NOW LET Us consider the totality of fear. A mind that is afraid, that has deep within itself anxiety, a sense of fear, and the hope that is born out of fear and despair—such a mind obviously is an unhealthy mind. Such a mind may go to temples, churches; it may spin every kind of theory, it may pray, it may be very scholastic, may outwardly have all the polish of sophistication, obey, have good manners and politeness, and behave righteously outwardly; but such a mind that has all these things and its roots in fear—as most of our minds have—obviously cannot see things straight. Fear does breed various forms of mental illnesses. No one is afraid of God; but one is afraid of public opinion, afraid of not achieving, not fulfilling, afraid of not having the opportunity; and through it all there is this extraordinary sense of guilt—one has done a thing that one should not have done; the sense of guilt in the very act of doing; one is healthy and others are poor and unhealthy; one has food and others have no food. The more the mind is inquiring, penetrating, asking, the greater the sense of guilt, anxiety. And if this whole process is not understood, if this whole totality of fear is not understood, it does lead to peculiar activities, the activities of the saints, the activities of politicians—activities that are all explainable, if you watch, if you are aware of this contradictory nature in fear, both the conscious and the unconscious. You know fear—fear of death, fear of not being loved or fear of loving, fear of losing, fear of gain. How do you tackle this?
Fear is the urge that seeks a master, a guru; fear is this coating of respectability, which every one loves so dearly—to be respectable. I am not talking of anything that is not a fact. So you can see it in your everyday life. This extraordinary, pervasive nature of fear—how do you deal with it? Do you merely develop the quality of courage in order to meet the demand of fear? You understand? Do you determine to be courageous to face events in life, or merely rationalize fear away, or find explanations that will give satisfaction to the mind that is caught in fear? How do you deal with it? Turn on the radio, read a book, go to a temple, cling to some form of dogma, belief? Let us discuss how to deal with fear. If you are aware of it, what is the manner of your approach to this shadow? Obviously one can see very clearly that a mind that is afraid withers away; it cannot function properly; it cannot think reasonably. By fear I do not mean the fear at the conscious level only, but also in the deep recesses of one’s own mind and heart. How do you discover it, and when you do discover it what do you do? I am not asking a rhetorical question; don’t say, ‘He will answer it’. I will answer it, but you will have to find out. The moment there is no fear, there is no ambition, but there is an action, which is for the love of the thing but not for recognition of the thing that you are doing. So, how do you deal with it? What is your response?
Obviously, the everyday response to fear is to push it aside and run away from it, to cover it up through will, determination, resistance, escape. That is what we do, sirs. I am not saying anything extraordinary. And so fear goes on pursuing you like a shadow, you are not free of it. I am talking of the totality of fear, not just a particular state of fear—death, or what your neighbour will say; fear of one’s husband or son dying; of one’s wife running away. You know what fear is? Each one has his own particular form of fear—not one but multiple fears. A mind that has any form of fear cannot, obviously, have the quality of love, sympathy, tenderness. Fear is the destructive energy in man. It withers the mind, it distorts thought, it leads to all kinds of extraordinarily clever and subtle theories, absurd superstitions, dogmas, and beliefs. If you see that fear is destructive, then how do you proceed to wipe the mind clean?