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Abstract

            This paper by Adhikari, displays Death as the ultimate invisible truth of Life. It draws forth the example of various characters and events on how Death has acted as the most powerful human agent to equalize all people, either the powerful or the powerless. It has made the link with the philosophers' principle of invisible truth of Plato, who draws the idea from Socrates. COVID-19 and its influence on virtually the entire world is taken as the example of fear functioning as the master of all humanity in the world. If outside visible things of the world are regarded as false, Death which is invisible, and hence the fear of death, is the final truth of externally unseen things.

Death which is invisible, and hence the fear of death, is the final truth of externally unseen things.   

Key Words: death, fear, COVID-19, mythology, Lord Krishna, Kamsa, images, shadows, traumatic, discourse

Bhawani Shankar Adhikari    

Introduction

Plato takes the discourse of Socrates' idea of invisible truth in the philosophical dispute. The external visible things are not truth and the real truth is unseen and in fact the fear of death is the real truth.  The word "fear" is the human instinct. It is linked with the psychological aspect of the individuals and the amount of fear differs person to person and society to society. It depends on the background of his or her upbringing. Science has created everything but it has not created to measure the exact amount of the individuals' fear as we take the temperature of the fever or the heat of the living creatures. But fear is the master of all. It has become the root cause of invention and the present civilization of the entire world. There is no place to hide the fear of the individuals and the extreme  and low forms of fear becomes detrimental all the time and only the medium fear becomes the true guiding principle in the better path of life. Sigmund Freud's concept of fear is concerned with the idea of the uncertainty. "The term fear, whose metapsychological status remains uncertain (Google, stark stein)" indicates that fear comes with uncertainty and Death itself is the matter of uncertainty but it is the truth of life.

Fear of Death is the ultimate and the greatest one in the life of not only human beings but also in the life of all living creatures. Man is always active and busy in life but when the inner truth of life is revealed to him or her, then everything becomes worthless, meaningless and the useless one. This inner truth of life is Death and it is always lurking behind us but we forget it and ignore it. We become unconscious about the reality of Death. When we become conscious about Death, then we scare too much about it. This is the invisible and unseen truth of life. The unseen truth to the fear of Death is the lack of consciousness and the knowledge.  Nepali thinker Mr. Desh Subba has presented the figure of fear in relation to consciousness and knowledge. "Life . . . consciousness . . . knowledge (Meaning) . . . fear . . . cognition (Subba)." It is obvious that fear does not come without the consciousness and the knowledge. Subba means that knowledge must be the knowledge of meaning. If a person does not have the knowledge of Cobra's poison containing the life taking strength, then the person does not get scared but when he knows about its danger or sees someone being passed away by the Cobra's bite, then the person is scared. Likewise when the person knows that he or she is suffering from the terminal cancer and he or she does not live long, then it is called the knowledge about his or her own Death. Then the person is scared much more. Can we call it the ultimate truth is the "Fear of Death"?  It is also because the Death is unseen and hidden and it becomes the most powerful force to lead the life and the entire world. In the absence of the fear, the whole universe can not function properly and in its system.

Fear in Hidden truth

The philosophers have done the research regarding the truth and the unseen power. Plato has drawn the allegorical concept of the reality and facts. Plato's "Allegory of Cave" is the philosophical principle of getting into the world of the truth. Plato's figure of the burning fire and the people of the den are watching the shades of the burning fire but they have not seen the real burning fire and they believe that the images of the fire of other sides' shadows are the truth. They trust in the false images as the ultimate truth but know nothing about the real truth. They are in the cave in ignorance. If anyone comes  out of the cave with knowledge and knows the truth, and if he comes back to the cave again and convinces the cave dwelling  people to know the truth, then the cave dwellers do not trust him or her. The cave dwellers do not want to come out of the cave. They do not know the invisible, unseen, and the ultimate truth. The real truth is hidden from the visible scenes of outside world. The allegory is explained:

Plato has Socrates describe a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all over their lives, facing a black wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of fire behind them, and give names to these shadows. The shadows are the prisoners' reality. Socrates explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not reality at all, he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the manufactured reality that is the shadows seen by the prisoners. The inmates of the place do not even desire to leave their prison, for know no better life. The prisoners manage to break their bonds one day and discover that their reality was not what they thought it was. They discovered the sun, which Plato uses as an analogy for the fire that man can not see behind like the fire that cast light on the walls of the cave, the human condition is forever bound to the impressions that are received through the senses. (Plato Wikipedia)

This concept of Plato shows that what we see in the outside world with our senses is not the truth but only the images and shadows of the fire is the truth for the cave dwellers but the real truth is invisible and unseen. Our visible form of the world is just the shadows created by the light of the fire to the prisoners who are chained and can see the shadows on the opposite walls. When one of the prisoners comes out of the cave and learns the truth of outside by the knowledge and the learning and he goes back to the cave and tries to convince the prisoners but they do not believe in it. They are habituated to live in the cave and the truth is the truth of the images of the opposite wall created by the fire. So, truth is unseen from the eyes in the visible world. So is the case of the fear of the Death. The allegory of the cave is the lack of enlightens through the education and learning. We are all in the cave of the world because this world itself is the cave in a sense to those people who are without the knowledge of the truth. Man without of knowledge of the truth is in the condition of without knowing the fear of final truth of life.

Realization of Fear

Fear is all around the life of all the living beings but the function of fear depends on the condition and the situation when and where a person faces it in real life. A person thinks that the power holding people enjoy the life. The person believes that the king would be enjoying the life most but when these types of people receive the position of power and the responsibility, then they realize the real fear in life even with the power in their hands. The best example of it is found in The Greek Legend entitled "The Sword of Damocles". In this legend, the common person, Damocles believes that the king of Sicily, Dionysius enjoys the power most and Damocles flatters the king most to receive the position to enjoy. The king knows the truth and he decides to give the moral lesson to Damocles by making him the king temporarily in the banquet. Damocles is made the king and given him the due respect with the crown on his head but the "sword" was put hanging above his head tied by a single hair and Damocles had to taste the food every time. Then Damocles realized the real fear. It is narrated:

When the time of the banquet arrived next day, and the high born guests had all assembled, Damocles, clothed in royal robes, was bidden by the king to ascend the throne; and a golden crown was then placed upon his head, whilst all the guests were commanded to render him the same honour and deference as they would have done to Dionysius himself. . . . The heaviness of the crown soon made his head ache . . . it was somewhat irritating to have to await tasting of every dish offered to him by the royal tasters, for fear it might be poisoned . . . a keen edged naked sword suspended from the roof by a single hair exactly over his head . . . he would be instantly killed and filled with terror at the thought, he entreated the tyrant to permit him to take a lower seat at the board. (Nissani 51-52)

This extract displays that Damocles realized the truth of the fear of the Death only when he was made a king for the time being during the Royal Banquet but with the sword hanging over his head with a single hair and the fear of tasting the food and it might have been poisoned him too. The realization of true fear to Damocles came only when he was in the position under the sharpest sword over his head and it might have fallen at any time and killed him. If he was not placed him in such a position, he would not be in the situation of realization of fear and he would be forever in the condition of Plato's "Allegory of the Cave". Likewise the realization of fear of death comes only when the person knows his or her death is nearing him or her.  Fear is invisible and unseen but it is only felt and realized like the fear of corona virus pandemic.

Influence of fear in life

The role of fear is seen and felt only in the life of a person when he or she is the victim of fear. The psychological fear becomes much more powerful than only other kinds of the fear. When the fear exists in the inner voice, minds, and the soul of a person, then it can be seen in the visible form of a person. When the fear influences to the person, then he or she can lose the minds and he or she becomes the mental patient. When a person is entirely under the domination of fear, he or she goes in the traumatic condition. It becomes too complicated to bring him in the right and normal condition again. The fear makes the person abnormal and it does not have any kind of treatment system. So, fear is mainly concerned with psychology of a person. Too much fear troubles the person and he or she suffers too much and forgets him what he or she has done in the actual life.

The example of influence of fear in the life of Armando Gonzalez in a story from Puebla, Mexico entitled "Fear' is practically experienced. Armando was a poor man without home. He had saved fifty thousand pesos in twenty years of hard work and he went in the bank to withdraw the money to buy the house but he was scared of the crowd and he put his hate at the back side of his head. And everyone looked at him. He was afraid with everyone in the bank, in the bus and even with the three boy students and got out of the bus in the middle of the road and ran to the forest. He cried for help and the three boys followed him to help him what had happened to him but he thought they were the robbers. Armando was in tragic condition because of over influence of fear in that particular time. The last scene of his fear is expressed: "As Armando started to get up, the three boys came over a pile of metals pieces and approached him cautiously. He cried like a baby." Why do not you leave me alone? I earned all of this money through hard work! (Lohani 43)". This extract shows that fear of being away from getting his money robbed from the robbers victimizes Armando Gonzalez and his mental condition of fear changed him into a baby like situation and he cries like a baby and requests the three boys to leave him. Armando has experienced the real fear in his life.

Another real fear and its influences are found in the life of Kamsa in Krishna Leela.  The saint's prophecy was that the eighth son of Kamsa's sister, Dewaki, would kill him and Kamsa put his sister, Dewaki and her husband, Bashudev, in the prison from the day of their wedding and went on killing her babies up to the six sons but Balaram and Krishna were saved. They were brothers. They were reared in Gokula in the house of Yasodha and Nandalal. Then the evil king, Kamsa of Mathura, sent the numbers of monsters to kill Krishna but they were killed one by one by Krishna since he was the incarnation of Lord Krishna to free the people from injustice on the Earth. The Kamsa was much more scared and psychologically he was disordered. He did not get sleep. He was surprised with the news of Krishna. He had put even his own father in the prison. He was scared of his own life. He did not want to die. But he made a conspiracy and brought Krishna and his brother Balaram in the palace of Kamsa in Mathura to kill them but Krishna killed Kamsa. His murder is narrated:

There is a mention of the event in the Padma Puran, one of the ancient Puranas of Hindu mythologies. Kamsa was the maternal uncle of Lord Krishna who swore to kill Lord Krishna because according to a prophecy, Lord Krishna would kill him otherwise. Kamsa was a very cruel person and germinated fear in human hearts by his nefarious ways. In fact the Tilla where Krishna killed Kamsa is called the Kamsa Tilla. Krishna pulled Kamsa off his throne as he pulled him by the hair. (Google)

Why Kamsa does all the evil activities from the beginning to the end of his life is because of the fear of Death of him from Lord Krishna. His best friend, Bashudev, who becomes the brother- in- law as soon as he gets married with Dewaki also becomes the problem in Kamsa's life. Kamsa does not want to die. All the evil and cruel activities that the king of Mathura, Kamsa, performs from the fear of the Death and he does not want to die from the hand of the Lord Krishna and the fear of death is the invisible truth.

COVID-19's Fear

            Fear is concerned with the security of life. People scare of losing their life and they do whatever the ways they can do to save the life from the Death. Corona virus got started in China on 31 December 2019 and "The outbreak was declared a public health emergency of international concern on 30 January 2020. On 11 February 2020, WHO announced a name for the new Corona virus disease: COVID-19 (Google)".

World Health Organization's idea is to lockdown the countries to minimize the spread of Corona virus in the world. To lockdown the countries and to stay home with the principle of social distancing is nothing more than the fear of Death. The whole world has come to the position of stand still by the fear of Death. What can be more powerful and fearful except the Death? The fear of Death from Corona virus has brought the entire world in this position and the Death is unknown to humans and people become busy to move ahead in the day to day life. If he/she knows the time of Death, then he/she stops doing anything in life. The fears are of multiple types but the fear of Death is the complicated one. It is stated:

Thanatophobia, of fear of Death, is a relatively complicated phobia. Many, if not most, people are afraid of dying. Some people fear being dead, while others are afraid of the actual act of dying . . . . Many people's fear of Death is tied to their religious belief . . . . Some people think that they know what will happen after Death; but worry that they may be wrong. Some believe that the path to salvation is very straight and narrow, and fear that any deviation or mistakes may cause then to be eternally condemned . . . . Thanatophobia may also have roots in fears of the unknown.(Fritscher Google)

            This article displays that people scare the unknown and in fact that unknown is nothing other than the "Death". Whatever the types of the fear it may be, it is concerned with "Death". Fear of religion, fear of scarcity, fear of any types of weapons, fear of journey, fear of animals and creatures and any types of fear that humans have is directly or indirectly linked with "Death". So the ultimate truth of unseen fear is the fear of "Death".

Death is unknown to man. The person does not know how long he lives and when he dies. So, the truth is that the "Death" is unknown and hidden from the minds of the people. Leo Tolstoy has presented this concept in his story "What men live by". A man was ordering the shoes that would last long but the shoe maker started making slippers. Later the shoe maker was reported that the man had died and he needed the slippers to put on his coffin. And the shoe- maker provided to the messenger of the dead person the same slippers which he had made before. "What dwells in man? What is not given to man? And what men live by? (Google Tolstoy)" are the three questions asked to find the right answers.

"What is not given to man" is the right question to know the fact that man is not given to know his own death. It is beyond the idea of his ability to find out his death. It is hidden and no one knows when and how his Death comes to take his life. If a man knows about his own Death, then he stops every thing that he is doing what it is supposed to do in life. Hence, the Death is hidden in reality and it is the truth of getting scared of. The visible reality is false as Socrates and Plato have argued in their philosophical discourse. Something invisible truth of fear is the fear of Death.

Conclusion

            Death is the agent of equalizer to all either it is ruler or the ruled ones. The Death does not respect the rich and neither hates the poor. The fear of Death is found in the life of all humans, animals, and the creatures. The fear of Death is the invisible truth to all. The amount of fear depends on the situation and the events in person to person but no one is immune from the fear of Death. Even if we ignore the fear of Death in our youth, we cannot do so when the Death comes near to the person. Death is always lurking behind us and we are not aware of it but when we become aware of it, we become helpless. COVID-19^th lockdown in the entire world is the real fear of Death. Hence the fear of Death exists just like the fear of Corona virus which is not seen but only felt and realized by all the humans of the world as a real truth.     

Bhawani Shankar Adhikari                    

English lecturer, Balmeeki Campus, Kathmandu

Nepal Sanskrit University, Nepal    

Works Cited

Fritscher, Lisa. Thanatophobia Diagnosis and Treatment: Fear of Death. Google. https://www.verywellmind.com>Thanatophobia. Wave.

Google. https://www.who.int>diseases>org.

Google. Starksteins. Sigmund Freud and the Psycho analytical concept of Fear and Aniety. https://link.springer.com.

Google. www.https://m. dailyhunt.in>india>ore. wave.

Lohani,Shreedhar p and etal.the Magic of words. M.K. Publishers & Distributers, Bhotahity, Kathmandu. 2000. Print.

Nissani, Moti and Shreedhar Lohani. Flax-Golden Tales: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Learning English.Ekta Bookss, Kathmandu, Nepal. 2008. Print.

Plato. Allegory of Cave. Google. Www. https://en.m.wikipedia.org. Wave.

Subba, Desh. Philosophy of  Fearism: Life is Conducted, Directed and Controlled by the fear. Xbris. 2014. Print.

Tolstoy, Leo. What men Live by? https://en.m.wikipedia.org. 

Dr. Sheldon Solomon, co-founder of Terror Management Theory, dialogues with R. M. Fisher on Jeff Gibbs' new controversial film "Planet of the Humans" (2020). In FearTalk 9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXzUhVTYdb8

Dr. Bruck Liption, a cell-biologist and spiritual philosopher, offers his latest 10 min. video on the coronavirus (Covid-19) 'flu' problem in the world right now and he has strong statements about the nature and role of fear in this pandemic and quarantine. The first few minutes of the video he teaches about the immunological perspective. 

"Fear" is the "biggest problem" in terms of where this virus pandemic is, is going, and will continue to go. That's his view. I tend to agree. I have always respected Lipton's research and teachings going back into the early 1990s and he has always had interesting theories about "fear"... that said, I do not agree with everything he says. I'll leave it up to readers of the FM ning to discuss this and/or ask me about my critiques, at this point. 

Lipton starts the video off with "Stop the fear, take care of yourself." -- and, of course, that can mean a whole lot of things, including, how do we best define what fear is, and what if we do not know completely what it is and there are unconscious fear aspects that are affecting everything as well related to Covid-19 reactionary actions (?)... Lipton assumes we already know everything we need to know about fear, and he does his "scientist" thing in the video ... 

Thank you Piergiacomo severini for an initial response to my question re: the philosophical discussion of Hobbes, and the nature and role of fear, and other things, that has been going on the FM ning of late. There are several things we could discuss from Piergiacomo's Comment. I offer a group of us take this on to respond to him. 

I will start this thread by saying Piergiacomo offers something like a first principle on the contemporary philosophy of fear, and it is a cautionary: to avoid in most cases to reduce fear by definition, by meaning, by application to phenomenon.

This principle would overcome the problems of reductionism that methodologically (e.g., epistemologically) have a history. Reductionism is indeed, in my view one of the great forces (patterns), and habits, of a particular mindset, worldview, values sytem, beliefs, whereby a complex phenomenon is reduced (overly) to a simple phenomenon. And, my research shows that "fear" is particularly susceptible to this reductionism in our past as a species and currently this still predominates. However, there are some good signs that things are changing a bit in the direction of giving fear its due conceptual, theoretical and philosophical regard so as to avoid reductionism and critique reductionism of fear when it occurs. I would like FM ning members to give this all a good consideration and offer your views and knowledge about this topic. Who are good thinkers we could follow in this regard, be they philosophical sources, or otherwise. 

The very positing of a first principle of non-reductionism of fear is at the basis of my own research on fear and fearlessness. I have gone so far as to suggest that ultimately we have to be more interdisciplinary in our discussions about fear and beyond even that, we ought to be more transdisciplinary (e.g., you can read my work on justifying this principle and direction via my writing on the 'Fear' Project, 'Fear' Studies, on fearology (and fearism), fearanalysis, and fearlessness, for starters. My use of the term 'fear' (with the ' marks) is one of a rare exploration on the topic of fear, and I believe offers a sign of resistance to the hegemony of reductionism of fear, amongst other things. My view is thus constructed on an emancipatory knowledge and methodological basis, not merely a functionalist-pragmatic one. 

I look forward to hearing more on this topic, and I do not expect that it has to be a discussion all about my initiatives. 

I also think there are many things in Piergiacomo's Comment(s), and others here, that could be explored and questioned. 

Hey, all you bright philosopher types... could any of you give a summary (synopsis) from your Discussions (in Comments) here, based around Subba's blog on Hobbes,--in terms of how your discussions might be related to the Fearlessness Movement? I'm curious... and maybe the other people in the FM ning community could relate and join in responding IF you could give us some other angles to work with... on what is important to your thinking projects. 

p.s. I appreciate you being so engaged on the FM ning, and bringing some spirited life to the FM ning... 

International Journal of Fear Studies

Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Approaches

Call for Papers and Creative Submissions:

Theme ISSUE: “Living and Learning in Pandemic Times”

 Submissions Due Aug. 1, 2020 for the 4th issue of IFJS.

 Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic dynamics have really changed our lives. What are we learning in this context of such pervasive fear... and more...? Are there better ways to handle all this?   

 IJFS offers space to share the kinds of work (theoretical or practical, complete or incomplete) you are doing on fear that deserves international recognition. The primary criteria is that works have an interdisciplinary and/or transdisciplinary approach, while at the same time are progressive and open-minded works that instigate insight, healing, liberation, creative thinking, critique, and synthesis. IJFS uniquely offers a much called for place to focus on fear as a subject matter as no other journal to date.

 All authors retain copyright of their works published in IJFS. The journal will consider re-published submissions as long as copyright approval has been made. This peer reviewed journal is published bi-annually, at minimum, with final editing by Dr. R. M. Fisher (Senior Editor).

 Articles and creative submissions may include large technical and philosophical works, research studies and results, essays, opinions, poetry and other art forms, etc. You are welcome to send a proposal for feedback ahead of time to the editor (r.michaelfisher52@gmail.com). Otherwise, send completed work. Citations of references are essential in papers where appropriate and should follow a standard style format (e.g., Chicago, APA, Harvard, etc.) to avoid any copyright violations. Creative style formats are welcome but require a rationale for any such deviations from standard formats. There is no word-length requirements of submissions. If all goes well the 4^th journal issue will be published in early Sept. 2020.

 Dr. R. Michael Fisher[1], Ph.D., founder/editor of IJFS, developed this on-line journal to promote academic scholarship, professional explorations and popular educational, activist and creative works for a variety of serious readers interested in fresh thinking and ideas about the nature and role of fear in societies.

Issue archive links:

1^st issue https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/110106

2^nd issue https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/111125

3^rd issue https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/111681

 To serve on the Editorial Board (and/or be a Reviewer) make your interest known to Dr. Fisher as soon as possible. Archived editions are available in an open-access pdf format and housed at the University of Calgary Library on PRISM for international access on research search engines. On average 200 downloads/views internationally are made of each issue. In addition, each article has separate download/views statistics.

A journal that operates in the gift economy-- gift donations to IFJS are most welcome, please contact R. M. Fisher.

[1] CV available on request. Dr. Fisher is an independent scholar, educator, fearologist with many publications available on Google Scholar. See his Youtube channel for more of his views: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC01OHEXhSuxnyilmkV0f95A

This is the inside book cover (from the publisher, Oxford University Press, NY, 2004). Author: Corey Robin, "Fear: The History of a Political Idea". 

I share this with you all discussing Hobbes, and philosophical history issues re: passions, emotions, fear, etc. I appreciate the erudite philosophical wonderings you are all offering there in the FM ning. If I had time I'd join in more, but I have a book ms. needing to be completed. Just to say, I have not studied philosophy like many of you in this discussion, but I browse bits from it, and travel across multiple disciplines to gather my views on "fear" in history etc. What intrigued me so much about Robin (2004) was that he is he first author in history of thought, that I know of, to re-frame "fear" as a discourse into an "idea"-- and that changes everything from the total focus on fear as feeling, emotion, etc. His writing on Hobbes (Part 1, pp. 27-50) is something I have read several times over the years, to glean my understanding... some of you may want to check out this reference, if you haven't already. (Note: I also don't agree with all of Robin's approach to fear, either). 

To see new teaching video by RMF https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcp0Sv8SNLA

To Listen to this 40 min. interview go to: https://noliesradio.org/archives/172012

Political Fearism                                                                                                                                                                 -                                                                        

 "Father of political science Thomas Hobbes and fear were born twins, they lived together and died together." 

"A man is by birth a rational and fearful animal, life is a process of fearlessness."

 After reading a quote of Hobbes, I started to think of his philosophy from a fearism perspective. I have given it the name Fearolotical (Fear+Political=Fearolotical). Simple logic behind it is; fear precedes politics.

Character of the state of nature is Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, short, no preservation, war, threatening, warning, danger, death, killing, violence, insecure=fear 

Character of the state of sovereignty is government, institution, power, court, law, justice, prison, punishment, command, authority, order, preservation, force=fearless 

.A man, government, or institution starts when switched on (fear on). Appearance of fear is silent in Hobbes's entire philosophy, not visible but active like under the eraser of Derrida. He says, "Liberty is in silence of law ". (Hobbes146) I say, "Law wakes up; when fear rings bell.-" Fear is gravity and motion, fear (>) is greater than (<) other emotions. It can be scientific and mathematically explained because Hobbes preferred scientific presentation. So, our motions (life) move towards fearlessness. In below  images, fear and fearless activities are motion of fear-gravity. The state of nature was between two fears as sandwich (before coinage and after avoiding). 

Political philosophy (Fear+Political=Fearolotical) philosophy can be understood exclusively (Hobbes) of Thomas Hobbes was born because of fear (state of nature and civil war of England). According to him, the nature of man was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short (Hobbes 83-84). His famous quotation was he was born twins with fear. He was not only born twins with fear; he lived with fear and died with fear. He had preferred absolute monarchy; it was his best system to preserve life. Core part of the whole philosophy is in the heart of preservation. Again, preservation can be defined as binary of fear. It means he had feared all the time. No preservation, war, threatening, warning, danger, death, killing, violence, and insecure were to fear. In the state of nature man had a special character that was rational. Using his distinct attribute, he avoided the state of nature. 

Preservation, protection and security was his priority. We can read it starting at the end of The Leviathan. It looks common for all the people; as a Fearism author, I look at everything; life to cosmos in Fearism perspective.

It is obvious that since the beginning of his life, fear has played a great role. Prior to the civil war in England, he guessed that the situation was worsening. It was the Fear of unknown happening, thus he left England and lived in Paris. Though in Paris; fear was chasing him all the way of his life. It couldn't detach from the body, it was the shadow of life. He was looking for external solution, but it dwelled within him. 

He exiled himself in 1640 and wrote the Leviathan when he was in Paris. He thought the accident of Socrates might repeat to him. Same phenomena happened to Aristotle 323 B. C. Such chaotic and fearful situations played a major role in his thinking. Hobbes applied fearful life, and environmental fact in fearolotical philosophy to draw people's attention. He wanted to make scientific laws like the law of gravity and motion. Law of gravity is the law of fear. How much magnetic power fear had; nothing had in comparison to fear. Every compass of life was attracted by fear (magnetic fear). Omitting the fear from the state; state would be paralyzed. It proves that the state of gravity was fear. Fear had the powerful magnetic and hypnotized power. One needle of fear was towards him and he wanted to turn that needle to the political direction. His political direction was the political science. This political science is what I called 'Fearoloticalogy'. 

A man used his reason to avoid the state of nature. He explored and found the law of divine and law of man. He mixed up both and developed political science. In the round figure, the political theory of Hobbes is a theory of fear and fearlessness. It is an image of his state and he writes about state as: 

6. The old poet said that the gods were at first created by human fear :( Hobbes 72)

 -"The gods were at first created by human fear. "The old poet is very true. In philosophy of  Fearism (2014) I have written that god is a fear. In the state of nature, there was nothing except fears of starvation, animals, and natural powers. These calamities were a risk of life. So, they started to worship them as a god. After many years, people began to fear them, which they established.                                                                                                           

 A man, who looks too far before him, in the care of future time, hath his heart all day long, gnawed on by fear of death, poverty, or other calamity; and has no repose, nor pause of his anxiety, but in sleep.(ibid 72)

 -Fear of death, evil, poverty, or other calamity is the bottom line of a man. For being that there be causes of all things that have arrived hitherto or shall arrive hereafter; are cause of fears.

 Hereby it is manifested, that during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, and they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war, as is of every man against every man. (ibid 83-84)

 -"They were in that condition which is called war; and such a war, as is of every man against every man." It is a famous dictum of Hobbes in 17^th century; it is very practical hitherto now. It was that time men lived without a common power to keep them all in awe. In normal conditions, we seek friends, relatives, when abnormal situation appears, all goes to deem it and self – preservation comes forward. It happens when food becomes scarce like a shortage of masks and sanitizer nowadays. In the state of nature, nobody had a food store. It was the reason; war was  against every man. In the fearism it is written, man has stronger war than dog that fights for the bone. Man's fear- struggle is more dangerious than animal fighting because man can use rational, nepotism, bribes, conspiracy, flattery and force. 

THE RIGHT OF NATURE, which writers commonly call just naturale, is the liberty each man hath, to use his own power, as he will himself, for the preservation of his own nature; that is to say, of his own life, and consequently, of doing anything, which in his own judgment, and reason, he shall conceive to be the aptest means thereunto. (ibid 86)

 -For the preservation of the right of nature of a man; that is to say, of his own life; and consequence.

 A LAW OF NATURE, (lex naturalis) is a percept, or general rule, found out by reason, by which a man is forbidden to do, that, which is destructive of his life, or taketh away the means of preserving the same; and to omit, that, by which he thinketh it may be best preserved. (ibid 86)

 -A law of nature, which is forbidden to do, that is destructive of his life, or taketh away the means of preserving the same, so he wanted to avoid it because he didn't see any preservation there. Omit, that, by which he thought it may be best preserved. It was the thinking of Hobbes.

 The mutual transferring of right is that which men call CONTRACT. ((ibid 89)

 -At last the nature of the state reached the position of  CONTRACT. It was the mutual transferring of rights to save the lives. According to Hobbes, the best solution and option to exit from the solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short was contract.

 Good and evil, are names that signify our appetites, and aversions. (ibid 105)

 -Appetites, and aversions is also a famous dictum of Hobbes. Appetite was the prime reason for war. Limited food couldn't fulfill the appetite, to find more; needed to invade others. No one could sit silent; their appetite didn't let a man sit in rest and peace because if it didn't fulfill, chances would be to lose the life. Increasing appetite was the cause of enemies. A man was always sandwiched between fear of being hungry and fear of the enemy. How to do the best to preserve life? It was the final cause. Aversion was a secondary action. If a man didn't like or fear, he had a way of aversion. In some cases fear chases a man.

 If they think good, to a monarch, as absolutely, as to any other representative. (ibid 123)

 -In te concept of Hobbes; he mentioned that an absolute monarch is the best political system. Absolute monarch can secure life better than assembling.

 And thus I have brought to end my Discourse of Civil and Ecclesiastical Government, occasioned by the disorders of the present time, without partiality, without application, and without order design than to set before man's eyes the mutual relation between protection and obedience; of which the condition of human nature, and the law of divine, (both natural and positive) require an inviolable observation. (ibid475)

 -At the end Hobbes in his Fearolotical philosophy; Discourse of Civil and Ecclesiastical Government, he focused on the mutual relation between protection and obedience. Base of his state was protection; it was his first priority. Outstanding were supportive to the protection.

Conclusion

It shows that man abandoned the state of nature because of many problems and fears. He made a social contract, in the contract; it is doctrine that; sovereignty may be assembly, absolute monarchy and institution. To sovereignty, through the contract, he gave all his natural rights except self – preservation. In the state of nature, self-preservation was in danger; so, he left it. If preservation was dangerious in the state, he could revolt against the government because this right was not handed over to the state. At any cost and at any means preservation was the most important. If there was no life everything would be useless. To avoid the fear of the state of nature; he created an artificial social contract and handed over to absolutely power (monarchy, government and commonwealth).Entire political philosophy of Hobbes wandered around the hide and seek of fear and fearlessness. Not only his theory; theory of John Locke, J.J. Rousseau, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Karl Marx are also in the periphery of fear, but it is veil. A man is by birth a rational and fearful animal. For  any kind of contract there was a hidden fear. The state of nature was the state of fear for a man because a man was by birth rational and fearful. He had a great war against his fears rather than his enemy. A man lived with external and internal fears; he had war against his fears all the time. It was known as fear struggle in the history of Fearism.

 What was the incident Hobbes wanted to avoid the state of nature, pin point was fear. Cruel civil war he faced and it struck him. He has taken the state of nature as its backbone. His state of nature is hard liner, Locke softer and the Rousseau the softest. After reading him and sharing experience, we can say, a man by birth is a fearful animal and life is the process of fearlessness. Political Fearism is a faculty of Philosophy of Fearism.

He has a long reference about the Bible and explanation in the last chapters. His advocating the absolute monarchy. He had a good relationship with royal families. Hobbes was against power division. He argued that share power means sharing punishment, reward and law. It developed powerless sovereignty. As a consequence; it could beget an unhealthy society. He followed the absolute power system of God. God never shared his power; that was the reason; everyone followed him because everyone got terrified with him. One point was mismatching; in the kingdom of a man, people can revolt the government if danger comes for the preservation but it was impossible in the kingdom of the God.

 It is an example article of Rephilosophy. In Philosophy of Fearism (2014), I have used Dephilosophy; now using Rephilosophy. Dephilosophy needs to deconstruct first but in rephilosophy, it doesn't require. It can be directly rephilosophy means rethink or re-analyze.

 (I have taken reference from the book of Thomas Hobbes the Leviathan. In the article I have shown the fearism effect on his political theory and invisible fear was the important to invent political science.)

This article is edited by David Nwaobi, Osinakachi Akuma Kalu, Bhawani Shankar Adhikary and Rachelle Roberthon Favaloro.

Reference

1. Thomas Hobbes Leviathan Oxford World's Classics Edited with an introduction and noted by J.C.A.Gaskin1996 (Mostly I have taken reference from it.)
2. DeshSubba, Philosophy of Fearism (2014)  Xlibris
3. https://fearlessnessmovement.ning.com/blog/existence-of-fear-precedes-essence-desh-subba
4. https://fearlessnessmovement.ning.com/blog/knowledge-is-fear-existence-of-fear-precedes-power-is-death-of-fe
5. https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/111138
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxEZukcNidM 

Excerpt p. 245, from 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. 

The above last chapter of that book, now 10 years old, is still my foremost vision and purpose in everything I do. 

During this rather global "lock down" to slow the spread of coronavirus, I have been producing some 21st century-appropriate, crisis-learning appropriate, fearlessness curriculum materials for your study (and perhaps, pleasure) in any extra time you and your friends may have on your 'home-time' for the next weeks... 

1. see my two short teaching videos setting a context for this crisis transition time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpIhhZYPlv8

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PApUkTl5x-k

2. to stay critical in one's empowered self and thinking always in crisis times to avoid unconscious hypnotic learning see my brief sample of critique 

    https://fearlessnessmovement.ning.com/blog/my-critique-of-desterno-s-coronavirus-advice

3. most exciting (ha ha)... see the diagram attached below that is a skeletal 'map' of my Fear Management Systems Theory (FMST) taken from my main teaching textbook The World's Fearlessness Teachings: A Critical Integral Approach to Fear Management/Education in the 21st Century (2010). As I know several of you have this book, and it is also (in part) available to search online https://www.amazon.ca/Worlds-Fearlessness-Teachings-Management-Education-ebook/dp/B009R6GES0/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=%22World%27s+Fearlessness+Teachings%22&qid=1584459018&s=books&sr=1-1

Your Quiz 1 is to take time to study this map (and research in the book itself) and answer these two basic questions as best you can: 

A. What is the predominating kind of FMS (Fear Management System), according to my theory, that is operating today all over the world regarding the management of fear (I am especially thinking of the so-called First World developed nations)? [hint: numbers 0 to 9 on the map are labels for the FMSs)

B. Give a rationale (why) for your selection for predominant FMS utilized generally (and, what is the second most predominant one as well, and give your rationale)? 

Okay, have fun, and post your answers up on the FM ning... and/or send to me directly r.michaelfisher52 [at] gmail.com 

Also feel free to ask more questions of me and all others in our FM ning community. 

Take care, and keep learning... 

-M.  

So there are many issues I am critical of when any Authority assigns itself to "protect" the people (often, meaning, protect the State power/authority/order): it is political as well as a psychological situation re: our health as citizens. Long ago researchers have shown that "shock doctrine" policies and "crisis" politics is a big power/business construction that is manipulative of people, mainly by using their fear and inserting (more or less) forms of authoritarian propaganda to add to the hypnosis of the moment when people are scared/terrified etc. There is basically a danger of transgressing (excessively) human rights in these situations of declared "emergency state" or "pandemic" etc. See one author who has snooped this out already around the coronavirus... https://nationalpost.com/opinion/marni-soupcoff-outbreaks-are-not-an-excuse-to-trample-on-our-rights.

As critical citizens, we have to be questioning of all Authority, no matter in what situation. One doesn't have to be a conspiracy theorist but one has to be vigilant to oppression that is subtle and systemic--and has been historically used against people's freedoms. For more background on mis-uses of "emergency time" constructions by Authorities and repercussions, see the great book by critical pedagogy Henry A. Giroux (2003). "The Abandoned Generation: Democracy Beyond the Culture of Fear" (NY: Palgrave/Macmillan). 

Based on a subversive graphic novel, this sci-fi futuristic film noir (2006 (c) Warner Bros.); screen play by The Wachowski Bros. (of The Matrix film trilogy 1999-2003) is well worth a watch in the next days ahead. Barbara and I took it out the other night, and the analogies and metaphors and 'story' are so connected to what happens to a nation and culture that has come to be ruled (and infected) by a fear virus-- in our case now, novel Coronavirus and the 'spin' of fear contagion that is shutting down rapidly all parts of societies everywhere. The implications of the "shut down" or "lock down" security regime have to be investigated (and resisted)--because this is political as much as it is a biological phenomenon. Watch this movie V for Vendetta... and start talking it up. There are so many excellent quotes on fear (and fear mangement) in this film, including a wonderful section on "transformation" of Evey, the female protagonist--as she comes to fearlessness out of a life of unhealed wounds and fear-based living in a 'Fear' Matrix. There's also a sub-narrative of an "experiment" re: a virus... okay, I won't spoil this further.  -enjoy, -M. 

Above photo: x-Democratic candidate for 2020 US President, Marianne Williamson

I suppose every great leader, under pressure, under fear, and with corruption of "power" and "privilege" and media attention and ... you name it, their own personal pathologies, is eventually to show their weaknesses, contradictions and inconsistencies--and Fall. A great critique by Rob Asghar (2020) just came out in Forbes Magazine in which he tells of his experience being a 'student' of Williamson's since the late 1980s--where he really found she helped a lot of people with her preaching of "love and healing" --but since she went into politics, over time (since 2013 forward)--and now in 2020 when she is backing Bernie Sanders for nominee leadership--it seems she is quickly losing integrity, consistency, dignity--with what she preached all those years and even during her 2020 campaign. Arguably, she's become a disheveled self-justified angry political activist like most all the rest, in what seems a "political radicalism, overlaid with the veneer of her familiar words about love and healing," writes Asghar, greatly disappointed in how she is more interested in political theatre and "political street brawler" --and "political rage." [Addendum: see End Note 1]

As I have researched my book for over a year now on MW's career and political path, it is obvious she would defend herself, as would her acolytes, and say this is the spirit of love, of being a mother, and you're damn rights I am angry, etc. No one is going to put my voice down, and especially because I am a woman. If a man had anger in politics like I do, no one would criticize them and so on... she would have a clever and resonable response to all the critiques I am sure. And some partial truths are within her defenses I am sure. I would defend her too if I thought the critics were way off the mark and/or being prejudice against her as a spiritual teacher or woman, or mother, or political player. She deserves full credit for her leadership and move onto the big American political stage. However, no other candidates, man or woman or trans, or whatever has come out onto that political stage with the same gusto idealism of a "politics of love" as the only way to beat Donald Trump and turn the nation around to a healthier way. ONLY Marianne Williamson has done so because of her spiritual beliefs and philosophy. I wrote a short FM ning blog on her as an amazing emancipatory leader--a Love person--really preaching and politiking to make the world a better place and putting Fear vs. Love to the top of her agenda. Wow. 

But when a Love Goddess, which she has been called, and which she talks about women empowered need to be, in her 1993 book on women, etc... there is a big disconnect for many--including myself--when I see her turn into victimhood politics as she has especially run the course of in the last three weeks or more... especially since she dropped out of the campaign in Jan. 10, 2020. It is like once she dropped the veneer and mantle of a "President" image for the people... she became that adolescent-like street fighter that Ashgar critiques--and, I suspect many others will see through the duplicity of her Presidential image and now, her fighting to win, full of her own partisanship and divisiveness amongst the candidates. You can do your own research on her and how she is so divisive and thinks this is 'fun' or something. It really hurts her and her reputation as Ashgar says, and it shows me the veneer of Love and anyone who puts Love into ideology (politics) as the answer to everything--and starts to lose it and show they are under pressure and fear just as susceptible to anyone to drop several levels of consciousness in their actions--the world of politics will do that. I could name also the great leader Aung San Suu Kyi (who promoted Buddhist philosophy) and once in more power now has been shamed by the political international community and has had her own 'Fall'--yes, lots of lessons to learn. I'll end here with Asghar's quote (he's a leadership author/trainer): 

"Power may corrupt, but Williamson never even attained [official] political power [in the 2020 campaign]. What has hurt her is what hurts many spiritual leaders: The inability in the end to believe what they preach." My point of argument, which I will craft in my upcoming book, is that she may not have got official political Office power and the responsibility that goes with that--and, that made her more a media-power-star with more media coverage and public attention than she has ever been able to garner--and that will allow a part of her to inflate and inflate and use it more and more--because media-is-power in this image-based celebrity world --that is, USA politics! 

****

End Note

1. Rob Asghar has written the Foreword for my new book to come out in summer 2020, "The Marianne Williamson Presidential Phenomenon: Cultural (R)Evolution in a Dangerous Time" (Peter Lang, Inc.). Rob starts the Foreword writing, "It has been said that 'the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.' Some have ascribed this aphorism to the 18th century political philosopher Edmund Burke, others to the 19th century philosopher John Stuart Mill, and it may well represent an imprecise amalgam of their ideas. It has nontheless become a common trumpet call for people of goodwill to enter the political arena. A good American woman courageously stepped forth in November, 2018 with a strong intention to pursue national office in order to address the rising evils she saw in our world: Marianne Williamson, the popular self-help author and speaker, who had spent decades preaching and teaching based on the new-age book A Course in Miracles, was about to attract a good deal of attention in the political arena." 

For full pdf of the journal 2 (1) click here IJFS vol 2 no 1 2020 rev.pdf

It’s 3AM….."Oh no! What was that sound I heard?”, I thought to myself as I suddenly awoke to a startling noise coming from the adjacent bedroom to mine. “Could it be coming from my daughter’s room?”, I wondered. My husband and I quickly went to our daughters’ room and there she was, our 16-year-old daughter, curled up in a fetal position on her bed writhing in pain and groaning softly. “What’s wrong?!”, we both seemed to say at once. “I don’t know, but my tummy hurts really bad”, she said in a whisper. I asked if she ate or drank anything she was not used to eating and she said "NO".

I rushed to the kitchen to get her some ginger ale as her groaning intensified. Being a Family Nurse Practitioner, I realized that my instinct to “protect and cure” was gradually kicking in and probably reached an overdrive as I thought of all the worst case clinical scenarios that initially present as abdominal pain. “Could this be an inflamed appendix (appendicitis)…?, a hernia…?, a twisted intestine…?, an obstruction…..?”, I thought to myself as I returned to her room with a glass of ginger ale. She took a few sips and before I had the chance to ask how she felt, she literally started screaming that her pain had worsened after which she threw up all over her bed. “OK, we are going to the Emergency room!”, I half screamed at my husband who then assisted her to get dressed as I also quickly got dressed and helped her into the car. It was close to 3:30 AM by this time.
I sped off to the nearest Emergency Department, and by the time we arrived, I was so anxious that I was barely concentrating as I responded to the staff at the registration center who verified our insurance coverage plan. “When will we see the doctor?”, I asked the lady by the desk. She assured me that my daughter would be seen shortly. When my daughter was called in to the examination section, I assisted her as she slowly walked to the exam room. She lay on the bed as the nurse walked into the room and with a friendly smile, she looked at my daughter and said, “So, what seems to be the problem today?”. Before my daughter could respond, I hurriedly said, “her tummy hurts really bad, she threw up once and I don’t know ….it may be her appendix…. when will the doctor come in because she’s really in a lot of pain.….maybe you should give her some pain medicine or do you think she needs an X-ray first…?” The nurse stared at me with a blank expression as I turned to my daughter, who appeared a bit more comfortable as she lay on the exam table. I observed my daughter’s horrified facial expression as she quietly mouthed the words “mom please, stop!”. “Oh my, I have turned into a Dr. Mom! I must stop and focus on reducing my anxieties in other ways,” I thought to myself.

Current healthcare providers or providers in training may wonder how they can connect with their patients or parents despite various  attitudes (pleasant and unpleasant) during a consultation. How does one respond constructively to patients when different emotions as anxiety, impatience, fear, anger, suspicion, mistrust etc. are encountered during a consultation? How should the healthcare provider engage to maintain a positive pattern of interaction?
 
Well, getting back to the scenario of my daughter’s Emergency Room visit, I said a silent prayer that the nurse would not hastily become defensive to my approach of history giving and that she would still show compassionate care. Obviously, I very quickly came to my senses when my daughter mouthed the words, “mom, please, stop!” and I apologized for my overly enthusiastic approach while letting the nurse know that being a mom and a Family Nurse Practitioner probably contributed to my heightened state of anxiety. She smiled and said that she’s also a mom and could relate to how I felt. Further assessment proceeded without any undue interruptions and X-Ray report revealed that my daughter was severely constipated. She fully recovered following the administration of 2 enemas. I sure learned a valuable lesson on that day: Underlying anxieties can manifest as different attitudes and personalities and as healthcare providers, we have the responsibility to recognize patients’ behavioral traits/attitudes and communicate effectively to reduce patient’s anxieties and develop more productive clinician-PATIENT and clinician-PARENT relationships.

Problem Statement: Poor communication skills greatly contribute to the mistrust that is often experienced between Patients and clinicians/healthcare providers.

It’s important to note that patients and parents often experience high levels of apprehension during their clinical/hospital visits. Sometimes, such high anxiety levels manifest as various attitudes that could become a deterrent to the development of productive clinician-patient OR clinician-parent relationship.

The book, Simple Tips To Developing a Productive Clinician-Patient Relationship gives simple tips to achieve this for 16 different scenarios of patient attitudes/behaviors.

 Simple Tips to Developing A Productive Clinician-Patient Relationship is available on the author's website (www.ptdrsimpletips.com) AND on amazon website www.amazon.com/-/e/B01MS36RZK

I have a basic question for all of you now 82 FM ning members... after you have browsed through hundreds of posts and pictures and discussions (if you have) on the FM ning-- I would like to hear your views and suggestions for advancing the world's knowledge on fear and fearlessness. That's a practical move, and action for us to consider. I'd like to hear that conversation here on the FM ning in the next year... next days. 

Looking forward to it... 

R. Michael Fisher, Director, Instructor, The Fearology Institute... is looking for a new cohort of students to take coursses and pursue a certificate in Fearology. Want to find out more about it, go to this new video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oisrTrOR2to