R.Michael Fisher's Posts (554)

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Fearologist, Dr. R. Michael Fisher, gives a talk on "Gut Mind & Fear (Primal) Intelligence, where he talks about his approach to "spiritual education" (via path of fearlessness) as quite different than most. He shares a story of his early life encounter in the wilderness with a 'grizzly bear'--a story with a teaching from Fear. Go to: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z9Rvz8QrBY

 

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"Fearless Intelligence": A Conversation

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This 2024 conversation is brought to you by the Apocatastasis Institute for the Humanities (APOC); note: Michael Benner is an entrepreneur and not directly affiliated with APOC nor speaks for APOC. 

https://rumble.com/v4ipndl-fearless-intelligence-a-conversation-with-michael-benner-198.html

Lots to think about in this conversation, and I'll say more after I digest it's contents further. I also am a member of APOC. For the last year, I have brought The Fearology Institute into APOC as an adjunct learning site. I encourage you to look up what it offers, and especially as an alternative education site for alternative teens and young college students. 

 

 

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Recent Interviews by Hosts of Podcasts of R. Michael Fisher: 

  

2024 (upcoming)- “The Path of Fearlessness, Healing & Liberation”

            (w/ Mmabatho Montse, Conscious Conversations)

 

2024 – “The Marianne Williamson Presidential Phenomenon”

            (w/ Layman Pascal of Integral Stage)

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9FE5ObwcEs

 

2023 – “Pandemic of Fear” (w/ Lindsey Sharmyn of Rogue Ways)

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0x-7xw_fJ0

 

2023- “Fear, Education & Freedom: A Deep Dive”

            (w/ John Coleman, Apocatastasis Institute for the Humanities)

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXHOSrNVlno

 

2023      R. Michael Fisher on political fearlessness & Marianne Williamson 2024.

            (w/ Kevin Barrett, Truth Jihad Radio (March 29) at

 

            https://www.unz.com/audio/kbarrett_peter-myers-re-solves-mh-370-r-michael-  fisher-on-political-fearlessness-marianne-williamson-2024/

 

(2022) “Reflections: Fear & How to Overcome It” (w/ Rom Gayosa (host) Future TV.   

 

           https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6900110652824715264/

 

(2020) “Fearism with R. Michael Fisher,” Hermitex Podcast, Dec.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPB9oVZnI4A

 

 

 

 

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QUOTE: Maybe you remember Marianne Williamson warning about a “dark psychic force” and claiming that while Donald Trump had harnessed fear for political purposes, she was going to harness love. (wrote J. Geraghty, Feb. 1, 2023).

USA has its Presidential election going on right now, with the final voting in Nov. 2024. I have followed Marianne Williamson's campaign for leader of this country since late 2018. After five years study, and evidence from voters coming in this last month in the "Primaries" (New Hampshire, S. Carolina, Nevada) is is clear that the voters (Democratic ones) do not buy that a Williamson presidency of a "politics of love" is what the country needs. Marianne just announced yesterday officially she is dropping out of the race because of her big defeats and that Joe Biden (incumbent president) is slated to sweep the country and win the nomination for Democratic Leader for the Nov. election. 

There's another book to write here, as my first book in 2021 on her campaign and her intellectual biography is a good summary of this leader and what happens to them when they go into the arena of 'the big boys' on the political landscape of America. It ain't pretty. The second book I'll write will be based on my research of the 2024 campaign and what happens after yesterday; that is, where will Williamson and her followers go as a cultural phenomenon of such major defeat of love. Of course, Williamson and many of her followers would claim there is no defeat, no ending of this politics of love, and that it is only a beginning, etc. There is much new agey philospophy to be spilled out as that is always part of her campaign and her charismatic motivational leadership. She has over 40 years of practicing this kind of rhetoric. She's good at it. However, the dice have been cast and I would trust that a lot of good critical reflection go into the learning from the critiques and wounds and mistakes made running a LOVE Campaign in today's world. 

If you want to hear her final 2 min. speech declaring her ending of running for leadership of the Democratic Party, go to: https://mariannewilliamson.substack.com/p/much-to-be-grateful-for?r=3zkfe&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

According to a Politico article by Britanny Gibson today: 

"Williamson has not said whether she will seek another run for office. But she will return to the literary world with a new book set to be released in May. Williamson delayed the publication of The Mystic Jesus: The Mind of Love last fall, when the book’s announcement attracted accusations that the campaign was a “grift” to promote the book." 

 

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In Summary:  [go to my in depth talk with Layman Pascal on the MW Phenemenon and Love vs. Fear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9FE5ObwcEs]

 

I am aware of a growing critique myself, that Williamson always knew she wouldn't lose anything in this campaigning 2018-2024 because she is a 'preacher' with a message campaign. And the presidential platform is a great stage of a lot of free promo space to share her spirituality and politics of love. I suppose that is nothing wrong itself. I suppose it is a good case of how that goes over for the public however--another message, another non-intended consequence of a good venture with perhaps more nasty consequences still yet to unfold.

 

That said, MW has left us with a good website Marianne 2024 that she will keep up she said, for those who want to borrow political ideas from it for the future. A noble gesture. And, to be sure, all evidence shows me that Marianne will never run in politics again. 

 

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Film on Women's Mental Health Struggles

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This past week has been a bit of a "mental break" (down) for me due to a massive cold virus, which kicked my ass. In going through 30 hrs. of not being able to sleep or dream, but rather watching my mind (almost totally Left Hemisphere) obsessing compulsively and driving me nuts and to exhaustion, I had to let go and admit defeat. I processed and did some healing and journaling but I was 'sick' unlike I have been for years. I thought I was pretty healthy before get this cold virus. I sort of was and sort of was not. The final summation of this really hard sick-time, break-down-time, is that I was over-reving and turning into a workaholic. I liked being busy with meaningful work but the projects and emotional commitments and mental stress had got to me. In my not sleeping, obviously my system was teaching me about my getting 'too high' for too long on work and saving the world kind of idealism. It burnt me out, and in comes the cold virus to really make sure I go down and out. My whole perception of everything turned darker and negative and I was aware this would be frightening and depressing, but luckily I had enough personal and relationship capacities with my life-partner to work through this all. I'm on day five now of the cold virus kicked down. I can write again and think again with some clarity and positivity. So, I wanted to share this video above written and directed by Hillary Broughter (2020 Breaking Glass Productions). 

This is the second time my partern and I have watched this film over the years. I wont' give the spoilers to what this film is about. I would have titled the film differently "The Vicodin Murders." Of course, that's a lot harsher and negative sounding than "South Mountain" and sales of the DVD woud thus have been stunted. Yet, that is what this film is about-- it is about women and mental illness (disorders) and how they function (especially as mothers) with the chronic susceptibility to fear-based distress, depression and anxiety, neuroses, psychoses, and how they try to normalize this as "caring" for everyone else. This strategy however, negatively affects everyone they love and even may be part of causing cancer of their own breasts that they love. I'll leave it up to you to interpret what mental illness can do when it is both treated by psychiatry (e.g., Vicodin) and/or by marijuana, and/or by sex, and/or by.... multiple ways of coping. But where is the healing, and so especially for the women (e.g., mothers, grandmothers) that take care of so many others? It's a potent film. 

 

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Arguably, as many have said, we live in a culture of fear. So many of us are well aware of the masses of rapid-fire newsreporting. It is overwhelming in volume and suspect in quality of reporting. There is an app that a good source offered on their podcast the other day, as seemingly a great technology for (potentially really) helping you as a reader/viewer sort out what is 'really' going on in any set of new stories--especially, when they explode with popularity (and, yes, explode with polarization, with different viewpoints and ideologies inovlved...and a lot of untruth). Go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eWDiaDOX0E  for more information on exactly how Ground.News (app) helps. I do not endorse this product because I have never tried it, but the reasons for it and the logic of its value for today's world, for keen readers and learners, is impressive. [Note: you have to go to the mid-way point in the interview in this video to get the information on Ground.News app]

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Fisher New Book (2024) on Sam N. Gillian Jr.

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To ORDER, go to: https://new.peterlang.com/book/isbn/9781636674803

With current surging polarities of perspectives, dangerous culture wars and immanent threats to the human social and ecological fabric, it is a good time to rediscover the true meaning of fear through the eyes of a creative and endearingly outrageous educator who taught ‘Fear is not the enemy.’ Through a combination of fiction and non-fiction, this book offers a first documentation of the philosophy and story of Samuel Nathan Gillian Jr. (1939-2006), an African-American educator-activist from the Bronx, New York.

Fisher takes readers on a journey of growth and development with a protagonist named Deana, a sophomore college student, as she comes to understand the radical importance of her Uncle Sammy’s life and work. Embellished with the intellectual rigor of a biography of a wise man, Fisher tracks his own relationship and those who knew and loved Samuel as the tension grows to a pitch in the story. Yet, the real brilliance lies in the psychological, philosophical and spiritual twists Sam Gillian brought forward in two stunning books on fear (2002, 2005) that this book revives.

Fisher [educator-fearologist], who has studied fear systematically since 1989, has never met a unique thinker like Sam Gillian. Through Fisher’s eyes, the special significance of Gillian’s work is brought to the general and well-educated reading public. An essential book for post-secondary education on fear management, a resource guide for school teachers, parents, psychologists, policy makers and anyone who seeks to help humanity establish a sustainable, moral and healthy relationship with fear.

 

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I offer below an excerpt of a few pages from my new philosophy of education book [1]: 

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Reference: Fisher, R. M. (2024). The Fear Problematique: Role of philosophy of education in speaking truths to powers in a culture of fear. IAP. 

To READ more on this new book, go to: https://fearlessnessmovement.ning.com/blog/the-fear-problematique-fisher-s-new-book

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HEY YA'll... I'm excited to share this link with you where I am interviewed by Integral Stage podcast (and Layman Pascal) 2024... as we talk about many things but focus in on the current USA election politics and the past, present and future of Marianne Williamson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9FE5ObwcEs

 

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Facing Fearlessly Political Reality 2023-24

Let's Make the Fearlessness Movement Ning Grow and Strengthen in 2024

Hello All Fearlessness Movement ning members. As the year 2023 winds down and 2024 horizon can be seen now, it is a good time to get honest and speak truths. I have my own biases about what is the most important phenomenon going on globally, which is top position in terms of quick and deadly impacts. I am speaking about the political scene. On behalf of the need to awaken from the paralyzation of most of us from ongoing onslaughts of fear/terror/anxiety, I am convinced we have alternatives, and the path of fearlessness is a viable 'fear' vaccine that can be adopted and nourished. Let's work together to organize and grow this Fearlessness Movement. Pass around to your friends the link of this website, share it on your social media and make your endorsements if you feel called. [contact me to help out: r.michaelfisher52 [at] gmail.com

We can increase our membership and activities here and in your neighborhoods, but we have to attract more members to gain momentum. Currently the 2023 year is ending with 146 FM ning members and this number has remained roughly about the same all year long, with slow increases, and some leaving etc. As founder and host of the FM ning, I pay $330/ year for us to have this online community presence. I'd like help to pay for that and I'd like a whole lot more people to post here and create energy of ideas and actions to make the world a better place using a unique set of frameworks in which to do that--of which, our improved learning about fear and fearlessness is core and central and essential. I am not interested in adding to the Fear Problem by acting in ways that are not based in fearlessness as the objective below and motivating the good changes we want. 

Let's Not Ignore the Real Development of World Politics

I thought to copy an excerpt from a very good article on the threats of authoritarian populism (mostly far right wing, but also some left wing) in the political sphere. This excerpt by a reliable source at the organization "Othering & Belonging Institute" out of UC Berkeley, is published by Democracy & Belonging Forum, Dec. 20, 2023. Take a special note of the paragraph summary that speaks of the zeitgeist and potency of fear and anger feeding each other to drive the populism into a frenzy and effective dominant force on this planet. Enjoy reading, and let's talk about this and other topics related in 2024. 

 

Daring to Dream

by Míriam Juan-Torres (December 20, 2023)

Connecting the Dots #17

The year 2023 has been full of violence. Civilian deaths continue to rise in Gaza and Ukraine. The horrors of the Hamas attacks against Israeli civilians are ongoing. It took a day for Azerbaijan to seize Nagorno-Karabakh and displace thousands of Armenians, while at the same time the humanitarian crisis in Sudan continues to deteriorate under the radar. And these are only a few examples. 

Violence does not only come in the form of war though. 

And as the year comes to an end and I try to reflect on the months passed, I sometimes wonder if, as I am constantly steeped in research on authoritarian populism, my perspective is too clouded by the negatives. Yet no matter where I look, whether it’s in international news, progressive spaces, or far-right forums, the pervasive sensation I observe is usually a combination of anxiety, fear, and anger. But again, is this new or worse? When has the world been fair? When have we inhabited a planet where all belong?

Yet some dare to dream outrageous dreams and their dreams come true. In November, far-right leader Geert Wilders’ electoral victory in the Netherlands and Javier Milei’s in Argentina caught many by surprise. Wilders is a politician with more than 20 years of political experience who only a few years ago was convicted for hate speech and continues to run an explicitly Islamophobic campaign (for more on the plethora of Dutch populist parties see here).  Javier Milei is a political newcomer who runs on an anarchocapitalist platform and applauds the Argentinian dictatorship, idolizes guns, and challenges women’s rights. 

Wilders and Milei are not the only authoritarian populists who recently came to power through free and fair elections. Italy’s Giorgia Meloni is the most notorious of the bunch and, if I am not mistaken she was the first female authoritarian populist to become prime minister ever (she was elected in late 2022). In Slovakia, far-right politician Robert Fico returned to power by centering anti-Ukrainian sentiment, after having resigned in 2018 during his second term following the murder of Ján Kuciak, an investigative reporter, and his fiancee, Martina Kušnírová. Still, despite how his last term ended, he now intends to restrict media freedom

All of them and many others believed that their big bets could yield results. And they did.

Dreaming big, however, takes courage. And while authoritarian populists such as Wilders and Milei, Meloni, and Fico seem to have courage aplenty, the lesson that mainstream politicians are drawing is that the only way to combat the surge of authoritarian populism is to adopt their frames. The President of the European People’s Party at the EU Parliament (the EPP is the center-right, pro-European political party which gathers over 83 parties from 44 countries), Manfred Weber, recently made this evident during some of his first remarks on the back of Geert Wilders’ victory by concluding that adopting the far-rights’ postures on immigration is the only way to prevent the rise of the far right. There’s no alternative vision, no inclusive dream. 

The constant whitewashing of Meloni’s image by EU leaders and the media also reflects how as long as authoritarian populist leaders keep in line with economics and foreign policy, the rest of Europe can turn a blind eye to whatever happens in “internal politics.” 

 

To me, this mostly demonstrates one of the biggest threats to democracy and human rights in Europe—the collusion, the blending, the normalization, and the incorporation of authoritarian populist ideas and actors into the mainstream. The branding of those ideas as the only solution to complex challenges. The alternative to rejecting authoritarian populism frames is not to say that there are no problems, that migration is not a relevant issue, that people aren't struggling, that fear is unreasonable. Or to delegitimize voters who vote for far-right candidates. But presenting the far-rights’ solutions as the only reasonable options shows at best a failure of imagination and at worst a cynical lack of commitment to justice and human rights.

The year 2024 will be a definitive year on many fronts. 

We are less than three months away from Super Tuesday in the United States of America, when Donald Trump will likely win the nomination as the Republican candidate. The November 2024 US general elections could very well yield a victory for Trump, and historical examples show us that a second term by an authoritarian populist is far more dangerous, as they come equipped with lessons from their first term and can double down on their authoritarian practices. Some, like historian Robert Kagan, have been keen to emphasize that a Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. In the meantime, across the US, Republican governors continue to (ab)use preemptive laws to circumscribe what cities and counties can do, targeting abortion, and LGBTQ and voting rights, often in majority-minority localities. 

European Parliament elections are scheduled for June 2024. Turnout at EU elections across the continent is notoriously low, yet historically they are the elections where the far right have had some success while failing nationally. Albeit in the past they didn’t have enough representation to wield significant power, their presence at the EU Parliament provided a platform for far-right leaders like British Nigel Farage to deliver attention-grabbing performances. While their national results are clearly shifting, far-right candidates are also projected to have record-high results in the upcoming EU election. The largest group is still projected to be the European People’s Party, which in the past generally adopted a cordon sanitaire approach to far-right parties (a joint agreement to refuse to cooperate with the far right), but now is increasingly coalescing with it. 

For the first time, the possibility of a far-right-dominated European Union seems very real. 

This would have severe implications for European citizens, as several big reforms will be underway during the new year. While the green transition continues, authoritarian populists and center-right populists are increasingly challenging green policies. Elected officials across Europe aim to conclude a migration pact in 2024, and unfortunately it seems we can only expect further securitization and outsourcing of state violence and border management to third party states that are often authoritarian. And I am also keeping an eye on a new EU Defence of Democracy package. The draft proposal has been advanced with the goal of trumping foreign influence of lobbying groups, but includes provisions affecting civil society organizations as well. According to Transparency International, the “demand for civil society organisations to disclose foreign funding risks designating them as foreign agents, which could expose civil society to unwarranted and perilous stigmatisation.” We have seen in Russia, India, Hungary, and Italy how the targeting of NGOs and attempts to limit their international funding is amongst the first authoritarian practices of elected far-right leaders.

Even though the results are predictable, the coming year will also see presidential elections in Russia, where around 110 million will be able to vote, including, for the first time, parts of Ukraine under the control of Russian forces (it seems like a good time to bring back to memory the statements of the Kremlin’s spokesperson: “Our presidential election is not really democracy, it is costly bureaucracy [...] Mr. Putin will be re-elected next year with more than 90 percent of the vote.”)

India is also expected to celebrate general elections in 2024 and Prime Minister Narendra Modhi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to reign supreme, and thus expected to continue its persecution of journalists and Muslims while cracking down on civil liberties

That being said, while the playing field is extremely uneven in Russia, in India, PM Modi seems to boast unprecedented levels of approval for prime ministers who are officially elected, raising the question of how – as people committed both to belonging and democracy – we confront the authoritarian lurch of democratically elected and widely supported authoritarian populists leaders, a question that is likely to become more and more important. 

Nonetheless, I also have hopes for 2024. 

This year will be the year of a new government in Poland. After a long road, Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government was sworn in on December 13. Tusk will be able to govern thanks to a coalition that includes moderate center-right politicians as well as progressives, and has stated that “his government would focus on restoring the rule of law and respect for the constitution.”

I am also hoping that the authoritarian populist victories we have seen in 2023 will be a more definitive wakeup call, and that we will cease to see the far-right surge with surprise. [cont'd].... 

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EDUCATION, it's history recently and its roots and routes, related to fear/insecurity and economics, is really important to understand and critique today. I am impressed with this particular lecture by activist-film-maker author Astra Taylor, who tells of this connection.

Go to: https://www.cbc.ca/radiointeractives/ideas/2023-cbc-massey-lectures-astra-taylor/lecture-3-consumed-by-curiosity

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"Learning to Care in an Age of Insecurity"... these are the words on my tongue... *

OK. Fearlessness Project (religion) has been on my mind for centuries and in 1989 it came to brith [1]. It's about time to renew this blogpost 3 yrs ago on the FM ning. It is on my mind these days to start-up with a group, or just lead it myself(?).. an iteration in the 21st century of The League for Fearlessness-II, and I'm imagining the content for this. [Note: I never did publish more of my research into the group from 1931, I guess there wasn't enough interest from readership in 2020 and after]. The intriguing thing for me today is thinking about how would I start writing such a brochure and what would be some of its key 21st century notions, much different but with overlap, from the 20th century version. Let me know if you are interested to work on this project. 

The League for Fearlessness- birthed in 1931

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There's a long story behind my finding this 4 pp. fold-out brochure in a medical library in New York City. It is the only evidence currently available on this group [1] that was apparently started under the guidance of the famous theosophists, Alice & Foster Bailey. Since 2006, when I found this brochure (which I made in color, aged, and adapted with a few excerpts here only using photoshop), I have been searching for answers to the mystery of where this group and The League 'disappeared' and why no traces. Currently, the fine folks at Lucis Trust, NY, are attempting to search into this. Curiously, no body in the current big American theosophical organizations has heard of this League but they do suspect the Bailey's were quite likely to have taken on initiating such a project. IF anyone has any leads to finding out more about this group, let me know: 

r.michaelfisher52@gmail.com

But besides that fascinating historical evidence, and a story yet told, I wanted to share the brochure today, it seems appropriate as just 5 days away from one of the most important elections ever in U.S. history. The level of tension, fear, dread, etc. is palpable. It's also in my dreams. And, so, I thought it would be good to share these words, ideas, and spirit of fearlessness from this group in 1931, of which North America was deep in the Depression and fear was rampant. If you haven't already picked-up the nuanced connection between The League's mission and my own via the In Search of Fearlessness Project (1989- ) and later, founding the In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute (1991- )--and, the uncanny sense of a paralleling historical soul-based work that is wanting to go on in this world, it is so obvious to me--and yet, struggles of resistances to manifest this Project effectively are so powerful as well. To say it bluntly, there is no such project that has such a systematic well-thought out "program" to improve fear management and remove fear on the planet as a barrier to the evolution of consciousness. This is powerful beyond words. I wished, in retrospect, I would have found this brochure in 1989--boy, that would have made a big difference! But, that's the way it is. 

End Note

1. Just recently, I have attained a few documents on this group, I am reviewing, and will keep you posted with updates, if you let me know you are interested. 

* A variant theme arrived after, which is more accurate to Barbara and my visioning and planning: "CARING ABOUT CARING, IN AN AGE OF ANXIETY" 

End Note (for this blogposting)

1. "Religion" sounds awefully strong I know. I could have said "spirituality" or "philosophy" and I could have not mentioned this at all. I suppose it was thrown in just now [a week after I posted this all] because of my critical reflective journaling on what it is that I am doing and attempting to ignite on this planet. I wrote, that the In Search of Fearlessness Project 1989- came as if from centuries before there was an 'I' or 'prophetic moment' of encountering with this truth path and revelation. But everything I can write and publish and teach on fear and fearlessness, really won't make sense until the total context of it is understood by others. It is a religion--meaning a religio (a return to source connectivity and sanity thereof) and it is a therapy--meaning a therapia (a philosphical therapeutic corrective in metaphysical dimensions and structural dimensions of the evolution of consciousness and dysplasia within that developmental circuitry) and, it is an education--meaning edu-care . I have qualified, using Latin words for what I am onto and called to bring out to this planet's evolution. A much longer discussion of course. And, as for the religio of fearlessness, if you attune to it, and go beyond what most "religions" are these days and in the past, you'll perhaps come into a new learning and imaginary of another kind (aka for the 21st century). You'll have the potential to see what I see, or know what I know, and to breathe and to move to action. A religio of fearlessness has never been strange to me since its inception in late 1989, however, I am not one to go around talking or promoting religion. That said, in my 2010 first major book published [2] I went so far as to see (and act out) that I could easily articulate a first draft of a "Credo of Fearlessness" (see pp. 39, 126, 205, 214). That Credo came about as a reflecting on what it was that is going on with this whole fear and fearlessness thing. Indeed, Credo's are part of all religions pretty much. 

2. Fisher, R. M. (2010). The world's fearlessness teachings: A critical integral approach to fear management/education for the 21st century. Lanham, MD. University Press of America/Rowman & Littlefield. 

 

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Mark Satin, author-activist                                                                R. Michael Fisher, Host, FearTalks series

I recommend anyone interested in the domain of political activism, visionary leadership, and American political movements, that you check out FearTalk #22, that I recently did with Mark Satin. We explore diverse topics, including the impact of anger/fear and its downfall for many activist movements. Mark shares his new book (excerpts): 

"Up From Socialism" (recently published by Bomardier Books, 2023). Go to the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv-tFgxRXUQ

 

[Note: Nov. 30, 2023: I have been reading Mark's book now for a few days. In the video talk above he said at one point that he searched his word.doc file of the ms. for "fear" and/or related terms and said there were 30+ uses in the book. Well, I can tell you there are way more than that. I'm see 40-50 uses in the first 35 pp. of the book, when one does a basic fearanalysis. Indeed, what is this new book about but "fear" and organizing in the political domain. Now, what is good fear and what isn't? A larger set of questions arises...].  

 

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The Fear Problematique: Fisher's New Book

 

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A volume in the series: Studies in the Philosophy of Education. Editor(s): John E. Petrovic, The University of Alabama.

Published Nov. 15/23 2023 and for sale (see ordering flyer): SITPOE8.pdf

Also, add Discount Code for a good price reduction deal: discount code  TFP23, effective today, ending March 31, 2024.

[also, as of Dec. 18/23, I made a 30 min. video on introducing the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tXi-uEE4fk ]

The author, with over three decades of focused research on fear and fearlessness and 45 years as an emancipatory educator, argues that philosophy and philosophy of education have missed several great opportunities to help bring about theoretical and meta-perspectival clarity, wisdom, compassion, and practical ways to the sphere of fear management/education (FME) throughout history. FME is not simple, nor a luxury, it is complex. It’s foundational to good curriculum but it requires careful philosophical critique. This book embarks on a unique transdisciplinary understanding of The Fear Problematique and how it can be integrated as a pivotal contextual reference for assessing the ‘best’ way to go in Education today and tomorrow. Educational philosophy is examined and shown to have largely ‘missed the boat’ in terms of responding critically and ethically to the insidious demand of having to truly educate ourselves when we are so scared stiff. Such a state of growing chronic fear, of morphing types of fear, and a culture of fear, ought to be central in shaping a philosophy of fear(ism) for education. The book challenges all leaders, but especially philosophers and educators, to upgrade their own fear imaginary and fear education for the 21st century, a century of terror likely to grow in the cascading global crises.

 CONTENTS

Preface. 

CHAPTER 1: Introduction.

CHAPTER 2: Philosophy and a Fearturn.

CHAPTER 3: Education Philosophy 'Misses the Boat.'

CHAPTER 4: Fear(ism) as Philosophy: A Transformative Paradigm.

CHAPTER 5: Fear Management/Education for the 21st Century.

CHAPTER 6: Fearlessness as Educational Philosophy.

CHAPTER 7: Recommendations.

Glossary. References. Index.

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How do we catch people where they fall? How do we respond to this crisis in a way that doesn’t reinforce its architecture? What kind of politics is being summoned at this time?  

Join OBI’s Democracy & Belonging Forum on Thursday, November 16, 2023 (8:00 AM - 9:15 AM PT / 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM ET / 5:00 PM - 6:15 PM CET) for the next conversation in our ongoing series The Edges in the Middle, where OBI Global Senior Fellow Bayo Akomolafe will speak with Professor Sa’ed Atshan and OBI’s Cecilie Surasky on holding each other’s pain even as lines are increasingly drawn around whose lives are grievable and whose are not.

 As Israel continues its relentless bombardment of Gaza following Hamas’ murder of 1,400 Israeli civilians, which itself came after 75 years of Israeli occupation over Palestine, so many of us feel hopeless under the weight of bearing witness to—or personally experiencing—seemingly endless cycles of violence, trauma, and dehumanization.

 Starting from the premise that all people belong and all lives are grievable, the speakers will explore how honoring each other’s grief may allow us to reclaim each other’s humanity and perhaps shed light on a path forward to belonging in Israel-Palestine, for Muslims, Jews, and Christians, and for all people around the world. Bayo, Sa’ed, and Cecilie will journey into what it might be like to glimpse at the world through tears: what visions are possible when we postpone the compulsion to see everything clearly?

 

Here is a panel of very progressive thinkers on the problems of world conflict today. If you get a change, this may be a worthwhile talk for you and others in grief and who are feeling somewhat hopeless with the rise of crisis and WWW-III lurking. 

-M.

 

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Dr. Stanislav Grof: Archetype of FMS-8

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Dr. Stanislav Grof, Psychiatrist and theorist (psychonaut). 

I have recently watched the film https://www.psychedelicassistedtherapysummit.com/thewayofthepsychonaut?kref=2YglctPiB1lF

of which documents Stan Grof's life and career. By the end of the film, it was clear to me, that I had found another basic human archetype of Fear Management System-8, in my integral theory of fear management systems. There have been 'saintly' type figurations I have put in the FMS-8 prior, but now it felt like Grof is a less saintly but authentic type (manifestation) of FMS-8, and a very potent impressive person and life. 

For more information on his work you can look him up (e.g., on Wikipedia) but the above film (and book?) "Way of the Psychonaut" is a really good overview. 

See Below, my latest simple model of fear management systems (FMSs) that I have been researching and publishing on for probably 15 years or so (e.g., see Fisher, 2010). This diagram shows an evolutionary/developmental arrangement of these FMSs and FMS-8 (Turquoise colored) is depicted (and is extremely rare). 

12253994094?profile=RESIZE_584xNote: It would take a long post and lecture really to do justice to explain this visual model and the theory it represents. 

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