I was scrolling through the news this morning when I ran across my horoscope. In it I read, “Fear is the raw material from which courage is manufactured.” The quote is from a spiritual teacher by the name of Martha Beck. I had not heard of her previously, but she is apparently quite well known. Oprah Winfrey said she is one of the smartest women she knows.
Fear is not something I spend time thinking about and it is not something I am prone to feeling – especially since I have learned how much more peaceful it is – to spend my time centered in the present moment. I think that there may be two kinds of fear. There is the slow growing fear that is associated with worry. When we spend too much time thinking “what if,” we begin to experience in our imaginations, the physical and emotional disturbances of an event that has not even happened. We become sucked into a false future that doesn’t yet exist, but our dread can very well manifest it into being.
The other kind of fear is one that comes suddenly, when we are all at once confronted with a very real or life-threatening situation. Sometimes, the fear may be unfounded, like when we are startled by someone walking up behind us whom we did not hear. Or, the cat knocks something off a shelf, creating a large bang and causing us to nearly jump out of our skin. I live a very quiet life and I am easily startled by loud noises. While some people might laugh with relief when they realize that their fear is baseless, I often feel provoked to anger. I have never quite understood this reaction in myself, but more than likely, it is a relic from some childhood trauma.
Returning to Ms. Beck’s quote, I believe that anger is the catalyst that helps transmute fear to courage – when courage is needed. Anger is the motivational tool required to confront and change a situation, but that anger must be tamed if we are to change anything for the better. Anger is the force, but it takes love to tame it. Fear and anger together are powerful, but it takes wisdom to use that power for good and to change what needs changing. We often look at anger as a negative thing, but it can serve an important purpose. Our anger can facilitate change in the same way that thunder and lightning can bring much needed rain, or strong winds can bring snow to a dry landscape. Anger and fear, when we understand their purpose, are another necessary component of this thing we call life.
