Defining Fear

What is the definition of fear? When one fears something is it all encompassing? Are there types of fear or is it all the one same primal emotion? One can be hydrophobic, arachnophobia, or acrophobic. All of these fears are beneficial to ones survival in that fearing them prevents one from drowning, being poisoned, or falling from a great height. Typically, one’s learning pattern follows the scheme that as children we experience the most profound learning from experiences. For example, if a child burns their hand on the bright red, shiny, burner on the stove, they are highly unlikely to touch the hot burner again; however, if a parent only prevents the child from touching the burner without addressing why, it is less likely that the child will remember this lesson in the future. Fear is a teaching tool that the body’s instinct needs to assist the memory. We need fear for survival, it is a repulsion; however, it could work against us. Take the example of a wolf at your door. You have to fear the wolf because it is dangerous to you, but you must also face the wolf to defend yourself; therefore, this fear that you have for the wolf could potentially give you two things: adrenaline for the upcoming battle, or motivation to flee the situation and the energy to do it. So, the question remains, is fear beneficial? Is this why we like horror films?
A topic that surfaced today that I’ve been contemplating this week was the concept of the fear of the unknown. “What’s going to happen if I fall from this cliff, high rise, etc? Would I have less fear if I knew the answer that question? Are people entertained by the Illusion Theory fears because they are out of touch with their fear for the real world? One must admit, the real world is a truly frightening place when you really think about it. College seems like great practice, but truly, there’s not nearly as much responsibility as there could be. I also thought of this question as well: Do people accept reality? Do people disbelieve the news and television or are they just desensitized to it? Do we accept the reaction to fear involuntarily? Only if the action is close to home it seems-we only fear that which is in our immediate turf, similar to how I fear the pervert lurking on the running trail but not the terrorist in another country. It’s not that I deny the existence of the terrorist, but I think I have what some call “the KY complex.” I just don’t feel like my state has anything important enough or so highly advanced that the rest of the nation feels that KY is pivotal to Americanism.
I tried to think of universal fears. Fears that I could use for comparison to the world that would cross-cultures. Luckily I have had a bit of Asian Lit and much of that actually consisted of ghost-stories and war-tales written by soldiers in the Vietnam War from both sides. The tales revealed that in many Asian cultures, ghosts are viewed to be the direct spirits of family members; however, it contrasts sharply from American ghost lore in that it views these ghosts as at peace within their family household and they serve to protect the prosperity of their ancestors. It is quite curious and perhaps plausible that the reason American ghosts are so vicious is that America was founded on the ideals of Independence from a former traitorous and discriminating homeland. This is all up for interpretation of course and I encourage any blog-thoughts on the matter. History comparisons are really intriguing to me even though I typically dabble in literature and science mostly. The conclusion I came to was that the major mass fear that America has had was likely the fear of nuclear attack or the fear of another terrorist attack. The reason both of these fears united the country universally was because it has that “it could happen to you” concept. I think more recently, people have realized that by trying to face/fight their fears by sending troops to Iraq, etc. they risk losing what they love regardless. It really is a scary real world isn’t it? The irony of things never ceases to amaze me.
Overall, it is really that these people might be united by their fear of death; consequently, death and the afterlife have yet to be proven otherwise other than the outcome it unknown. People ultimately fear death, perhaps because they feel as if they’re not done yet with life, and mostly because it is unknown. This brought me to the musings that death in its most unexplainable occurrences is quite possible, the most disgusting, disturbing thing I could think of. I cannot explain why some people die when and how they do. It really bothers me. It rocked everything when Pepper died. I had a class with her and she came to the pharmacy I work at. It just didn’t make any sense and it caused me to really grapple with life and the preciousness of it all. I can only thank her through prayer, and I can hope that it matters. It was truly unexplainable-maybe a fluke of science they couldn’t find what they needed to in order to prevent what happened, and one can’t give or take blame for that; however, it is that fear of the unknown that keeps one ticking on the subject. I digress…
Perhaps people watch films to help them somehow prepare themselves for death-maybe avoid death-to see what other innocent characters in this game called life did right/ or wrong, in order to get the desired outcome. Maybe people utilize film and fear to avoid death and gain insight when the characters cannot destroy the “monster” it causes disinterest…or a sequel. For example, take SAW for example. (which uncannily sounds like JAWS by the way) The plot is so realistic-so possible that makes it perfectly horrifying and horror inducing that it is the perfect combination to teach a person how to avoid death that could be taken either metaphorically or literally.
Do people fear not learning? Not learning about death that is to say. And I think that people do fear what will happen if they don’t, their own reality to not learn. A college student can be prone to fearing their own graduation into the real world, I’ve witnessed it multiple times. They know what they’re good at and they like being good at it, and they don’t want to leave a system they’ve perfected to easiness. Deep down maybe we know that this is the best we’re going to have it for awhile.