philosophy (24)

Connecting Fearism spokespersons

"Fear is beautiful Consciousness" (Desh Subba)


It's my immense pleasure to meet today with An esteemed retired DGP (Director General of Police ).

I'm Thankful to Mr. Desh Subba sir (FearismStudy Center, Dharan, Nepal) for introducing me Mr. Maria B sir.

Desh Subba and Maria B are very knowledgeable,  keen, kind and Down to earth personalities.

Desh Subba is the leading Fearism spokesperson in the East, and Co-founder of the Fearism Study Center (Dharan, Nepal, 2009).

Subba has published his first book   " Philosophy of Fearism " (2014), He started Fearism as a literary movement in 1999 with fiction and in 2011 with line poetry.in his service subba has achieved International Book Award (2015, Finalist), Dr. Shyam Karki and Indira karki Award in 2015 and National Indie excellence Award (Winner , 2015) and many more.
Mr Maria B who is a honorable retired DGP from Madhya Pradesh, India has gained many achievements during his service. In his service he was deputed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, GOI, in 1996 to Visit British Police establishment,  in london to explore the possibility of training collaboration between UK Police and Indian police.

Maria B was honored with Sahitya shree Award, Vidhya vachaspathi , Acharya, and Bharat Basha Bhushan Award, and many more...like Indian Police medal (GOI), president's Police Medal (GOI), Singhast Medal (MP, govt) and Raj Basha Gaurav ( Ministry of Home Affairs,  GOI).

Maria B has been contributed and still on going in contributing his knowledge regarding fearism and other aspects which are nation facing issues to the newspapers like Andhra Prabha, Times of India,  Telangana today...

Both Maria B and Desh Subba are very actively connected with philosophy of Fearism and have published many books together.

To understand the subject Fearism,  we must need to understand what is fear??

Subba has beautifully described fear that "Fear has completely surrounded all living creatures, especially man, all things, natural things, human beings, and invisible things produce fear  all the time.
The fearist perspective is a new dimension to look at life and the world. The question strikes the mind, how does the Fearist perspective look at life and the world ?
The purpose behind fearism is to conduct continuous research, investigated invention in order to make life more comfortable. 

To understand more about fearism the following books will be helpful which has been published by Desh Subba and Maria B.

1. Philosophy of Fearism by Desh Subba

2. India, A Nation of Fear and Prejudice: Race of the third kind -  B Maria Kumar,  R. Micheal Fisher and Desh Subba

3. Fear, Law and Criminology- critical Issues in Applying the Philosophy of Fearism- R. Micheal Fisher, Desh Subba,  B Maria Kumar

4. Hidden dimensions of Human existence  - A fear fearlessness perspective. -R. Michael Fisher, B Maria Kumar

5. Resistance  Fearlessness: A Philosophy  of Fearism  Approach- B Maria Kumar, R. Michael Fisher

6. Philosophy of Fearism: A first East-West dialogue. -R. Michael Fisher, Desh Subba

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Fearism, Fearlessness, Love and Trauma

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“When the artist understands fear as a mental construct at the root of everything,
when she understands that fear is a choice that dictates all, her path to love opens up. She chooses to move into a state of fearlessness (e.g., see R. Michael Fisher, who is a Fearlessness philosopher from Canada)--and, one choice at a time continuously creating life from a place of core stability. Fear cannot be eliminated as everything stems from it. Yet the artist knows that by removing all fear-based conditionings and attachments that no longer serve the transmuted self, she advances into enlightenment. She becomes love. She becomes limitless.
 
Desh Subba’s in dept study of fear (Philosophy of Fearism) should be taken as a serious guide to help one go deeper within to heal traumas rooted in fear as well as to move into a new state of reality where fear is seen as a choice to master rather than an emotion to fear. To see fear in its truth, accepting it as the fire that ignites our journey to love is remembering that love is the all.”
 
Author
Roxy Genier
Philosopher of Luxury
Global Citizen
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According to Slavoj Zizek, the contemporary philosopher, we are seeing a dying of philosophy so severe, but it can be somewhat rehabilitated by the best of the philosophy of 19th century Hegelianism, he argues.

The brilliant Zizek does look at fear and terror in history and at times makes sense of its nature and role. He says that Hegel would be a philosopher for our times with a useful pessimism but not nihilism and we could see Hegel's predictions as heuristic for us today as in how Hegel critiqued the 'good' that then becomes 'bad' and that is seemingly an inevitability--yet, there can be still a renewal (new synthesis) to something better as well. The French Revolution, for e.g., shows this dialectic dynamic worked and simply it was a political/philosophical movement of consciousness that sought freedom and produced so much terror. And an interesting theorizing can also be found in Hegel, says Zizek, where 'the rebel' fighting for justice is in the future (and now) mixed and pathological, with the "rich rebel" (e.g., corporatist elites who wish to control the world) controls the justice rebel. This is a huge problem. My own thinking has for several decades called this the "normal rebel" (closet rebel) that moves to totalism under another roof of its own pursuit of freedom from totalitarianism. A more complex theorizing of the rebel that intrigues me. 

I quite like his reconstructing Hegel as still of worthy offering, a similar position taken by my fav integral philosopher Ken Wilber. For more on Zizek's views see the recent interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06KiOj6gjbs

Read more…

 

Bhawani Shankar Adhikari (Ph.D.)
Lecturer of English (Nepal Sanskrit University,
Valmiki Campus, Exhibition Road, Kathmandu,
Nepal)

Abstract
This research has explored the role of fear and its outcome in the quest for beauty in Sylvia
Plath’s poem “Mirror”. Beauty has been defined as the source of power as well as the cause of
the annihilation of the entire civilization. Internal beauty has a superior role to external beauty.
The persona of the poem has been found engaged in the quest for external beauty even in her
old age which is unnatural and worthless. Extreme fear has acted negatively and devastatingly
to ruin the life of the persona of the poem. It has led the speaker of the poem to the horrified,
terrified, scared, and depersonalized condition which compelled her to commit suicide.
Whatever the search it maybe with fear, it must be focused on the balance form of fear to
maintain and achieve the goal in life. Otherwise, fear’s role and its effect tend to be detrimental
and destructive to reaching the destination of keeping beauty, peace, and harmony in life. It has
been analyzed how fear has acted and affected the life of Sylvia Plath due to extreme fear in
beauty’s quest in old age.

Keywords: depersonalized, fear, detrimental, quest, suicide

Introduction
Fear is defined as a psychological instinct. It is a natural one. Animals have fear in its natural
form which is different from human fear. Birds and other animals reflect their fear via their
body’s selection as birds fly through the human voice. Sensational knowledge is found in
animals’ fear. However, fear emerges through Psychology in human beings. in this
sense, man is directed, conducted, and controlled by psychological fear as it is
claimed:” life is directed, conducted and controlled by fear (Subba, cover page)”. Fear is
identified through Consciousness and knowledge in day-to-day life. fear is the outcome
of knowledge and consciousness.” fear exists only with knowledge” (Subba-47). Fear
functions in different roles in day-to-day life. Fear is the main cause of making errors
and conquering fear is the path to gaining wisdom (Russell 1373). There are various
kinds of fears- fear of Gods, fear of ghosts, fear of committing sins, fear of superstition,
fear of making mistakes, fear of losing health, fear of lacking beauty- and a person does
not like to lose beauty. Sylvia Plath doubts personal beauty and seeks it with different
objects. Beauty is power and it is of two kinds- internal beauty and external. Internal

beauty Is character, excellence, skills, and knowledge. Internal beauty helps us to
survive and to become successful in life. It is a kind of power to enhance the inner
quality of life. Internal and external beauty will be rare to achieve. It is called ‘inside’ and
‘outside’ beauty. (Sontag 300).

Beauty is not always taken from the positive side. Helen of Troy caused 10 years of
battle and brought disaster to the world. Padmini, the most beautiful woman of the
Rajput family had to burn down herself after the war was developed from her side.
(Devkota, 332-338) And she had to go to the Muslim king but she burnt herself to death.
Helen of Troy’s Trojan War and Padmini's Battle have generated fear in the psyches of
all in the world. In this sense, beauty lurks and hides the fear within its quality. The war
took place due to Helen’s and Padmini’s beauty being captured them. The power of
beauty invites risk, death, danger, and misfortune as has been displayed in the life of
Helen and Padmini. Likewise, Medusa, the chief of the three Georgian sisters was the
most beautiful one in the great mythology. The lesson states that she was the most
beautiful maiden, especially famous for her hair but she violated the temple of Minerva.
she was arrogant in her beauty and was Kicked in the temple. As a result, she was
transformed into a serpent and made her face so terrified that whoever looked at it
turned into stone. She was assassinated by Perseus. Her face retained its power of
turning anything into stone, even after her death. Her dead body with hissing serpents
was placed in a temple as a punishment for her beauty’s pride. The poem “Medusa” has
described the scenes which ended the mortal life of Medusa Who has pictured as
sympathetic in its description of the beautiful legendary girl Medusa who was caused
and charged into an ugly and horrible woman. (Bogam 380-81). This plight of Medusa
reveals that the power of beauty leads to disaster, destruction, horror fear, and
humiliation.  Hence, beauty must be taken with care, awareness, and effectiveness with
the vision of its pros and cons. Fear dwells and hides in the traits of beauty.

Regarding Halen, “In the Homeric poems, she is the surprisingly beautiful wife of Menelaus, and
her abduction by Paris led to the Trojan war (Lohani 338)”. It displayed the disaster of Helen’s
beauty to draw the Trojan war for 10 years.
Padmini was a beautiful Rajput queen, A Mewar, wife of Ratna Singha. Enchanted by the talks
of her beauty, Alladin Ahilji attacked Mewar in order to achieve her. The Rajputs were defeated
and Padmini burned herself to death, before falling into the hands of the Muslim king
(Lohami338). Padmini’s beauty became a kind of curse in her life. Her beauty ruined her and
she turned out to be the victim of her own charming personality.

Research questions:
Beauty has been regarded as the source of power and glamour in mortal life. The research is
guided with:

A. What is the effect of beauty in the personal life of Sylvia Plath reflected in the poem ‘mirror’?
B: How has fear acted in the poem “Mirror”?

Objectives:
The general objective is to discuss the role of beauty in life but the specific objective is:
A: To explore the effect of beauty in the personal life of the poetess Sylvia Plath as revealed in
the poem “Mirror”.
B: To investigate the fear’s role as it has acted in the poem “Mirror”.
Methodology:
The research has been carried out in the detailed analysis of the poem “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath.
Fearism has been adopted as the lens to analyze the poem. ’Mirror’ is taken as a primary text.
The secondary sources are taken from other journals, magazines, and articles as supporting
tools.
Significance of the Study:
The significance of the study dwells to create awareness and consciousness in dealing with fear
and beauty. It has shown the connection between fear and beauty in which the role of fear has
opened how beauty has to be dealt with. Beauty has not turned out to be always positive since
it hides risks and fear. The invisible aspects of fear lead to the entire annihilation of life if the
beauty is mishandled.
Delimitation:
This research has been confined to the textual analysis of the poem ‘Mirror’ by Sylvia Plath. It
has only been observed from the perspective of fear and its role seen in the poem.
Literature review:
The poem “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath has been studied through psychoanalysis. It has been
interpreted as the reflection of the emotional condition of the speaker in a metaphorical
personification, imagery, and ironical form. (https://www./csue.org). It has presented that the
speaker herself has become a mirror reflecting the truth. In Ariel, the female's awareness is
transformed into a hall of mirrors, the frames of which are built in babyhood. These mirrors
eventually cut the woman off from any romanticized memories of the past, reflecting a Sleeping
Beauty painfully awake or asleep. Irreversibly dead. As in Plath's earlier story "The Wishing
Box," the theme of Sleeping Beauty's transformative rest is converted into a never-ending
awakening. (McCort 148) Plath used the children's book, as both a frame and a layered fraction, as a
mirror to sustain her own experience, making it an essential method within her devotional poetics for
trying to enter her childhood past and pondering the past's influence on her present. Plath's life story is

often framed by the mirror of children's literature, which provides a key to restarting her own mindset
and comprehending the manner in which she assimilated the frameworks of her society from the pages
of those children's books she loved and admired ((McCort 156). She has reflected on her own position as
a child in her poems.
Plath illustrates how connected the past and the present are in female experience, how profoun
dly females’ perceptions of their identities are grounded in the tales which have been told
them as girls, and how widely the self can be regarded as a continuously revisable tale (McCort
156). She reveals her own identity through the identity of children’s fiction and poetry.

Contradictions flow in both ways. Plath's individual demon is the truly horrible fish, the woman under
the water who has accepted her depersonalization and passivity and yearns for the numbing it promises
(Freedman160) The image suggests that the mirror includes the fish and that underneath it lurks a
monstrosity. However, the same picture may also suggest that a two-dimensional image of the angelic is
a type of monstrosity. In other words, the monster in the depths is also the beast on the surface, or,
maybe more precisely, the monstrosity of mere surface and lack of depth ((Schwartz 72). Accepting the
role of the mirror implies indirectly accepting the male-proscribed image of woman and mother
(Freedman 165). Aggression triumphs over tenderness in Plath's "Mirror," as well as many of her other
poems about motherhood and trapping. As a result, a woman who adopts the reflecting role has
become cruel, especially to herself, (Schwartz 72). The poetess has been reflected as the fish seeking her
beauty in the lake. The study intends to draw attention to Plath’s serious depression and identify the
mental disorder as a result of patriarchal and societal stereotypes. The outcome demonstrates that
hysteria symptoms such as depersonalization limited her existence and drove her to commit suicide
(Ghlib, 2593) The poetess’s depression has been reflected in her poem and it has
demonstrated how she has been forced to commit suicide.
“The Mirror” poem demonstrates that a life managed strictly by the false reality is not life
but, but an unbearable death -in-life that only be conquered by dying to that life (Kroll
1978). It displayed how the persona of the poem has been victimized inwardly and how
she has been seeking her own identity in the poem. The mirror shows the kinds of
traumas that, like Sylvia Plath’s, were hidden behind a tight and imprecise composure
designed to project an idealized picture.
Sylvia Plath worked tirelessly all through her life to reconcile her inner and outer selves
(Schwartz 20). She has turned out in a dilemma of internal and external conflict in her life. The
researchers have revealed the poetess’s mental disorder, personal conflict of inner and outer
selves, a metaphorical reflection of the condition of her youth turning into a mother and her
attempt to escape from her earthly life. But the role of fear and her search for beauty for her
existence has not been analyzed yet as this research has attempted to fulfill the existing
research gap.

Analysis
The poem “Mirror” has got two stanzas in which the first describes the condition of the
mirror as the narrator in the room and the second stanza imagens the mirror as the lake to
reflect the decaying beauty of the woman who does not trust to mirror and goes to the lake
to seek her true and factual facial appearance through the image reflected in the lake.
The woman laments the loss of her beauty, admitting that she is getting older day by day.
She has got the fear of losing her beauty and she has struggled of maintaining her beauty.
She does not long to lose her charming personality and she has put a mirror on the wall of
her bedroom. And the narrator is the mirror of the personified one. “I am silver and exact. I
have no preconceptions (Plath)” is the first line of the poem. The mirror is made up of silver and it says
that the mirror has not got any discrimination or preconceptions to reflect the condition of the owner
exactly what she is. ” Whatever I see I swallow immediately Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike
(Plath)”. The extracted line is presented in two lines in the poem and the mirror narrates that she
swallows immediately whatever comes in front of it and the mirror does not have any discrimination of
like and dislike and love and hate in revealing the truth. The mirror demonstrates the fact in unmisted
form but the owner of the mirror is the poetess herself and she has doubts with the mirror whether it
has reflected the truth about her beauty. She is scared of being ugly and she does not long to vanish her
beauty. The woman in "Mirror" is Plath's mother as well as Sylvia, who expresses her gloomy fears that
one day she will become her mother (Conway 42). When a girl is young, she has no need to consult the
mirror; she has no idea that the mirror will become so important. So, the woman has got lurking
longings of keeping her prettiness and charming image, and attractive personality.

The narrator is kind and true to anyone who comes to seek their image. “I am not cruel, only truthful ‚
The eye of a little god, four-cornered (Plath)”. The mirror’s eye has been considered the eye of the little
god in revealing the truth without being cruel to the visitors and objects of the four corners of the room.
It does not alter while reflecting the visitors. The mirror describes its existence and its owner, who grows
older as the mirror watches and finds the owner is scared of becoming old and losing her beauty.
almost all the time the mirror meditates on the opposite wall and it has stared at it
for so long that the mirror thinks that the opposite wall has become its heart. Faces
of visitors and darkness separate the mirror and the opposite wall (Plath). The image
of the wall is interrupted only by people who enter to look at themselves and the darkness that comes
with the night.
The mirror imagines itself as a lake in the second stanza of the poem. The mirror utters:
“Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for what she really is (Plath)”.
A woman comes to the lake and bends over it to get her beauty. she is seeking her true position and
facial appearance in the lake. It conveys that she is unfaithful to the mirror on the wall and she has not
become contented with what the mirror has got reflected. She has turned out old and lost her beauty

and she is frightened by the loss of her charming appearance reflected in the mirror. She is cynical about
her external appearance in the mirror and has gone to the lake to know what she really is. The poem
“Mirror” reflects not only the plight of women in Plath’s position but also the
predicament of all women who believe they must continue to stay young and
attractive in order to be regarded as relevant. In “Mirror”, the mirror proclaims
the woman a failure. Mirrors aren't necessary for a really successful woman (Conway
44). It shows that the mirror’s reflection has become troublesome and the woman has
feared her ugly appearance. She has not found what she exactly is and she has to go to
the lake in search of her beauty. the mirror changes in the poem’s second section with
the declaration, “Now I am lake”. A lake, like a mirror, represents and has depth, and
both portray a woman seeking for herself, maybe like Narcissus. This woman could
also portray Plath and women in general and they are unable to deal with what
they observe in the mirror and they are turning to those liars like candles. Lighting
candles and moonlight represent the feminine and they cast shadows that
disguise and expose. They can misrepresent while the mirror maintains its original
shape, mirroring precisely what is in front of it. In the poem, the mirror says. “I
see her back and reflect it faithfully”. Even though it horrifies and scares her as
the woman is drawn to it and goes to the lake. Plath’s use of glass imagery also
represents the packing of the authentic self. In the poem, “Mirror”, for example,
glass both conceals and reflects the person’s authentic identity and she has gone
to the lake. She has got the fear of concealing and reflecting the authentic identity
of her beauty. Plath depicts an internalized counterpart of the going-to-watch
awareness in the poem and she is narrating a life span of conversations with a
nameless, faceless woman who sees signs of aging as mutilation. She investigates
the impact of time, age, and the waste of youth using a mirror. Although the
speaker of the poem is the mirror, the true hero is the woman as an object who
observes oneself both in and as a mirror (Schwartz 70). The speaker as a female reveals her
inner fear that is being lost day to day because of old age she does not trust in the reflection of the
mirror and she seeks her beauty in the lake.

“She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes (Plath)”.
These two lines of the poem depict how much sad she is by the loss of her beauty. she is terrified and
scared so much that she can not see her own face reflected in the lake and she weeps and cries over the
lake. She is with the river of tears dropping into the lake and she is even agitating with her hands. Lake
has become essential for her to know her true beauty and she regularly visits there. Her fear is beyond

her control and she has turned out to be conscious of her beauty as it is said consciousness and
knowledge are the main causes of fear (Subba 47). If she did not have knowledge about the loss of her
beauty with age, she would not go to the lake as a routine. Hence, she is fear-stricken and feels restless.
“Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness (Plath)”. She reaches the lake each morning and
bends over it to know how much ugly she is seen as reflected in the image of the lake. Her face replaces
the darkness in the lake by eliminating the sunlight and the light of the morning.

“In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish (Plath)”.
The mirrors are the best friends of those who are conscious about the beauty and attractive images they
wish to deserve as the speaker in the poem does. The woman has drowned in the mirror from a very
young age when she was a girl and even now when she has become an old woman. She visits the lake in
her old age day after day. She has been found like a terrible fish. It indicates how she has scared,
terrified, horrified, and afraid of losing her beauty in her old age. It has conveyed that she has been too
much scared and it has troubled her own physical health. She could not balance her fear within its
limitation. She did not have to be scared as much as she did. Her extreme fear led her to depression and
she became the victim of her own unnecessary fear. So, she committed suicide and fear has acted
negatively in her life. Plath became the victim of her extreme fear. The question is, what does she see in
the mirror that keeps her returning, fascinated day after day despite how unhappy she is by it? What is
it that she sees in the depths of the mirror that scares her? It could be age, inevitably transforming her
into a fish. Metaphorically, the fish occupies both the depths and the spirit, which may be what Plath
was drawn to but could not admit(Schwartz 71). The mirror in the poem represents the image of a
woman as a reflector of the other to itself. Plath’s double image of herself as a colorfully silvered surface
discloses a devilish form in both the mirror and the fish as represented in it. The mirror is the
magnificent persona Plath showed to the world as both a woman and a poet, the strict and firmly
disciplined performer who glitteringly completed all anticipations, a perfect mirror of obtained parental
and social standards of elegance, charm, and success. It is her social cast; artistic, frozen in a Cover Girl
smile, a perfect glimpse of the feminine ideal (Schwartz 71). The role of beauty-seeking tendency
became self-harming and deteriorating for the speaker herself in the poem. Beauty cannot be ever-
lasting and the search for beauty in old age and its extreme fear led her to take her life herself.
The poem’s first line reveals the consequences of a woman going to spend all of her
time in front of a mirror; she has wasted her youth, and drowned it in the depths of her
own reflection, much like Narcissus. One of the poem's main points is that being thrown
away into narcissism is a waste of time and energy. Mirrors do not make a judgment,
but simply "swallow," implying that whatever is reflected in them is irretrievable and lost
forever. Furthermore, the mirror is designed to reflect a wall. The woman has become a
non-entity as a result of her non-being and lack of self-definition for so long. She is
insignificant, a part of the various faces as well as the darkness that differentiates them.
It has been advised that extreme fear does not have positive outcomes. It can rather
tend to be self-destructive and detrimental to life.

The study intends to draw attention to Plath’s serious depression and identify the mental disorder as a
result of patriarchal and societal stereotypes. The outcome demonstrates that hysteria symptoms such
as depersonalization limited her existence and drove her to commit suicide (Ghlib, 2593) The
poetess’s depression has been reflected in her poem and it has demonstrated how she
has been forced to commit suicide.

Conclusion
The effect of fear in beauty has been found devastating, detrimental, and life-taking. The
speaker of the poem “Mirror” has explored the poetess, Sylvia Plath herself though the mirror
has been presented as the narrator in the poem. The mirror is the poetess’s own persona and
she has reflected the pain and fear in the process of seeking her beauty both in the mirror of
her bedroom wall and in the lake in the first and the second stanzas respectively. As the
poetess has found her beauty getting vanished with her old age, she has developed a kind of
doubt with the mirror concealing her factual identity and she has attempted to trace out her
real appearance in the lake. However, she has found no difference in her facial appearance and
beauty even in the lake and she has been found in the depth of her mental agonies and her
melancholic situation led her to depression. As a result, she has found no alternative solution of
replacing her beauty except committing suicide. Her fear turned extreme and it has been found
beyond her control and she has been victimized by her own extreme fear. The persona of the
poem has found that her conflict between the inner self and outer self, guided by fear led her
to mutilate herself. Fear horrified, traumatized, scared and led her depersonalized condition to
the persona of the poem and she became restless in maintaining her beauty in society even in
her old age. It was beyond her capacity as a mortal being and it must have been realized as the
natural process of life. Fear has acted rather dreadfully and negatively in the life of the persona
of the poem “Mirror” and it has compelled her to take her own life in vain. Hence, it has given
the message that fear must be within a balanced form rather than the extreme one for a
meaningful, worthwhile, and successful life. Otherwise, extreme fear acts to ruin the entire goal
and life itself as it has acted in the life of the poetess, Sylvia Plath. She has been found seeking
external beauty rather than internal one and it has been found unnatural in old age. Internal
beauty is gained with learning skills, enhancing knowledge and wisdom but external beauty is
natural and innate but it fades away with the passing of time. To fear such perishing external
beauty ruins life. So, it has to be accepted what nature has bestowed on mortal beings.

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file:///C:/Users/USER/Desktop/FEAR%20IN%20BAEUTY/4437-Article%20Text-13973-1-10-20131223.pdf,
Sontag Susan:” Beauty”: The Creative Delights. Compiled and edited by Shreedhar
Lohani and Rameshwar Adhikari. Ratna Pustak Bhandar, kathmandu. 1997. pp.300.
Subba, Desh. Philosophy of fears: life is conducted, directed, and controlled by fear.
Xlibris. 2014. pp.47.

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Some existential theorists and practitioners (e.g., therapists) have argued for a positive kind of anxiety, vs. a destructive kind that paralyzes and kills us. My long interest in these discourses on anxiety (another word for fear)--is a troubled one, where I have critiques of the way the existentialists deal with fear and this binary. That said, you can check out this quote (from a brand new book by Schneider) on his viewpoint--short extract below: 

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[note: "Becker" is highlighted, as he is my favorite of the existentialists, and that is Ernest Becker--of whom, was the philosophical 

thinker beneath the 1980's social psychology project of Terror Management Theory, the latter also well worth investigating if you 

are at all interested to know more about "fear" in the social realm of behavior.] 

[quote from p. 5, from Schneider, K. J. (2023). Life-enhancing anxiety: Key to a sane world. University Professors Press.]

 

Addendum: 

Experiential Democracy Dialogue Videos

These videos are edits of workshops by Kirk Schneider that feature the Experiential Democracy Dialogue (EDD). The EDD has been developed by psychologist and author, Kirk Schneider, PhD and these are companion videos to The Depolarization of America: A Guidebook for Social Healing. These videos feature both demonstrations of the EDD and hands-on opportunities to try the Dialogue in a facilitated dyad with Kirk’s guidance.

Note: Schneider comes out of the humanistic-existential school of psychology/therapy, and his philosophical and practical orientation (from my listening to his talks and reading his work) is that "presence" and "hope" are the two main ingredients to success, as far as he is concerned, and the therapy research field is more or less confirming this thesis and proclamation. I am of course, not in total disagreement but I have strong reservations of such core ingredients, based on a different paradigm --I have argued for a long time that "hope" is needing to be replaced by "fearlessness" --a much longer conversation. 

 

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A Review Of Desh Subba's Fearism

 

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A Review of Mr. Desh Subba's work by Abdullateef Sadiq, Theoretician and Generalist Writer, Nigeria

Let's begin with a story.

A king sent for a Man who he heard feared no one. Well, the king hearing that, although he has won many battles and made waste to land inhumanly, killed people and slaves and closed ones without second thought. The king summoned him immediately. Having on the top of his fence, heads of conquered kings and great rebels as trophies, with their wives as his concubines. Firstly, the king tries to confirm if the man knew what he has done by asking the man that fears nothing (let's call him F) if he knew him, the terrible king and all the stories of his ruthless and blood thirsty nature.

Mr F said, 'yes of course, I know you and heard all about you, and so what? You only conquered lands for fear that other kings might dominate you, or we might see you as inferior, or that according to the tradition of kingship and it's mythology, a display of brutality and war must satisfy the myth and unconscious forces of our custom and traditions. Also my lord, your imagination also is your master, and if it means by filling up a large field with human heads to prove over your inferiority complex of your personality type, you would do so. My lord, all these, you do, because of the system and instincts of fear revolving around your present life progress and spiritual station. If your position torments you, then your fears and it's expression by the super ego or ambition are your persona in this throne which it might not be your cosmic harmony.'

But the king, fearing more that someone knew something he never wished anyone knew. That someone knew his fear. A personal issue and subjective. But not yet. An objective and social issue lies also. " If People knew that the King wasn't feared, so they too were afraid that if that is so, their whole world view was a lie".

But the king, must satisfy his inner peace to still be the king. He had to prove to himself that all creatures feared him. He inquired if Mr F had a family or friend or loved one. They said no. So next was torture and starvation. But the man proved to enjoy pain, and welcomed the will to death, so even hunger was something he welcomed. His hands were cut, but he had nothing to lose. He had a disorder which made him feel no pain. The king was in fear, for even if he banished him out of existence the fact already existed that someone never feared him. The king committed suicide, because he was afraid to live life as such with such a fact. The king wasn't FEARLESS.

Here below are some remarks I made.

Now, I Present my Reflections on Mr Desh Subba's book on the 'Philosophy of Fearism" (Abdullateef Sadiq, Theoretician and Generalist Writer, Nigeria)

1. It's is, to use an institutional metaphor, an anthropology of the various human conditions and how they act and react to them that arouse fear. Sure, I skipped other early chapters because I belief we know the basics. The hierarchy and systems of schema such as an organization, the relationship of the mind to objects and realities that have an affect hold on him resulting to fear. They having the "appearance" based in the evolutionary epoch, mode of living (or production in Marxist terms) and culture of religion, philosophy, civilization (science, art and technology).......all masking the various modes of fear. But at the end, you tend to make a classification of fear. The dispensable, the gradation (minimum or maximum) and the one that perhaps seems to be innate (such as sickness, death, overwhelming of cosmic force and uncertainty of time).

 

"if you really want to make a field or a discipline of "Fearism" you would need to systematize the whole discourse"

2. On your use of concept and categories. You take the unconscious as an existing and autonomous realm. Although, with your use of some "Asian or Eastern" (I don't clearly agree with such demarcation as the history of thought has led me to believe) philosophies that unconscious is put in relation with some mysteries hidden as forces yet conceptualized but intuited by feeling of cosmic/material rhythm and sensual mastery of the body and environment (hence the "Asian"). This step, if I am correct in reading you is accepted to me as far as it remains open as a conjecture and to be tested by experience. There are many mysteries which I am sincere not to deny.

But the "idea" of post modernism and postmodern thinkers at least I might accept that Derrida took such a pledge, but not with Foucault whose text you lodge into such matrix. If you read his "Archaeology of knowledge" and also his "The Order of Things" (where he made some empirical analysis of the instability of "isms" and the arbitrariness of sciences and programs as "Modes of Discourse" each with its strategy of "Formation of Objects" you would see that by inference he would not be classified as such or even imply any post modernism). To confirm this, just see the second chapter of the "Archaeology of Knowledge". Perhaps the best way to put this is Foucault reply to Derrida critique of his 'History of Madness', this was imposed in his other edition as a reply to Derrida letter. It shows the difference and also that foucault doesn't practice philosophy neither sees it as a foundation neccessary for knowledge;

"What I have tried to show (but it was probably not clear to my own eyes when I was writing the History of Madness) is that philosophy is neither historically nor logically a foundation of knowledge; but that there are conditions and rules for the formation of knowledge to which philosophical discourse is subject, in any given period, in the samemanner as any other form of discourse with rational pretension." APPENDIX III Page 578. Routledge Publisher. Ed. By Jean Khalfa.

Also on your use of categories, perhaps, if you really want to make a field or a discipline of "Fearism" you would need to systematize the whole discourse, but I understand why the text is like that, with its literary structure still leaving windows here and there, because as you made clear in the beginning that other works and findings in different areas and by different people are making progress towards that "ism". That means they are under the research program of "Fearism". Well, the only addition I might say is that, it should be open to criticism and falsification of the concept any time, experience is the only thing that contradicts it's own results. This would help to keep an attitude of objectivity and awareness of bias.

3. On findings, you made (especially at your ending notes), an elaborate clinical and medical collections of observations, studies and professional reports of the conditions of life which fear is actualized either from a psychic, bodily, environmental (or "natural") and institutional source. That agreed and it is corroborated by many psychological, sociological and philosophical (beyond, Jasper, existentialist, Nietzsche and psychoanalysis schools) works I have tried to read to the best of my time.

COMMENTS

1. Your work helps to bring to Man the unconscious (which in strict psychological epistemology is just the mental process, habits and the contemporary and historical institutions known and unknown that have a grip on our social fabric of culture and life, hence the mystical feeling of it) workings and it's varieties to the consciousness of Man. By making it clearly, showing its various historical forms and also how even in the superstructure maintained by various elites and ruling class whatever their realm (science, legality, spirituality or politics and art) the idea of fear is almost innate and might (and is used) for the betterment of society or to its detriment or exploitation. I applaud this remarkable achievement. This step I believe, in your own version is quite novel and made apparent for those who wish to know and take life serious.

2. Another progress is it's collection of wealth of facts and making notifications here and there in different fields of discourse how "fear" relates them together. Also, I would add that a progress was made (also, as far as I have seen, a novel one indeed,) is the skill of making an elaborate classification of various feilds of human experience and also animal experience (for example on your analysis of fear in organism from micro to others as they adapt, feed and react to environment, but, whatever the notion or "nature" of animal mind might be still remains a mystery.) This was done at the beginning of your book which from there you took on the life or nature of consciousness basing it not on discourse or "knowledge" or "experience" but on what I might surely go with George Santayana as "Animal Faith". An elaborate philosophical discourse of the fact of consciousness playing a minute role and only called upon in the existence of animal life for survival and purposive (problem solving sure, a sign of "fear" also I think) reason can be found elsewhere. For example, to be found in the first two chapter of Alfred North Whitehead's "The Function of Reason" and also the second section of his cosmology of "Process of Reality".

Again in the work of that forgotten sociologist and philosopher L.T. Hobhouse's first part of "Development and Purpose: An Essay Towards a Philosophy of Evolution". Where we see on "conation" as the organic reaction and action towards an impulse but through adaptation it gets purposive (hence the adventure of conscious life beginning, for consciousness even in everyday experience is aroused to respond with the power of language for 'higher animals' like us, it deals with the discourse of essence related to the aim). See William Mcdoughal's "Social Psychology" to see how this description finds its form into the matrix of the whole social fabric.

"A work like Mr Desh Subba's, is surely deserving our serious attention especially if we choose to deal with it without the tradition of verbal magic and the cult of terminologies which are a true hindrance to fruiltful intellectual progress Indeed, a work to be revered."

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Madok's Critique of Philosophy of Fearism

Dr. Isaac Madok10914409682?profile=RESIZE_180x180

 

To great extent, fear can be attributed to all sectors of development in human and in a civilization of humanity as large. It can be said rightly that majority of people are driven by fear in their lives. However, a section of people who matured rationally are not driven by fear rather than by knowledge, curiosity and these are philosophers and scientists. The driving factor if I can express in this way, is knowledge, to know and that the true aspect of humanity not fear.

I disagree with you (Subba) in page 21 where you mentioned that knowledge is a production of fear. Deep inside man, there is a drive of knowledge.

Kant argues, “human reason has this peculiar fate that in one species of its knowledge it is burdened by questions which, as prescribed by the very nature of reason itself, it is not able to ignore, but which, as transcending all its powers, it is also not able to answer”.

It is specifically for those who are conscious of their consciousness. Very few people are conscious of their consciousness. Every human has this reason but some suppress it for they are frightened of the unknown. Those who are courageous they accept reason and continue to answer questions which are challenging them.

I agree with you in the aspect that consciousness colliding with object produce knowledge. Most of the development in this world is a result of collision of objects with man. However, there is some questions or curiosity that are invisible which take place in human mind and seeking answer to those concerns and curiosities drive man to know why are they existing. This part is not driven by fear.

Knowledge does not generate fear rather it generates confidence and satisfaction.

Again, I strongly disagree with your claim that philosophy is not possible without fear in page 23.

It is not truthful, philosophy exists and it is possible without fear. Philosophy is love of wisdom and knowledge. For sake of philosophy, philosophers do choose philosophy and that is the reason very view people do study philosophy. It is the same that very view peoples are philosophers.

I admire the work and I support most of the statements that people without fear they cannot develop and cannot discover the goodness in them. Fear is needed to free some people from themselves to discover how great they are and to giver chance to others to grow.

Dr. Isaac Madok

Associate Professor of philosophy

South Sudan Christian University

St. Paul Major Seminary

Juba-South Sudan

Email: isaacmadok@gmail.com

WhatsApp: +211915914982

1. Immanuel Kant, "Critigue of Pure Reason", editors, PaulGuyer, & Allen W. Wood, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013}.

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Theosophical Trails: Fearlessness Movement

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Any sincere history of the Fearlessness Movement, will be international and diverse in its tracking down those thinkers across cultures and time who valued and acted upon the critical importance of fear shaping the direction of humanity and civilization itself. Equally, such a central valuation of fear leads to those thinking about the appropriate solution to the Fear Problem we all face. Fearlessness is one of the obvious routes to such a solution and remaking of civilization upon a new order of principles and practices of liberation as opposed to oppression. 

The phote above from 1920s is of Alice A. Bailey and her husband Foster Bailey, and their role in not only the advancement of theosophy, an esoteric philosophy of life, but also their role in The League for Fearlessness (founded in 1931). I have studied this document of the founders and founding of The League and have written about its importance elsewhere on this blogsite ning and in many published articles and in my books. Because of a request from a colleague today online, I decided it is time that I finally put up (and make public) the entirety of the rare League for Fearlessness original brochure.docx that was my big discovery during doctoral research on the relationship of fear and fearlessness.  

Also, I recommend readers interested in this League and the theosophical connections to the Fearlessness Movement and my own thinking, go to an interview I did with Steve Nation, of Lucis Trust, a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Id7lI6rM0

At the conclusion of the talk with Steve Nation he says, "Fearlessness as a real cosmic energy....Fearlessness is without a doubt, one of the higher archetypes for all traditions, all professions." 

 

 

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Glad to announce this new book, initiated and led by B. Maria Kumar and most of his essays, and I respond to them. (Indra Publishing House, 2022)

I think readers will find us as two fearists in a creative exchange that was a lot of fun for me to be involved. One may even learn something new about the "human" from this book. 

 
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Bishwa Darpan

Monday, April 11, 2022

Interview With Desh Subba On Trans Philosophism

 

Trans Philosophism Is A Terminator

Desh Subba

Desh Subba was born in Nepal and lives in Hong Kong. He has been writing various books in 'Philosophy of Fearism'. His book 'Trans Philosophism' published in 2021. He is a founder of 'Philosophy of Fearism'. On its base, several books and articles have been written. Bishwa Raj Adhikari has interviewed him for Bishwa Darpan:

  1. May we start the interview with the introduction of your writings?

I am Desh Subba. I have written different genres of literature. Since 1999, I have been concentrating on the 'Philosophy of Fearism'. It took a long time to shape a philosophy. I researched; consulted with professors and studied to support it. It was hard to find a clear outline. In the beginning, Fearism was a matter of mocking concept because it was hard to accept as philosophy. No one thought and heard such Fear+ism before. As for them, fear was an average thought as others’ emotions. It was true in a sense. It was the reason that it became a joke. It was not happening to me only. Most of the philosophers faced such difficulties. In my experience, people learn a piece of philosophy. A piece of learning cannot complete the learning process. We cannot understand if we start from the middle. It is the same as watching a movie after one minute or starting to read a book from the 2nd page. When we miss the beginning, then we get lost somewhere. It is the trend of our academic research and study. Suppose, somebody read Marxism and said I know Marxism. At least to know Marxism needs to reach to Socrates and Plato because thesis, antithesis, and synthesis came from Meno and 'The Republic'. Once Meno asked Socrates,

Meno: "Can knowledge (virtue is written in Wikipedia) learn and teach?"

Socrates: "Cannot because it exists within us".

Meno: "How to draw it out?"

Socrates: "Through dialectic method."

He was talking about conceptual knowledge. Until the synthesis, dialect must continue.

Similarly, word communism first came from Plato. He used it in how to rule Athens. He said, "Ruler and warrior class are not permitted to keep the private property because if they acquire private property, they can be corrupted." He had a fear of corrupting the state. In a social measure, he preferred the communist system. We are playing a role like scholars of Socrates. After conversing with scholars, he said, "We do not know—neither the sophists, nor the orators, nor the artists, nor I—what the True, the Good, and the beautiful are. But there is this difference between us: although they believe they know something; whereas, I, if I know nothing, at least have no doubt about it."

  1. 'Philosophy of Fearism' is now widely read. Can you explain it in the simplest form? 

It is a philosophy as other philosophies. Its primary subject is fear. It looks at life and the world on its basis. It is my understanding; most of the influential philosophies have come from suffering, pain, pleasure, happiness, will, desire, etc. Fear was left behind, even some philosophers had given the place but it was negative, harmful, and secondary. We (fearists) are giving full focus on it. Its major quotes are "life is conducted, directed, and controlled by fear", and the "(Existence of) fear precedes essence". At present, politics, economics, education, healthcare, entertainment, and relation is conducted, directed, and controlled by fear of Covid—19. It is very practical. It is not negative; it is the most positive motivator. We see the fear of pandemic activated government, scientists, and medicines. If it was not spread, it would not require the invention of medicine, insulin and issue the laws. We are not doing it just for Corona, we did since early civilization. The bottom line of our invention, development, and construction is fear.

  1. 3. End of last year, your new book 'Trans Philosophism' was published. Can you say some words about it?

It is a metamorphosis of 'Philosophy of Fearism' in one sense and terminator in another sense.  By name, if we go through, it has four words Trans+Philo+sophy+ism=Trans Philosophism.  It argues that the later philosophies have to turn on 'Trans Philosophism' way. It has operated, refuted, criticized, and fearmorphosed (metamorphosed) the political theory of Thomas Hobbes, Communist Manifesto, Of Grammatology of Derrida, postmodernism, the subaltern studies, ecological crisis and Existentialism. 

  1. How can it be metamorphosis and terminator?

When the variant of philosophy comes that is a metamorphosis; if it strongly refutes and takes into an advanced level that is the terminator. Das Capital is an offspring of the Communist Manifesto. Several philosophies are in metamorphosis form. It is in Communism, Existentialism, modernism, postmodernism, etc. Some parts of Hegelian idealism (idea, or mind, or reason, spirit, or and Giest) is the metamorphosis of Purush and Prakriti of Sankhya philosophy. The spirit of Hegel and Purush of Sankhya has a common base; it has the potential to create matter. Similarly, the political theory of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau is a kind of metamorphosis because their first form is the state of nature. An animal is a living thing, so the same animal changes in different forms. An idea needs to change through philosophers. We cannot ignore the metamorphosis structure of the Communist Manifesto, Das Capital, Leninism, Maoism, and some other communists. If we see in the context of Nepal, there are plenty of metamorphosed offspring of communists. They are metamorphoses in the 'Trans Philosophism' terminology. 'Trans Philosophism' is a terminator because it terminates the previous meaning. In reality, fear is a terminator. It terminates other emotions. To look from a fearism point of view is fearmorphosis.

  1. How is the development of Philosophy of Fearism?

It is growing to the adolescence stage. It will grow into teenagers and adults. On its base, almost 20 books and lots of articles have been written. Trans Philosophism is among them. Dr. Bhawani Shankar Adhikari has applied it in his Ph.D. dissertation. It is a healthy symptom. In some books, I involved myself. Several universities have kept it in reference lists. Within 8 years, its progress is zeal.

  1. Do you have some words for readers?

It is my experience, if we want to learn philosophy, we must go back to 570 BC, and nevertheless, we miss the page. Around 600 BC is its beginning. As I said, reading from the 2nd page misguides our knowledge. 

 

Presented by: Bishwa Raj Adhikari

http://bishwarajadhikari.blogspot.com/2022/04/interview-with-desh-subba-part-2.html?m=1

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Aesthetic Way of Expanding the Study of Fear

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I've long been a believer that artists, and the aesthetic mode of thinking, feeling, acting (that is, the arational) is a more effective way to change our fixed and overly-conditioned ways of thinking about anything--especially "fear" itself. So, in the above 'play' I situate two major concepts, and phenomena, and now they sit within a 'taoist' model or philosophical system of thought and imagination. I wonder what new could be discovered if this re-mapping of both Taoist philosophy and the understanding of fear in general could be adopted--as a thought experiment. So, if any of you want to try and play with it. I'd love to see what you come up with. 

 

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What Kind of Philosopher Am I?

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Early 1991, Morocco, N. Africa - R. Michael Fisher in contemplation. 

(photo by Barbara Bickel)

What Kind of Philosopher Am I?

I FOLLOW the trail(s) of words/concepts, like, fear, fearlessness--and, I end up in places to learn about it and have it change me, even if just a little. As cultural critic Sara Ahmed said in an interview, noting she is involved in philosophical inquiry and likes it, but it is questions and words/concepts that are her focus and guide--declaring herself not really a trained philosopher at all, nor motivated by philosophy in an academic disciplinary way:  "I’m interested in the world making nature of words and concepts, philosophy becomes one of the places I go...among others...". [1]

            Making of a Naturalist-Moral Philosopher (1952-  )

Life vs. Death, Good vs. Evil, have long intrigued me; since 1989 I found another way to express this great archetypal Battle of opposites, and situated it as Love vs. Fear. The latter, has been by far the most fruitful investigation. The ethical implications of how we are motivated by deep forces as humans truly is my passionate inquiry—it is what I bring to the field of Education.

Although some have called me so, I have never really labeled myself a “philosopher,” never mind a moral philosopher. Firstly, my thoughts about calling myself a “moral philosopher” (wanna be), is that I had a fundamentalist Christian family system informing from my dad’s side, and I was raised implicitly in a Judeo-Christian (Abrahamic) culture, with insidious religious roots in the Middle-East and its grand sacred myths of divine leaders and newly emergent religious doctrines. My entire K-12 education in public secular schooling, was in fact, not so secular and not free of a controlling religious power regime in Canada. I had to stand and say the Lord’s Prayer (from the Bible) since I was very young until junior high school.

Secondly, I think of my deep dive into the Environmental Movement, and graduating from high school when the first Earth Day was announced and celebrated on this planet. The 1960s-70s consciousness transformation and (r)evolution was in the background of my “growing up.” Yet, one other thought, not so obvious to me is always likely shaping my philosophy. It is WW-II and the rise and fall of the Third Reich (Nazi Germany)—the invasion of fascism in modern times—leading to the Holocaust and a devastating assault on modern assumptions of rationality and human decency. What has civilization to offer, if it could not prevent Nazism? Another Reign of Terror, as in the eras across history that show “progress” and “democracy” come with a heavy price—and, a lot of fear (terror). With my mom being an immigrant (war bride) from Belgium to Canada, and a survivor of Nazi occupation for over three years when she was in her teens, it is not surprising I have a penchant to become a moral philosopher. Yet, we shall see here in this section just what kind of philosopher that is, in my own customized version.

From some autobiographical sketching it is obvious that some of my family influences were significant in my upbringing. I talked of three ‘best’ teachers, my dad, my older brother and Nature. It seems obvious to me that informally I was very much a naturalist philosopher budding, from the earliest days of my child-play and experimenting on the prairie escarpment  of the Bow River valley, in Calgary, AB, Canada, of my most formative 2-8 years of life. I was a “nature boy” and grew to become a “nature lover.” With my love for and defense of the “Natural” world, it is not surprising that the first serious (mostly Western) philosophy I was attracted to in my spare-time, in my early-to-mid 20s, were biological philosophical writers (e.g., René Dubos, Lyall Watson, E. O. Wilson) and environmental/eco-philosophical writers (e.g., Albert Schweitzer, Arnie Naess, Gregory Bateson, Lynn White, Valerius Geist, etc.)—with roots in the American Transcendentalism philosophy stream (e.g. Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, etc.)—and, then specifically, E. F. Schumacher’s (practical-economic) Buddhist philosophy. Other Eastern philosophers and spiritual teachers (e.g., Alan Watts, Chöygam Trungpa, Ken Wilber, etc.) all had their early influence as I turned 28 years of age and started my Education career track....

[extract of draft for a chapter in my new book in progress, The Fear Problematique: Role of Philosophy of Education in Speaking Truths to Powers in a Culture of Fear ].

 

Notes

1. From "Sara Ahmed: Dresher Conversations" (Mar. 20, 2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zadqi8Pn0O0

 

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Trans Philosophism Book Review

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Review: Desh Subba's Trans Philosophism by Nicola Tenerelli ForPsiCom - University of Bari -

It is Desh Subba's essay, Trans Philosophism, published in 2021 by Xlibris, English language, is a study that could initially appear as a philosophy of history: "What is presented herein: public made law, rule, constitution, state, court, and government to direct, control and conduct the societies that they developed via theism, the theory of evolution, political theory, Marxism, and now Fearism. Lineage, tribe, caste, and nationality were constituted later. Now, we are living within its periphery. " (p. 47)

Desh Subba's work takes on particular interest because it offers thinkers an unprecedented reinterpretation of the history of philosophy, made by a Nepalese thinker who passionately digs to verify the cornerstones of Western thought, making them his own and reinterpreting them. It often happens that they ask me for an interpretative judgment; I point out that my philosophical training is linked to Western culture; my mind and I are damned tied to a logical structure, a mindset, inescapably Western. It is impossible to take a further logical position, although the strength of philosophical thought is expressed primarily if it translates into freedom, intellectual autonomy. In fact, the goal of philosophy is achieved when the mind takes on a further point of view, knowing full well that it cannot transcend itself and its own essentiality. The substratum of the mind is the rootedness it possesses in nature - time and place - a kind of Aristotelian power (δύναμις) which produces its otherness while remaining linked to its life. Reading Desh Subba's essay first of all invites us to discover what Trans Philosophism is.

                                                                                                                                                         Nicola Tenerelli

                                                                                                                                        Universita degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro

With narrative wisdom and philosophical competence, the Author guides the reader in the unprecedented analysis of thinkers such as Hobbes and Marx, Sartre and Foucault, Heidegger and Derrida.

The hidden purpose of the mighty volume is to show the contemporary subject how to understand its complexity in order to become master of himself: this result can only be achieved by seeking the anfang of human action, understanding what is the fulcrum that moves human life. The philosopher manages to Trans philosophism (sic!) By deconstructing history, creating a genealogy of humanity: he will thus discover that the principle from which historical existence moves is fear; the Author can therefore state, paraphrasing Existentialism is a humanism: "It is new path for a new century - 'Trans Philosophism - (existence of) fear precedes essence'." (p. xvii) Using the method of exploration typical of philosophy, Desh Subba produces a re-proposition of Being in an existent key, moving from the moment immediately following the Sartrian being-thrown, and reconstructs the history of humanity that slowly evolves, interacted by the ontic thrust of fear. The production of structure - in the Marxian sense - has always been moved by the constitutive fear with which man must coexist; the eternal inner conflict of the fearful self generates the facts, determining history as a result of the struggle between fear and its overcoming. The transphilosophist understands that fear is the lever with which the human has produced History, but fear increasingly gives way to the spirituality of human beings, producing survival and growth, from the cave to the spaceship: "Fear existed along with the existence of human beings. It encouraged us for further progress. This is a reality hidden behind the motion of civilization and the cyber globe. Tomorrow it will reach space and the galaxy. It is still going on and human existence remains continuous. The globe goes back to the void along with the end of fear. We are born as complementary. We act in different parts till our tasks remain significant. It's like a dream in a play. Our roles end with the end of the play. "(p. 78) we are not faced with the Feuerbachian materialist vision, in which the concept of fear would be considered the anthropological principle according to which every activity can only be called human, even the existence of God. 9937719075?profile=RESIZE_400x

Desh Subba's Trans Philosophism intends to suggest a new path.

Although not mentioned in this demanding work, many of the principles of the New Science of Giambattista Vico echo, for which man must not delude himself into discovering the laws of nature, since this approach to the world would presuppose both the desire to be able to reconstruct it. Out of nowhere, let it be the arrogance of being able to discover the mystery of existence. Man can only know the only reality he has managed to produce, History, his history, but he must carry out this genealogical reconstruction by placing himself methodologically distant from the Western philosophical tradition: "[...] I utilize the basic reference from Viktor Afanasyev, Marxism Philosophy A Popular Outline. The origin of philosophy is the beginning of creation. It depends on how it has been narrated. A lot of philosophies have come into being while attempting to explore answers to questions. The planet we live in can be divided into material and spiritual. People with a material faith see everything material and the people with spiritual faith see everything spiritual. Yet, all theories developed to look at the world are incomplete. Similarly, the truth we believe in is typically mostly surficial. " (p. 62)

Desh Subba's wit invites reflection that takes into account the constant clash from which cultural achievements and changes, all forms of collectivism, life and relationships are born. The essay interprets the history of Western thought as the history of the contrast between materialism and spiritualism - Plato and Aristotle, which Raphael in the School of Athens depicts one pointing to the sky, the other to the earth -: this dichotomous vision must be overcome. To do this, the transphilosopher declares himself to be a Mateidealist, engaged in the simultaneous knowledge of his matter and his interiority, since both are part of the world, where everything is in everything, and in all things there is the intellect - The (things) that mix together and separate and disjoin, all the Intellect has known (Anaxagoras, DK 59 fr. 12) -. "Fearism is a Mateidealism. To understand, to make somebody understand and to feel frightened are related to Fearism. It originated in the ancient period. Socialism and capitalism remain meaningless unless each applies a theory of subsistence. So, philosophy should explore these issues to reach depth. We are working in a task force on the exploration and resolution of equivalent issues. It focuses on subsistence. " (p. 76)

Desh Subba's tension is all concentrated to demonstrate that there is inseparable unity between knowledge and life; understanding that everything is one - men and nature - represents the last form of awareness that can lead the subject back to greater moral solidity, being able to grasp being to free himself from fear: it is the attempt to reach the top of the mountain more unexplored to be able to look the other way, with the hope of freeing oneself from the torment of the unknown! "Why does it birth fear? And I found the nectar of fear in the mount Kumbhakarna Himal. There is a myth in my village, on the top of Kumbhakarna Himal, there is herbal plant of immortality. It is hard to climb and with a steep summit. Phoktanglungma (Phoktang means shoulder and lungma means Mountain) named in local Limbu Language. Originally it looks like one side of a broken soldier. Villagers maybe made the myth up because it is hard to climb. Many beautiful mountains of Nepal which are virgin are not open for climbing. I was looking for a metaphor of fear, and I found genesis of meaning. " (p. 423)

At the end of the reading of Trans Philosophism, agile thanks to clear writing, is it necessary to resist the usual Western temptation to deconstruct and decode Desh Subba's thought in order to attribute to it an ism - utopian? pantheist? -, making it immediately understandable, and then putting it aside. The Author's message is important with which he invites us to educate the intellectual capacity to understand a further project, because it is in the strength of human beings to be able to renew and grow, recognize themselves in others and overcome errors. The trans-philosopher Desh Subba suggests to human beings that the time has come to build a "fear-free-zone" (p. 438), a possible social place, a collective experience that makes history. The greatness of a man is to be a bridge and not a goal: in man, it is possible to love that he is a transition and a sunset (Prologue of Zarathustra, 4): only by getting rid of his own Icheit is it possible that every man learns to reduce at a minimum the ancestral coexisted fear to help create a more just and shared world.

Note: Originally it is written in the Italian Language. With the permission of the author Nicola Tenerelli, I have posted an English translation via Google, for English readers’. Original Italian text can be read at this link.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357240811_Recensione_Desh_Subba_Trans_Philosophism

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Calling Philosophy From Fear to Fearlessness

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The above excerpt is from first page of my latest book chapter in Ramala Sarma (Ed.) (2021) [1]. Sarma has put together an interesting mix (mostly Eastern writers) on philosophy and mind issues. I was pleased she asked me to contribute to this anthology. I recommend you check it out and if you want to read more of my chapter I can also post a few more excerpts, or you can order the book for my full essay.  

Book Reference: 

1. Fisher, R. Michael (2021), pp. 91-114.  In R. Sarma (Ed.) (2021). Understanding mind, consciousness and person. New Delhi, India: Rawat Prakashan. 

 

 

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John Dewey on Fear and Binaries

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The eminent early 20th century
American philosopher John Dewey... 

In this above quote, he is on his grand project (to restore "experience" to philosophy)--to debunk all binaries, so it seems. E.g., Life vs. Education, is a good place to start that deconstruction.

Then he goes on, in a passage analogously, where he critiques those that derogate the "lower" aspects of reality (so-called) vs. the "higher" aspects of reality (so-called) that have become so common by the 20 th century in philosophy, and education philosophy and psychology. He wrote of these sensory aspects: 

"Since sense-organs with their connected apparatus are the means of participation [with reality, with Life, with living organisms], any and every derogation of them, whether practical or theoretical, is at once effect and cause of a narrowed and dulled life-experience. Oppositions [i.e., binaries] of mind and body, soul and matter, spirit and flesh all have their origin, fundamentally, in fear of what life may--bring forth. They are marks of contraction and withdrawal [i.e., fear-based]." (Dewey, 1934, pp. 22-3). 

This is not the only passage I have been reading from Dewey, in my recent study of his writing, where I am reading into and between the lines, and sometimes reading explicit calling out of fear in our knowledge and knowing systems--like it is a massive weight on us and life-forces, it is like he is speaking a language of fearlessness. I'll be writing a chapter on his philosophy (fearlessness) and education for my new book The Fear Problematique (2022)... more  to come. 

[NOTE: for another of my FM blogs on Dewey and fear and fearlessness go to: https://fearlessnessmovement.ning.com/blog/holy-rant-john-s-dewey-s-fearlessness-project]

 

Reference

Dewey, J. (1934/2005). Art as Experience. Penguin Group.

 

 

 

 

 

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Glad to let you all know my new book with B. Maria Kumar is just published. I'll write more about it later. 

https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/791530-resistances-to-fearlessness

 

BOOK DESCRIPTION

The current dominating worldview and its paradigms of operations are unhealthy and unsustainable. Ecological, economic, political and psychological health are at stake. As experts in a philosophy of fearism, they apply a critical perspective on the dominant Fear Paradigm as root cause of the global crises in the 21st century. They offer a worldview shift via the Fearlessness Paradigm. This is a second major book on this topic, of which the first was Fisher?s The World?s Fearlessness Teachings (2010). This follow-up book is deep, punchy and provocative. It points to the failure of the world to understand the spirit of fearlessness that has existed from the beginning of Life some four billion years ago. The authors, from diverse backgrounds, point to the resistances that work against the recognition and development of the natural ?gift? of fearlessness and the design of a Fearlessness Paradigm, both which can counter the abuses of the Fear Paradigm. With extensive research and philosophical thought, the authors dialogue in a fresh imaginative way to help readers and leaders in all walks of life to better understand what resistances they may have to escaping from what Fisher calls the ?Fear? Matrix.

Resist to FLSSNSS brochure.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This is a screen shot of my Youtube teaching at one point in the 2nd video in a series on "Fear Education"

Based on several people (mostly men) sending me emails over the last year and prior, of their severe struggles with anxiety, depression and panic. Certainly, after a year of pandemic "lock down" and just where the world is going--it's a disturbing time for most anyone, IF we let ourselves really feel into reality. So, thought I could do a series of videos (maybe 1/wk) to give you specific coaching and teaching re: the path of fearlessness... and note, this is not a psychological approach so much as it is a philosophical approach... I talk a good deal about that distinction in the videos  -enjoy,  -M. 

p.s. the point also is that you may feel connected to something and someone during these rough times, and reach out and share your experiences, ask your questions, inquire with me and certain even better in co-inquire with the Fearlessness Movement ning community... check out the videos... you may Comment on my Youtube and/or here; I'll do my best to address and talk to everyone in some way... you also mail directly contact me via  r.michaelfisher [at] gmail.com

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I just received a message from Pooja Soni, a young author on consciousness, who has spent many years writing a very intense philosophical treatise (new theory) examining consciousness, development and yes, looks also at fear where necessary, in order to articulate the 'shaping' effect of fear experiences. Book is available: Pooja wrote to me: 
 
"Here is a recent interview of mine describing my book -  [and here is a recent FearTalk #10 Soni & Fisher in conversation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqif3--8L5c ]
 
The basic idea regarding emotions such as fear that I advocate in my book is that negative experiences or emotions are crucial for learning and development of an individual. 
Treating negative experiences in pessimistic terms exposes our obsessions regarding the idea of a perfect world, a world where you can control everything. 
Our fears and negative experiences define who we are as persons."
 
[Note: Pooja joined the FM ning years ago, and has a few posts which you can find if you do a Search in the upper right box on the FM ning home page] 
[see also a discussion Pooja and I had on their "Panexperientialist view of fear" on the FM ning a few years ago]
 
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I recently came across a paper by the Brazilian progressive critical educational philospher Walter O. Kohan (State University of Rio de Janeiro). The paper is called "Paulo Freire and Philosophy for Children: A Critical Dialogue" go to: Kohan2018_Article_PauloFreireAndPhilosophyForChi.pdf

He describes positively and critiques the "philosophy for children" (or P4C) movement [1] in education and philosophy that developed in the early 1970s (by Matthew Lipman et al.). He also brings Lipman's philosophy and pedagogy into distinct comparison with Paulo Freire's philosophy and critical pedagogy, where he concludes the former is too apolitical to be effectively emancipatory for children or society--while Freire offers so much more. Kohan goes even further to bring forth several other critiques, methodologies and critical perspectives to complement critical pedagogy (see below).

I'd suggest any of the philosophy of fearism scholars and practitioners take a good look at the P4C movement and Kohan's critique (along with others). Kohan's views are very similar to my own on several grounds and particularly his conviction (along with Freireans) that philosohizing with children is extremely important to their wholesome education and socialization process but that it is a relationship of 'peers'-- where teachers and learners co-create the unlearning and learning that will set them free (in my words, re-connect and correct their way along the path of fearlessness to liberation). Philosophizing with children is often done (via Lipman et al. and P4C) with the teacher(s) being in charge of the design of curriculum and delivery and with the emphasis on being 'neutral' as teachers and likewise the curriculum. From my view (and Kohan's) that is a faux neutrality (ideal) and not to do with what true education has always been about, which is a problematizing of everything including the economic-social-political order. At some point, every philosopher and educator has to decide what kind of society children live in (as curriculum context). Do we live in an oppressive society or not? The answer is rather obvious to me, as to Kohan, as to Freire. 

Role of Fear: Real vs. Ideal

My favorite part in the Kohan paper is when he is in dialogue with his mentor of his dissertation (Lipman himself). Kohan asks Lipman about the abuses of democracy and questioning capitalism in that relationship and how this topic has to be put on the table of philosophical inquiry with adults and children. Lipman says: "... in this country [USA] we are very confused. We respect the notion and the ideal of democracy but we are afraid to see it in its confrontation [relational context] with capitalism. There we just shrug and turn away, we don't want to talk about the fact that democracy and capitalism may be incompatible...". (Kohan, 2018, p. 625) [bold added for emphasis]

Kohan doesn't pick-up on the fear component that Lipman brings front and center, as I would have done so, from a fearanalysis viewpoint or a fearist lens. I agree with Lipman (as I am sure Kohan does here as well) that fear of critiquing the 'hand that feeds you' (i.e., Capitialism) in philosophical inquiry is typically such that philosophers and educators (educational philosophers) will shy away and talk about other things. The very basis of a philosophy of fearism (and method of dephilosophy of Desh Subba, [2]) is to make sure that when fear is involved in the construction of the ideas and realities of our texts and practices that we 'call out' the fear and name it and deal with it in some conscious and constructive (if not transformative) way rather than "just shrug and turn away" (as Lipman expresses). Note, even Lipman, in this interview, has no 'solution' to offer or re-frame the very problem of fear he raises and its power to 'dissociate' the real and the ideal in our societies and individual lives. It is disappointing the source leader of P4C comes up so short. The ethical importance of this ought not be overlooked.

My entire educational philosophy is pretty much now based on this dephilosophy (i.e., philosophy of fearism and/or fearlessness philosophy) I bring to all inquiry, philosophizing, and educational curriculum and pedagogy. My first principle of a fearlessness philosophy could be

(a) fearlessness at all cost is essential to the integrity and sustainability of Life (systems); and thus, fear ought not be used as an excuse to avoid/deny the Ideal(s) we hold dearly (sacredly); fear leading our lives tends to compromise the ideal for a real (via ideological realism-pragmatism) because the latter is functionally 'convenient,''comfortable' and 'conformist'

Other Means for Emancipatory Practices: New Rationalities

I'll close this article with the recommendations by Kohan (incomplete as they are) because they offer all of us involved in philosophy, and especially philosophy with children, other ways (beyond Freirean or Lipmanian P4C approaches) to emancipatory education. Kohan (2018, p. 625) wrote, 

... other paths to explore Freire's inspiration other than critical pedagogy. One is to follow the decolonial turn, opening, for example, a "mestiza rationality" [3] (Anzaldua 1999), one of the sensual body, "full of feelings, of emotions, of tastes" (Horton and Freire 1990:23). [4] [this alternative] It needs to be a rationality sensible to different forms of being of the "oppressed" (to use Freirean terms), which would also include LGBT, Indian [Indigenous], Black, and women and children: a rationality sensitive to contradiction and ambiguity. [5]

Various forms of "undoing of identity" (via queering), or feminisms, post-humanism, etc, are encouraged by Kohan and those authors he cites, as part of re-examining critically how we see the child and human nature itself. He calls for "deterritorial" approaches, deconstruction, etc. (part of postmodern philosohpies) to bring human and non-human into a closer relationship overall in valuation to resist the easy commodification and capitalization processes of oppression. Even different kinds of schools ought to be considered. And he then writes of how we ought to trouble the very notion of rational-linear "time" conceptualizations and the problem of only one notion of time that dominates a worldview and schooling and/or educational system. I particularly like this challenge and it is one that Luke Barnesmoore and I have brought forth in a few publications, because time-fear are very closely connected ontologically and need to be critically examined to set us free from fear-based worldviews in general [6]. 

In conclusion, Kohan argued well that philosophy and politics are not separate nor should be, they each contribute to an emancipatory project of which all authentic education (and philosophy) ought to strive for. Like Freire's notion, each educator (philosophy) and child ought to "build her own path" in how best to accomplish a wholesome education and critique of the status quo. That said, and I agree, there's essential need for firm and mature guidance in this building that we are as educators ethically responsible. The trick is to guide without imposing. I offer the path of fearlessness, I don't impose it, even when many through my decades of this work believe that I am imposing it. A similar criticism has been launched at Freirean critical pedagogy. Perhaps, the articulation of politics and philosophy on my part is just not sufficient or it is still incomplete--always a project in progress. I invite input and critique ongoing, as part of good dialogical learning and research. 

End Notes

1. Kohan sees himself part of the P4C movement in a cautious way, and told me he prefers PWC ("philosophy with children") as the articulating concept of this work.

2. E.g. See books and articles by Subba and Fisher (philosophy of fearism) and in particular his dephilosophy method--which, I call fearanalysis in my work. 

3. Usually this is translated in the literature as "mestiza consciousness"-- note, Kohan's mother tongue is Portuguese and this article has been translated into English.

4. I (and Barbara Bickel and others) would call this (in part) the arational domain.

5. What is being constructed by Kohan here is a pathway and/or 'container' of expansion beyond the fear-based egocentric and ethnocentric worldviews. It is a matured existential (and emotional) capacity he is calling for that moves from fear to fearlessness as its operative paradigm, beyond being oppressed by a dualism-centered philosophy in which fear breeds and predominatnly shapes everything. I believe Kohan would be better to bring in notions of transrationality at this point. That's a more complex nuanced discussion. You can see that fear however will be intimately involved in the rationality processes (alternatives) Kohan calls for (as do others)--but unfortunately, little do these theorists (including Kohan) adequately theorize fear/fearlessness in this expanding of worldview in their philosophies. 

6. For e.g., see Fisher, R. M., & Barnesmoore, L. (2018). Hierarchical security: Problem of fear of the eternal [Appendix 3]. In Fisher, R. M., Subba, D., & B. M. Kumar, Fear, law and criminology: Critical issues in applying the philosophy of fearism (pp. 125-48). Australia: Xlibris. 

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