Dealing With Fear

Wisdom from a Wonderful Spirit
Called Bartholomew 

I feel fear, so I know I am not master here.

Then your next step is to become master of that which you fear.

Unfortunately that is not what you usually do... you settle for the status quo...

What then is the way out? The real seeker becomes determined to find out why he is afraid.

A real master says no to self-doubt because he has the deep desire to see his fears and free himself from them.

You must become familiar with what the face of your fear looks like. Once you know that, you are in a position to become fearless.

Here is one way I would suggest you work with your fears...

When the fear is upon you, the first and foremost question to ask is: What does it feel like?

Your fear has a feeling to it... It grabs you at some point within your body... and it is strongly present.

The mind then takes hold of the feeling, starts to explain it, and tries to escape from it.

You never just let yourselves sit with it.

When you do sit with the feeling, right then you will discover that the fear is not all that encompassing.

It is present, and you will know it, but at the same time you will also know that there is a lot more of you that is not involved in the fear.

Once you know this... you will gain the courage to stay with that fear until you understand it.

If you think you are the fear, then there is nothing inside you except the terror, you must run from it.

Life would be intolerable in the face of terror so complete.

It is different when you realize that a vast amount of power, stability, compassion and even humor are also present.

It is as though you had injured your finger, but the rest of your body is all right.

You do not take such extreme measures as jumping off a cliff because your finger hurts.

You can manifest courage and confidence, because the rest of you is in fine shape.

It is your lack of understanding of the situation, of the fact that your fear is only one small part of you, that make you so vulnerable.

Once you know from your experience that you are so much more than your fear, the rest of the 'Wisdom' that surrounds you can begin to operate.

When you are submerged in terror, you do not think clearly. All you can think of is escape.

But fear does not know how to escape. The Master does.

If you will call on your being to address this one partial problem, in the quietude of just staying with it, you will come to an awareness of what to do about it.

This is a way of life. Mastery is a way of life!

You cannot be a Master one hour a week. You have to be a Master on an ongoing basis, which means that every time you feel a fear, no matter how small (and it is better to begin with the small ones), open to it.

Any fear that comes up is like the tip of an iceberg - there is much more under the surface that you are not aware of.

When you address even the small ones, you will soon get in touch with what fear really means to you.

For each of you it is a little different. Do not allow any piece of fear to slip away and escape your scrutiny.

In so doing, you will move into Mastery.

The more that you call on the Wisdom around you for an answer, the better things will go.

There are areas of fear that must be uncovered, and you uncover them not by running away, but by confronting them courageously.

Mastery comes from understanding where your fear originates.

The minute you understand why you are afraid, you can begin to unravel the strands that have kept you in fearful bondage.

And some of those strands may reach beyond this lifetime.

The Master says, 'I am going to do what I can to deal with this fear.'

When you sit with it and feel it, you make it your friend... the fearful experience can then begin to teach you.

Who will be the master of your house - fear or you?

"The whole purpose of this life is to keep moving, to keep going deeper and yet deeper into your SELF. A Master is one who has gone into all parts of his psyche and has faced it all, turning away from nothing at all. All that is presented is accepted, no matter how seemingly dark or dismal.

It is all embraced."

This is truly magnificent wisdom and insight for dealing with our fears.