Yesterday, the news of the tragic plane crash in Ahmedabad filled everybody with tears and fear. When we hear such news, our mind immediately transports us to the scene, and we feel the pain that the travellers would have gone through. We are also concerned about the surviving children and their family members, as well as their future. But we do not want to live with those emotions, and therefore, we immediately withdraw our attention from that news and divert the same towards the task at hand. Some of us have the luxury of time and watch the same news again and again on different news channels and get panicky about every family member or friend travelling by flight in the next few days. However, soon the practicalities of the world take over, and we tend to believe that if something happens, we will be the lucky survivor, and the show goes on.
The show goes on, but does the fear go? No fear stays in the background, and that's why till the memories of the incident are alive, every time we travel by flight or any of the family members or friends travel, we would experience unconscious or conscious stress. Fear of death is one of the biggest fears, but that is not the sole fear. We listen to the news about financial crises in different parts of the world, wars among nations, new diseases like COVID-19, and rising mental disorders among kids. All this news worries us. There is constant work pressure and stress in the workplace. We are concerned not only about ourselves but also the well-being of our kids and family members.
Can somebody dare to live fearlessly in such a world? Stock markets are so volatile, and yet we see people earning millions from the market. We also see people losing millions in the market. We see people driving at a very controlled speed and yet meeting accidents on the highways, and we also see people driving in a Formula One race. We see people falling off the cliff while taking selfies. We also see many people hiking the toughest of the peaks. Do the people investing in a volatile market, or driving in a Formula One race, or hiking the highest of the peaks, are blessed ones, and others are cursed? Or are they made of a different metal? Definitely not. There is a famous tag line of an advertisement that "Dhar sab ko lagta hai, gala sabka sookhta hai". That means everybody feels the fear while he is about to enter a dangerous situation. But it is not drinking cola that helps, but it is awareness that helps.
This awareness is of two types. First, the awareness of the ecosystem. We can be aware of only one thing at a time, just like the screen of a laptop. There can be only one document on the screen at a time. Thus, we have a choice regarding the object of observation. There is no doubt that the mind would try to take us back to the "cause of worry" every moment. It would try to think of thousands of different iterations of the "cause of worry" and project "thousands of possibilities" and contemplate them. It would try to find solutions to almost every possibility. Therefore, not so that the mind is "dull", but it is "stuck" in its imagination, and therefore it is unable to be in the present moment and observe reality. Due to that, it loses awareness of reality and takes "stupid" decisions in the present moment to add more payload to the worried mind. That's how we enter into a "loop of worry". This is because the center of our existence becomes "elimination of the fear."
Then how do the expert hikers, drivers, and investors get out of this loop. The experts have a different center. That set "excellence" at the center of their lives and therefore made them extremely mindful of the minute details. They train their minds to be extremely "aware" in the present moment. Not so that they are not afraid, but in the moments of crisis, they have something to work on. Their minds can work out a solution, and they can actively work on that solution. While an ordinary person is not able to connect the dots and foresee the solution, they are able to not only foresee that solution but also to work on that. It comes with years of practice and patience. Nobody can hike the difficult terrains or carry out a dangerous stunt by just drinking a cold drink.
The second type of awareness is more fundamental, which is why it is quite rare. This is the awareness of the inner self—awareness of what we truly are. When someone becomes aware of who they are, it becomes clear that we inhabit different bodies in various lives to fulfill specific tasks, and when the purpose is fulfilled, we move on to a different body. When people recognize this reality, they become truly fearless. They dare to stand up to the colonial government, fully aware of the tortures inflicted on freedom fighters. They venture into the unknown depths of the ocean, or navigate uncharted waters without a Google map, just to explore new countries. They dare to travel to the Moon. They invest their entire lives in unraveling the secrets of nature. With this awareness, external objects of pleasure and comfort, as well as social validation, seem tasteless compared to the inner drive. This awareness alters our entire decision-making framework. It is more painful to bear the thought of life wasted on meaningless pursuits, and that "deep pain" provides the courage to overcome fear and heed the "call of the soul." The more we cling to the securities of the external world, the further we distance ourselves from our inner selves, making it increasingly difficult to appreciate that inner world. An insecure mind cannot perceive reality in either the outer world or the inner one.
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