Fear and Suffering, by Corrado Pensa
To find out if there is actually freedom one must be aware of one’s own conditioning, of the problems, and above all one must be aware of fear. The self-interest in our life is the cause of fear—this sense of me and my concerns, my happiness, my success, my failures, my achievements. Where there is self-interest there must be fear and all the consequences of fear.’
We learn to see the way fear works and the way we empower it. In this way we become equipped to deal with bigger fears. Otherwise it is hopeless. We want to work with fear but are not equipped to do so and consequently fear overwhelms us and the fear of fear increases. That is not such a good result. It takes skilfulness in experimenting with small fears and being able to strategically withdraw when fear becomes too strong, when we don’t feel able to deal with it, and then to practise watching the breath or metta [loving-kindness] and forgetting about facing fears. A moment will then come when it is possible, and we should learn not to miss that moment. This is part of the training, part of the practice; it is part of the insight into understanding the best way of practising, the best way of dealing with our fears. It is also another aspect of self-knowing.
To find out if there is actually freedom one must be aware of one’s own conditioning, of the problems, and above all one must be aware of fear. The self-interest in our life is the cause of fear—this sense of me and my concerns, my happiness, my success, my failures, my achievements. Where there is self-interest there must be fear and all the consequences of fear.’
We learn to see the way fear works and the way we empower it. In this way we become equipped to deal with bigger fears. Otherwise it is hopeless. We want to work with fear but are not equipped to do so and consequently fear overwhelms us and the fear of fear increases. That is not such a good result. It takes skilfulness in experimenting with small fears and being able to strategically withdraw when fear becomes too strong, when we don’t feel able to deal with it, and then to practise watching the breath or metta [loving-kindness] and forgetting about facing fears. A moment will then come when it is possible, and we should learn not to miss that moment. This is part of the training, part of the practice; it is part of the insight into understanding the best way of practising, the best way of dealing with our fears. It is also another aspect of self-knowing.
