Fear and interconnected negative feelings

For anyone like me who grew up watching Green Lantern like I did, you know the opposite of fear was will. I like to think DC comics was onto something with their depiction of fear and will as opposites, but it takes more than will to deal with fear.

Fear doesn’t have to be obvious; sometimes it’s there and we don’t know it, and then it grows. It manifests in hesitation, uncertainty, irritation, a social behaviour etc. Fear is connected with doubt, and doubt comes from gaps in our knowledge because we don’t always know a hundred percent of whatever situation we’re dealing with; we lack complete clarity on the situation. It’s a whole chain of negativity when we look at it. It’s the same with anger, coming from a lack of control.

So I believe ‘will’ isn’t enough to face fear effectively; rather, I think conviction, the quality of showing that you believe strongly in what you are saying/a strong opinion or belief, is what we need to face fear, and true conviction comes from complete knowledge, experience and clarity. So when fear comes knocking, there’s often something we don’t know. Fear cowers in the face of clarity and conviction, so rather than just ‘will’ gain clarity and from clarity gain conviction.

Alexander from MANI