearts.”

“[Fear is the anchor of the ego, and that it is God’s love that casts out fear…]” and if these truths abide and hold power, then Aquinas is right in his emphasis on our human need to overcome fear;

first, as a focal point for our own spiritual maturation and greater understanding, and second, as a way that ensures justice and compassion.

Both Fox and Aquinas speak of the dismal state of human society if it is allowed to run on fear…

It is a virulent danger that spreads in ways that makes any sense of true community unrealistic, and any true sense of connection for mutual support and unselfish caring impossible.

Fear paralyzes perception. When fear clouds our eyes and locks away our hearts, selfishness reigns and compassion becomes a rare expression of our universal brother/sisterhood. As Fox puts it, fear swallows us, and I would add makes not only swallow our best and most altruistic intentions but fear also makes us wallow in our dysfunctions, apprehensions, and makes us feel so self consumed, so self protected, that we fail at caring for others in any meaningful way.

Maybe that is it… We cannot be or even start to become our “brother/sister’s keepers” or keep any of the Gospel mandates for peace, justice, and healing if we allow fear to rule our reactions to life. Courage, being the effective antidote to fear, is being asked of us if we ever desire to attain the King/Queendom of God and its reality on earth.