Fear, hate, suffering, and what to do about it

While clarifying his concerns about growing hate and intollerance in the US, James Duncan Davidson commented

But I fear. I fear hate. I fear what it can do. And I hate that fear. And it only takes a few people that hate to ruin the world.

Amen, Brother. As I'm fond of quoting Master Yoda:

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

This election stirred up a lot of fear and anger. In fact I stirred that pot myself. We've been innundated with fear in this country since September 11, 2001. On reflection, maybe there's never been a period in history when our country wasn't absorbed with fear. There was King George's opression of the colonies. In the constitutional debates there was fear of tyranny of the masses (Hamilton) or tyrannay of a national government (Jefferson) -- how little times have changed. Not long after that there was slavery and the Civil War. There was the great western expansion when white men all but wiped out the indiginous "savages". Tyranny of another sort showed up in WWI and WWII quickly followed by the Cold War. Fear, fear and more fear all the way to the present day when we are waging a War on Terror itself. At least we have finally put the true name of our real obstacle to peace. It is our own terror. But war can only increase our fear.

I am disapointed by the results of my political efforts of late. I'm 0 for 2. My attempts to swing the election in Kerry's favor were as ineffective as my opposition to our invasion of Iraq. It's time I spent some energy finally addressing the root of the problem -- fear.

It's long past time to learn more constructive ways to respond to our fear. Our traditional responses only lead to more suffering.

I'll take this up on my other blog, reflection ( rss ). That way, the two of you who are subscribed can choose for yourself whether my take on fear is worth your attention.

creating islands of peace in a terrified world