Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

What are you afraid of? Afraid to tell me what you're afraid of? If not, feel free to include it in your comment.

In case you didn't already know it, fear sucks. I'm just recently coming to terms with that because I am just recently realizing all of the things I am afraid of. That's right...I'm a scaredy cat.

Turns out, I'm not alone. The following is a short list of phobias for your enjoyment:

Agoraphobia Fear of Open Spaces - While there are many definitions under this heading, it is the limitation of leaving certain environments. For some this means being confined to their home and for others it is traveling within a certain miles radius of where they live. When the root cause of this fear is lifted, the comfort zone begins to expand

Amaxophobia Fear of driving or riding in vehicles - the inability of riding or entering an automobile, either as a driver or a passenger. This means avoiding vehicles at any cost.

Autophobia Fear of being alone - An extremely high need to around others. Staying home alone or having to do activities without companionship will be extremely uncomfortable.

Brontophobia Fear of storms - can be limited to fear of thunderstorms, though many suffering from this will also fear rain (Ombrophobia) or even dark clouds and they will anticipate the arrival of storms. Often accompanied with unresolved guilt, trust, or acceptance.

Claustrophobia Fear of enclosed spaces - the feeling of being enclosed or trapped. Elevators, closets, tunnels, small rooms, being stuck in traffic, etc., are all common. Claustrophobics focus in on what confines their environment and not on the space available.

Ergophobia Fear of work - a rejection of the work environment, the act of performing duties or having to be part of a team going towards a common goal.

Hemaphobia Fear of blood - the fear of losing, giving, receiving or just seeing blood. May cause intense nightmares. Often results are seen rapidly in overcoming this phobia

Homophobia Fear of homosexuality - those suffering from this will avoid any physical and emotional contact with those of the same sex. Trust, uncertain identity and limiting beliefs are very prevalent

Hydrophobia Fear of water - usually for larger bodies of water, though can extend to showers, baths or just getting wet in extreme cases.

I found the following definition on Wikipedia:

Fear
Fear is an emotional response to impending danger that is tied to anxiety. Most fear is usually connected to pain (i.e., some fear heights because if they fall, when they land, they will be in great pain). Behavioral theorists, like Watson and Ekman, have both suggested that fear is one of several very basic emotions (e.g., joy and anger). Fear is a survival mechanism, and usually occurs in response to a specific negative stimulus.

I found this next excerpt particularly interesting and helpful:

While fear is most commonly associated with physical conditions or objects, in humans fear can also be inspired by more abstract concepts. The fear of losing control, for example, is a commonly referenced condition, as is fear of ridicule or social censure. These types of fear tend not to have the same physiological effects as fears of the more immediate physical world, however they have similar behavioural outcomes, and can affect an individual on a far longer timescale than would typically be expected of a fear of a physical object.

Philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti said that thinking is the root cause of fear. Thinking about a painful incident in the past projects the fear of having the pain repeated again in the future. Fear is also related to pleasure. Thinking with the images of past pleasure, thought imagines that one may not have that pleasure repeated in the future; so thought engenders fear. Thought tries to sustain pleasure and thereby nourishes fear.

Fear from a Buddhist perspective:

WHAT IS FEAR?
Fear plays a very important part in our daily life, and in human society as a whole. Fear comes in many shapes and forms, but it could be described as: an unpleasant feeling of perceived risk or danger, real or not. It functions to make us alert and ready for action while expecting specific problems.

The cause of all fear is self-grasping ignorance,and all the delusions, such as selfishness, attachment and anger, arise from that ignorance, as well as all the unskillful actions motivated by those delusions.

From Tharpa.com

Okay, now I want you to think about his next part. This is pretty much exactly how "fear" works for me. I identify one particular thing I fear or that causes me some anxiety and it leads to another and another and another. Most often, the initial thing never happens and so I move onto something else that "might" happen. For example, we are driving behind a truck that is driving somewhat inattentively and/or erratic. I fear that he is going to swerve into our lane...and when that doesn't happen...I fear that some part of his "load" is going to become dislodged and fall in front of our car...and when that doesn't happen...I fear that our own vehicle isn't driving quite right and there may be a problem...and when that doesn't turn out to be valid.....etc. You get my point.

PROJECTION
As fear is based on something that we think may happen in the future, it is clearly a mental process which tries to predict the future - in that sense, the reason of fear is a projection of our mind. We can be afraid to fall, but once we are falling, we are afraid to hit the ground, once we hit the ground, we may fear we have a bad injury, once we know we have a bad injury, we may fear the pain and the consequences of not being able to work for some time or become disabled etc. So one could say that fear is always based on something that has not happened yet, and is therefore a fantasy of our mind rather than fact.

More to come.....