Meeting Our Fear

Manjushri on Fear

Dear Friends...Many of us are swamped by fear., for ourselves, our country, and the world. There are skillful ways to address our fears, both those concerned with our survival and those created by our busy, imaginative minds.

You don't need me to point out how harmful it is to live with so much fear. President Roosevelt said it perfectly in an early radio address on the eve of World War II: "We need only fear fear itself."

Manjushri, the great Tibetan Teacher, describes powerful approaches to mitigate fear and its consequences. Though I received these Teachings 20 years ago, they seem astonishingly pertinent today.

I will offer some selections in the next several posts. This first one is from an essay, On Fear, available in full on my website, www.thewisdomteachings.org

You might also wish to read my book of Manjushri's Teachings, What in the World is Going On? Wisdom Teachings for Our Time, 2nd ed. (Green Fire Press, 2023)

On Fear

Write this down. Fear is not real. It has no substance. Yet it shapes most human behavior. We are sad, because humans are imprisoned by fear and in fear. This is not necessary. We wish to show you that fear is not necessary. Fear is not realistic. Fear is a human habit of mind. Many premises of fear are false and inaccurate. Fear no longer accomplishes what it originally was meant to accomplish – survival for reproduction, both as organisms and as cultures. Now, fear does just the opposite; it threatens the survival of both organisms and cultures.

This will be a piece about fear. The causes of fear must be made visible. The consequences of fear must be understood. The fearful must be healed. Each fearful being, each cause of fear, each consequence of fear, each theory of fear, and each response to fear must first be met with compassion. It must be fully received with compassion. Only compassion’s spaciousness – for there is nothing compassion cannot receive or acknowledge – can provide what is necessary for healing. Fear must be healed, one at a time, one person at a time. Fear can be healed. All fear can be healed. Every human being can be healed. Everyone is to be healed. The healers themselves must first be healed. Only then can the earth be healed.