ELIMINATING FEAR  
      
  Fearlessness is a quality essential to self- reliance and spiritual progress.  As it is a quality of those who possess spiritual knowledge, it is not surprising that sages repeatedly emphasize the importance of eliminating fear.  It has a “freezing” effect on the inner nature that hinders progress.  “Fear, O Disciple, kills the will and stays all action.”  (The Voice of the Silence)  As observed by H.P.B., people tend to hate that which they fear.

  The first step to eliminating fear is an understanding of its cause.  Fear dwells in the personal consciousness and always arises from personal uncertainty and ignorance.  Sometimes the ignorance is uncertainty regarding the consequences of our actions or the actions of another.  Sometimes it is due to ignorance of the goal or the end in view.  Even if one knew the goal, fear may arise because of uncertainty as to the best path to take to reach the goal.  In every case, it is knowledge that eliminates uncertainty and fear.

  The next step is to realize what kind of knowledge eliminates all forms of fear.  As partial knowledge eliminates those fears to which it is concerned, knowledge of universal ideas eliminates all fear.  Knowledge of karma and reincarnation is the best antidote to fear.  The doctrine of karma instills one with a sense of responsibility for one’s actions and circumstances, as well as a sense of dignity -- two essential elements of self-reliance and fearlessness.  Only with faith in one’s divine nature can the will be aroused to achieve the highest aspirations born from intuition and held in the imagination.

   The doctrine of reincarnation dissolves fear away with a sense of hope based on the immortality of the soul, the real inner Man, and its endless cycles of opportunity for growth through self-induced and self-devised efforts.

  “...one who fears no failure, courts no success” states The Voice of the Silence.  Altruistic motive eliminates fear.  The desire to benefit humanity and not oneself chases away all doubt.  H.P.B. has stated that fear grows in exact proportion to selfish fear of punishment or bad results for oneself, without the least concern for another’s welfare.  Entertaining the idea of reward for one’s efforts, and allowing it to become an active factor in all one’s actions, opens one’s life up to fear, anxiety, worry and doubt.

  QUOTES  FROM VARIOUS THINKERS

“No earnest one who feels called to work persistently for the good of humanity, and not for his own, need fear aught that heaven or hell holds."  - William Q. Judge

[One who has acquired and to an extent realized the universal ideas is able to shed all fears.] "Neither change nor death, nor things present or to come, can have any effect on that one" - Robert Crosbie
 
“I would never let the least fear or despair come before me, but if I cannot see the road, nor the goal for the fog, I would simply sit down and wait...” - William Q. Judge

Another hindrance is fear. This is not, however, the worst of all, and is one that will disappear by means of knowledge, for fear is always the son of ignorance.
- William Q. Judge

Nothing in life is to be feared.  It is only to be understood. - Marie Curie

Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness. - Thurber

Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we often might win, by fearing to attempt. - Jane Adams

Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is a freedom.
- Marilyn Ferguson

Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it. - Emerson

Worry gives a small thing a big shadow.
- Swedish Proverb

Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained. - Arthur Somers Roche.

It has been said that our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but only empties today of its strength.
- Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.-- Eleanor Roosevelt.

Don't fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have.  -  Louis E. Boone.
Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it... that is the quickest and surest way ever yet discovered to conquer fear.- Dale Carnegie.

Fear makes the wolf  bigger than he is.
- German Proverb

Anything I've ever done that ultimately was worthwhile... initially scared me to death. - Betty Bender.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.
- Ambrose Redmoon.

A further sign of health is that we don't become undone by fear and trembling, but we take it as a message that it's time to stop struggling and look directly at what's threatening us.
- Pema Chodron

The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but, it is fear.-- Gandhi.

Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated; you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps. - David Lloyd George

Fear grows in darkness; if you think there's a bogeyman around, turn on the light.  - Dorothy Thompson

     “Theosophical Independence”  is produced monthly by Associates of The United Lodge of Theosophists in Philadelphia.  Comments, questions and contributions for publication may be sent to The United Lodge of Theosophists, 1917 Walnut Street,  Philadelphia, PA  19103.

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