Sue Moon’s Blog

“The Self — Its Relation to Space and Matter”:
The emotions are natural forces on their proper plane; and because they are natural, many persons think it unnecessary to control them; and many who would like to control them do not know how, because they do not understand their own natures. Simply because a thing is natural is no reason why it should not be controlled. Electricity is a natural force. Used properly for illuminating purposes it is a very good thing – but it is a natural force and can be used to destroy human bodies, and valuable property – so there may be a perversion of natural forces through the misuse of them, since they seem to make up the greater portion of ourselves. In appearance they are many, and yet, on close analysis, we find only four basic ones, and the battle will not seem so hard if we can realize this.
The emotion which causes the most needless suffering is Fear. Together with Sensuousness, animal Sex Desire, and the most subtle of all, Vanity, these are the basic elements of the emotional nature. You cannot conceive of any emotion that has not its origin in one or more of these four basic ones. Let us briefly examine each of these emotions, since the larger part of the actions of mankind are directly attributable to one or more of them.
Fear is the cause of most anger, most jealousy, most murder, failure, theft, doubt, discouragement, despondency – and many of the lesser inharmonious conditions. Analyze any one of these states of mind and you will find that fear is the father of it. Eliminate fear and you have destroyed the root, or basis, for many of the emotions which lead men astray. Begin your fight directly upon fear, and not the many phases of it, and a tremendous amount of force will be saved, for it must be conquered before very much will be accomplished in life. You will remember that you were told that the mind is magnetic, and draws to itself whatever it frequently thinks about. When you are constantly fearing something, you are drawing toward you the very thing you fear, and the reason that humanity has not been swept from this planet long ago is because it has shifted its fears from one object to another so often that it has never held to one thing long enough to destroy itself.
To accomplish rapidly the destruction of this great enemy, it is well to begin by controlling some of its grosser forms, such as physical cowardice. Great numbers of men and women are inwardly the most wretched cowards and yet suppress the external expression of their fears because they are ashamed of them. Here is where the fear of public opinion is greater than the fear of something else, and the emotion is not conquered, but shifted. Try to conquer your cowardice, because it is an enemy to you and will retard your development…
Many people are afraid of mice. To people of this class we would suggest that they think about the many small boys who have made pets of tiny mice, and love them; and if a child is not afraid of a mouse, there is surely nothing about them for an adult to fear. A child loves his pet mouse, and we do not fear the thing we love. They are small centers of consciousness, and we are only larger centers in the same consciousness. The same life principle that sustains them sustains us; and after we have come to a realizing sense of our relative positions our fears will fade away, never to return, for we realize that all is one.
When you have eliminated the grosser forms of fear, then attack the finer forms, such as fear of the unseen, or the unknown. Many persons’ lives are made utterly wretched because of their fear of the future. They are continually expecting things that never happen. Others are afraid of the criticism of the world, and a common question on their lips is, “what will people think?” You must remember that the world always criticizes and condemns everythiing and everybody that it does not understand. You must declare, therefore, that you are not afraid of the criticism of any individual, nor of the public at large; that you are not dependent upon anyone for your health, wealth or happiness; and that the approval and disapproval of other persons, whether collective or individual, are alike to you. If you declare this earnestly and often, you will overcome all fear of criticism.
The Magic of Space by a Tibetan Dakini
Chapter 7