Getting Curious About Fear

We spent a good while today being present in each other’s company. I chatted with him (telepathically, of course, as I’m certain my loud human voice would’ve startled him).

We found ourselves in a conversation about fear.

I told him that many people are afraid of spiders, and he found that notion quite amusing… that we would fear (and sometimes even unalive) something smaller than our own fingernail.

When I asked why he felt humans fear spiders, a stream of words came through

Different

Unfamiliar

Unpredictable

Misunderstood

And even some deeper threads…

Control

Superiority

Entitlement

Conquer

For some, fear may be primal or instinctual, but I don’t sense that’s true for most.

For many, it’s learned.

A reaction witnessed as a child.

A fear inherited… and repeated.

But what is learned, can be unlearned…

So I’m left wondering, can we become curious about the source of our fear?

Because this contemplation reaches far beyond spiders.

Are we actually in danger?

If not… why is fear present?

Is it something we were taught?

Is it discomfort with the unfamiliar?

A loss of control?

A belief in dominance or hierarchy?

And, perhaps, the most important question…

What is this moment here to show me?

Seeds for thought from me and one of our interspecies guides… plant them or scatter them to the wind…