The famous essayist, montaigne, once confessed "The thing I fear the most is fear"
When swami Vivekananda returned from America and entered upon his work of regeneration in India, the one message which he delivered to the people as he traveled from town to town, from village to village, in this ancient land of heroes and sages was this: "be bold, be fearless".
Now, there were a few young men who wishes to put swami to the test. After all, they said to themselves, we know many men who are wonderful preachers- but their life, does not bear witness to what they teach. Perhaps swami belonged to the same class. So they invited him to deliver a lecture in their association. Gladly did he agree. He went to their meeting and spoke to them of faith in God which he saw as the secret of the true life. The man of faith, he emphasized was fearless in the face of difficulty and danger.
Suddenly, pistol shots rang out in the crowded hall. Bullets whizzed past the swamiji, almost grazing his ears. Pandemonium broke out among the audience. Men tried to rush out, women began to scream fear; some people fainted and fell to the ground. In the midst of all the confusion, one man stood firm, immovable as a rock, fearless and bold- swamiji himself. After a while the gunshot ceased. Swamiji picked up the thread of the talk where he had left it just a minute ago.
When the lecture was over, the young men met swami Vivekananda. Please forgive us, they begged him " we had the shots fired to see if you were really fearless. Your courage and confidence have put us to shame"
Cowards die many death, goes the proverb, but the brave die but once
An Arabic folk take tells us that a wise old man travelling on the desert road to Baghdad, met the figure of pestilence hurrying ahead of him. "Why are you in such a haste to reach Baghdad?" Asked the old man. " I am due to take five thousand lives in the city " pestilence replied before it went away.
Later, on the return journey, tht chanced to meet again. " You lied to me," said the old man reproachfully. " You said you would take five thousand lives but you took away ten thousand instead". " I did not do it" pestilence swore " I took five thousand and not one more it was fear who killed the rest!".
Fear casts it shadow over our lives at one time or another. Fear becomes the one mark that characterises us. We are afraid of unemployment, poverty, death, diseases etc.
It was Marie Curie who said: " Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood". Many of our fears are imaginary. Thousands upon thousands of people either destroy their lives or frustrate them- all because of their preoccupation with anxiety worry and fear. Fear becomes a poison that quickly circulate through the entire system paralyze the will, producing queer.
The logic of fear is truly illogical. We are afraid of losing our jobs but we are afraid to go out and seek new positions. As are afraid to die- and we are afraid to live, because life itself is risky and complicated.Winston Churchill considered courage to be the greatest of all virtues beci we cannot exhibit any other virtue without it.
"The thing I fear the most is fear"
That's exactly how a person with Anxiety feels =)
Interesting story although I think the expression goes differently.
Reblogged. 💕