Blog

Ramesh KC

Thinker/Critical writer
The most radical philosopher of Fearism, Desh Subba has been battling over the
issues of meaning, in Jacques Derrida's deconstructionism. Subba who is founder of
Fearism and recently Trans Philosopism battles with the notion of deconstruction
that term has multiple meaning. It is not inherently so meaning changes according
to time and space, Subba said. Derrida discovered that
text has multiple misreading and interpretations at the end of the process
meaning disappears.

Derrida was nihilist Subba is a optimist.

Deconstruction is a postmodern philosophy but Subba goes beyond.

Deconstruction a mental phenomena but Fearism is neuro biological. Deconstruction dismentle the
very text through psycholinguistic way. In a nutshell Derrida considers consciousness is primary for Desh fear is primary, which deconstruct the
psychological structure of knowledge. Commentator Adnan Shafi deals with Desh
Subba's Trans Philosophiism for formidable challenges to do construction. He writes an article in Kashmiri Horizon. He questions the first book by Derrida's "Of
Grammatology" and its basis. He discusses writing and in play of language. But hunger, poverty and war are not
only play of language it has empirical basis which defines illusion and play in
discourse. According to famous Marxist philosopher Fredrick Jameson post
modernism is cultural logic of late capitalism which is decadent and useless
theory call so because deconstruction as a part of postmodernism defies the
value of the enlightenment which believes in fact, truth and rationality. Post
structuralist like Derrida, Foucault and Deluze are advocate of meaningless and
irrational. German philosopher Martin Heidegger first used the word Destruktion

later Derrida developed as deconstruction. Deconstruction was a
product of Europe west and Fearism is product of East. We can see
commonalities and contradiction in both philosophies. Before Fearism there were
dialogue and research between Derrida, Buddhist and Hindu
philosopher. These studies were religious and metaphysical. But Fearism
emphasizes the practical aspect logo centrism is a basis of deconstruction since
plato western metaphysics built upon the idea of truth, law and nationality.
Derrida deconstructs this notion and bring back to marginalized in the center
Fearism also deconstructs truth the logos like deconstruction leaves body alone
but Fearism carries it. According to Harvard University psychologist, linguist and postmodernist
Steven Pinker has done more work to our
intellectual climate. It attaches truth and empirical world and negate the very
rationality of enlighten world. This vast subjective philosophy of Derrida is blamed for
deconstruction, Fearsm is not destruction. Its knowledge is ignored by thinkers. But Desh Subba, Michael Fisher and other fearists thinkers have developed and propagating it.

Fearsim deals with life positively and believes in reality. It also
applied to ecology, crime, mental illness and social sciences. In another formidable
book Derrida contradicts Foucault's 'Madness and Civilization' and questions to him because mad people are victim of socio-historical. They have been
marginalized for centuries they are matter of spectacle not human treatment. He
deconstructed the very idea of madness from narrow view. Because madmen
cannot enter the city of philosophers, likewise works of poststructuralist are
intellectual. Fearism involces in sociobiology. Deconstruction was a
response of Hegel Heidegger and Sartre. It is built upon European mainstream
philosophy but Fearism is universal and everywhere. Deconstruction creates the

thought paradigm but Fearsim challenges the very idea of thought itself.
According to U.G. Krishnamurti fear is connected to native intelligence of the
body. As Derrida put that metaphysics centers around the logos which has to be
dismantled in order to open new view in the text. In "Of grammatology", he
deconstructed the very language of philosophy and philosopher of language by
Jean Jacques Rousseau and very notion of spoken world. According to Derrida at least
written text has a space for tracing which he borrowed by Sigmund Freud
metaphysically he is influenced by Heidegger and psychologically by Freud. Derrida
was a mysterious philosopher who spiritualized, mystified and psychologized. The
Fearism is less mystified but built upon real human phenomena.
Philosopher Montagine said that we need to interpret interpretation more than
interpret thing, like deconstruction, Fearism does it. Western discourse has
maintained in the binary opposition include nature/culture day/night and
male/female. This opposition some are important for him.
Derrida opens more room in multiple way as signified hints various
kind of interpretation. Enlighten philosopher Rene Descartes said famous line, "I think therefore I am". But in Fearism, "I fear therefore I am suitable". Nietzsche was a
philosopher who proclaim that every text has multiple meaning which means
death of God. Derrida also in Nietezschean question the very notion of author.
because everything has said and we are interpreting the previous discourses.
There is no finality in deconstruction but lot of space remain for further east west
dialogue for deconstruction and Fearism in the republic of words.

Over the 34 years studying the way people perceive, think, talk, teach and preach about fear (and fearlessness), has led me to many conclusions, hypotheses, theories and a philosophy around this topic. It has never ceased to amaze me how difficult it is to find people who really want to learn something fresh and new about fear (and, typically, concomitantly that means they are likewise not very interested to learn anything new or fresh about fearlessness or fearless). 

Basically, it is not their fault they are so unwilling and uninterested to learn anew and to even transform their thinking and imaginaries about the nature and role of fear (and fearlessness). What I see over and over, generally, is their fixing in on some fav definition and conceptualization or even a theory or implicit philosophy that has grown. They have adopted such a philosophy and they teach it with such confidence. 

On one level, you'd think as an educator and human potential advocate that I would be happy that people learn anything about fear and then teach it confidently. You'd think. But that's where the subtlety comes in and disrupts what might be my easy default position to take on individuality and human expression and opinion. I am all for such a beginning of that individual attitude and teaching, even preaching, as long as it is not oppressive and "demanding" (as Yahweh recently uttered on their post here)--but that alone, that free speech agenda, and tolerance, is not what makes a systematic study and learning about fear happen. No, it will not go far. 

That limitation is part of why I began the Fearlessness Movement and its mission "to better understand..." (that's exactly what this website is about)-- and, I'll leave you all with the educative challenge as a community of learners to really look at our self, our conditioning, without blame and attack or loathing, without fear that we are doing something wrong IF we are not so confident in preaching about fear. Good intentions to give advice about fear, a mainstay, of the teacher or preacher, is often a shallow pattern of knowledge pretending to be way more than it is because the intentions of goodness and helping are seen by the individual as their motivation for "sharing." 

True fearlessness work, as a path of learning and transformation, requires so much more than that "sharing"--I guess that's my main intervening point in this short blog. After 34 years of fear study, I can tell you, and I publish on this all the time, there is less confidence I know what I am talking about or even preaching about. 

One of the things that regularly disturbs me in the common discourses that have shaped people's minds, is they think they know what not only "fear" is all about but they utter the term "fearless" or even "fearlessness" as if they know exactly what that is. Maybe they do, in their own minds. But I ask, what theory of fear(lessness) are you utilizing to make your truth claims, your offerings of advice and your expressions? I am not saying here nor have I ever said, "stop sharing people because you don't know enough" and I am not saying either "you should listen to me because I know better." That said, some will definitely interpret that is what I am saying and publishing about in my work. 

The nuances of my points above, could be debated, and I'm glad to do so as part of the learning here on this FM ning. To offer but the most basic outline of a "theory" and a good deal of how I think about these topics, go to my book The World's Fearlessness Teachings: A Critical Integral Approach to Fear Management/Education for the 21st Century" (2010). That publication is one of many of mine. It also lists hundreds of references I have looked at and suggests where you can learn more about these topics. To end here, my short thesis in that book (based on 20 years of research) is that "fearless" is quite completely misunderstood by most people and "fearlessness" is even less understood. I create an integral developmental theory (from a fearlessness perspective) in that book. The theory says that we need to speak much more carefully about our ideas re: fear and how we manage it and educate ourselves and others around it. I call for a new improved and critical Fear Education 101. 

My basic developmental (evolutionary) theory of fear (management) goes through several distinct (albeit, overlapping) phases or stages--each with its own particular intelligence and adaptive strategies to manage fear:

Stage 1 - No Fear,

Stage 2 - Bravery,

Stage 3- Courage(ous),

Stage 4 - Fear Less,

---------------'Fear' Barrier (abyss) ----------

Stage 5 - Fearlessness

Stage 6 - Fearless.

I ask people to look at the data, the arguments, the references, the logic and the intuitions behind why I have used this language and these categories. I want to upgrade our poor fear education generally to get it up to snuff with the 21st century demands upon us as a species. 

Let's learn more together! 

This is one of many of my visionary conceptual mappings for an "institute" of some kind on this planet that can serve to do the fearwork needed. This one is from 2015. 

ADDENDUM: You can read my 2001 paper "Fearology: The Biography of an Idea" by searching this title on Google Scholar for a free pdf download from PRISM digital library University of Calgary

FOR THE FULL TALK, GO TO: https://prism.ucalgary.ca/items/b7a1e87b-f771-4a2d-914b-a1a5c8c08af9

For the most updated summary (primer) of this philosophy, go to: Fisher, R. M. (2022). Philosophy of fearism: A primer. Xlbiris. 

As some of you may know, and others not, I have been studying systematically the essence of reality, and Truth, Beauty and Goodness since my early twenties. I pursued much of that way of knowledge as a "naturalist" and "life scientist" and Darwinian evolutionist--but my curiosity always led me into other fields beyond biology and natural history and then into the interior depths of psychology and philosophy, mythology, spirituality, arts/aesthetics and so on. At age 71, I can reflect on these travels I have made into Knowledge, Knowing and Understanding. I am an integrator of 'big synthesis' patterns within patterns and connections within connections... 

Okay, there's my brief bio, rather informally of why I become a "fearologist" eventually, as to be then equally interested in "fearlessness." The Fearlessness Movement is one of the terms I have coined along this journey of journeys to invent and discover 'better' ways to live on this planet. This beautiful earthly existences of course is also filled with suffering and construction and destruction are part of our everyday experience. I am well aware not I, nor ideology, nor ideals and wishes can change the fact that 'I' am not in control, nor is anyone else nor is our social structures and cultures. Therefore, with all these things in mind as backdrop to the play... Let me very briefly introduce you to my Big Four Inventions (again, they are really discoveries, uncoveries, models, theories, practices, ethics)--all part of my growing and developing a generative and healthy philosophy of LIFE. 

Note: The below summaries are only bare minimum sketches (I have included some resource links to my work that goes into them more deeply)

These are somewhat linear and historically accurate in their 'evolving' to the surface as expressions (findings)--yet, I am well aware that my inner creative and emergent thought around these four inventions are highly interconnected and no one comes before the other). 

INVENTION ONE (1982-3): Uni-Bicentric Theorem

Although I did not know what to call this theorem (which was a drawing at first), in the early stages, it was a mock-up image of FLOW in the universe (or, more accurately, the Earthly world experiential and theoretical relationship to the Universe). I was in a sense ready and searching for a big pattern to 'map out' and display of how things flow in an order of things, you could say. That the universe, and our experience as humans (and all living things, perhaps even non-living things) does operate in a pattern, not chaos in any total or random sense, but there 'is order' to what is going on. My entire eco-biological and natural history observing and study prior to 1982 was steeped in this admiration for 'design' in Nature--and yes, for 'intelligence' in Nature. I loved that with passion, and found it beautiful, true and good, in some sense. But it was only in this 1982-3 period when I first discovered the philosophy of Ken Wilber. I did not know anything about him and his work at the time. I discovered one book, and I saw a diagram in it of the Flow of the Universe (from an interior perspective of consciousness). Wilber is primarily a Zen (and beyond that) consciousness theorist and practitioner and had published many works since 1972. And, it was seeing this one diagram he had in the book that made me study it and modify it over several years, but ultimately it came back to the same place. I was also influenced by the philosophy of the 'seer' Rudolf Steiner and Carl Jung (to name a few) prior to 1982, and "pattern" as "form" and deep within the invisible interior of consciousness and evolution, this was really interesting to me. I am always looking at "form" of things not just content on the surface. The diagram I stuck with was a great 'story' of how LIFE and HUMAN existence (in particular) goes through patterns, some healthy, some pathological. 

The basic resource (form) of this is articulated on the FM ning (and other places, e.g.):  https://fearlessnessmovement.ning.com/blog/reconfigurations-of-the-love-fear-problem

As you can see, I was later to add "Love vs. Fear" problem to the original diagram of the Flow. 

 INVENTION TWO (1984): Thought Experiment A-ness/D-ness

After massive study of many fields of knowledge, and a deeply engrained and instinctual attraction to aesthetics/arts and making, I came finally to a way to depict a lot of the intellectual and philosophical and value problems I saw that were 'killing us' here on this planet. It was the year 1984 per se, as I recall, when I was attracted to put my artistic skills together with a method of "philosophical" work, more specifically often referred to as a "thought experiment." I was thinking in meta-patterns (meta-cognitively), and attempting to understand general ways of creation-making (i.e., of solving problems, of creating solutions): "How would God (a Creator) go about creation object x?" The most simply object x (standing for literally anything), would be simplified in this thought experiment to something I could draw and color with simple art materials (e.g., colored pencil and paper--later, I added black felt pen and ruler). I won't go into the long description and subtelty here of what all transpired but I basically was able to arrive at only four (paradigmatic) distinctly different ways of coloring and drawing a rectangular shape (i.e., object x). I have displayed this as a model called A-ness/D-ness (visual metaphoric assessment tool) in many publications and talks over the years. You can search the FM ning site in the upper right corner search box "A-ness/D-ness" or just "A-ness" or "D-ness" alone and it should bring up some more information for you to get a better flavor of this first of my discovery/inventions--and, in many ways, I think it is my best one overall in my career as a thinker/designer/inventor/educator. You of course, may or may not find this so interesting. It has never been to me without a great curiosity of all that it can teach us humans. 

Some links to more on A-ness/D-ness (e.g.):  https://fearlessnessmovement.ning.com/blog/fearless-intimacy-an-aesthetic-assessment-tool

 INVENTION THREE (1990s-2000s): Love-Fearlessness-Fear Trialectic

This is an invention hard to pin down to an exact date of appearance but it was most importantly post-ISOF. I mean after the arising spontaneously of my co-visionary experience with Catherine in late 1989. We birthed the In Search of Fearlessness Project (ISOF). It was to be a counter movement to undermine the Fear Project (as I called it then) and to offer new vision for a better way to live e.g., "path of fearlessness." That's a long story to be found elsewhere for those who search for it. The more refined theory that came (again, a model of meta-patterning of the way Life works)--came as a trialectic model of Love vs. Fear as the problem I was trying to solve. It's a long time problem in the wisdom traditons not unsimilar to the Good vs. Evil problem on this planet. Anyways, the short of this invention came by using the Uni-Bicentric "form" (see Invention One) and combining it and creating a simplified relationship between Love, Fearlessness, Fear --as dialectical and trialectical as a dynamic of growth and development (of movements in life forms)--and, underlying this was to assert that the "path of fearlessness" is extremely important to understand if we want to shift the world from a world dominated by and toxified by fear-based living with love-based living. Again, this is an ethical project and fearlessness was the key, I thought to solving the binary division of Love vs. Fear. 

Some links to more on this trialectic (e.g.): https://fearlessnessmovement.ning.com/blog/fisher-s-four-paradigms-human-condition

 INVENTION FOUR (2000's onward): FEARANALYSIS

Fearanalysis is probably my most basic invention, and it is a take-off variant of psychoanalysis. Fearanalysis is my unique way of studying fear(ology)(ism). I have been since late 1989 and co-founding In Search of Fearlessness Project (another fifth invention really), and a Research Institute by that same name, always looking to develop a new and needed (critical) methodology to study fear (and fearlessness). Every other discipline and approach to studying fear that I had found in the literature, was inadequate to my mind. This is still so to this day. So, I'll call it fearanalysis as my fourth big invention, with a closely related term feariatry (see below). 

Some links to more on this (e.g.,): https://fearlessnessmovement.ning.com/blog/fearanalysis-2-wilber-s-induction-to-terror-management-theory

https://fearlessnessmovement.ning.com/photos/feariatry-and-tmt

*** 

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

Muhammad Iqbal

Fear is a fundamental aspect of human existence that shapes our essence as
individuals. It is an emotion that has been present throughout human history,
driving us to protect ourselves from danger and motivating us to take action to
address threats to our well-being. However, fear can also be misunderstood and
misused, leading to a culture of fear that stifles creativity and individual
expression.

The Philosophy of Fearism, developed by R. Michael Fisher, explores
the role of fear in human life and society, challenging us to live less driven by fear
and more focused on love and empowerment.

The Philosophy of Fearism suggests that fear can be transformed into other
emotions, leading to greater emotional resilience and wellbeing. It argues that fear
is often used as a mechanism for social control and discipline, but can also be a
source of resistance and struggle against oppressive power structures. While fear
may precede power in some contexts, it is not necessarily at odds with more
nuanced understandings of power, such as those presented by Michel Foucault.

Foucault's theory of power emphasizes the ways in which power is not just
repressive, but also productive and constructive.

It argues that power is diffused
throughout society and is expressed in various forms of social control and
discipline, of which fear can be one mechanism. However, Foucault also highlights
the ways in which individuals are capable of resisting and challenging dominant
power structures, suggesting that fear can also be a source of empowerment.

The Philosophy of Fearism is an interdisciplinary approach that can be applied to
various areas of human life and society. Eco-Fearism, for example, focuses on the
role of fear in shaping our relationship with the environment and how we can
transform fear into positive action to address ecological crises. This versatility and
relevance of Fearism in today's world make it an essential philosophy for
addressing a range of pressing issues and challenges facing humanity.

While it is certainly true that fear can be a powerful motivator, some critics may
argue that the claim that & quot "life is conducted, directed and controlled by fear" is
overly deterministic and reductionist.

They may argue that human beings are
capable of making choices and acting on the basis of reason, ethics, and values,
even in the face of fear.

Additionally, other factors such as social norms, cultural values, personal beliefs,

and individual differences can also play a significant role
in shaping human behavior and decision-making.

Ultimately, the relationship between fear and human behavior is complex and
multifaceted, and the role of fear in our lives is likely to vary depending on a range
of individual and contextual factors. While fear can certainly be a powerful force,
it is important to recognize the many other factors that can influence human
behavior and decision-making.

The Philosophy of Fearism challenges us to live less driven by fear and more
focused on love and empowerment. It suggests that fear can be transformed into
other emotions, leading to greater emotional resilience and wellbeing. By
exploring the ways in which fear influences our attitudes and behaviors, and by
developing strategies to transform fear into positive action, Fearism can help
individuals and communities to live more empowered and fulfilling lives.

In conclusion, the Philosophy of Fearism offers a thought-provoking perspective
on fear and challenges us to live less driven by fear and more focused on love and
empowerment. It highlights the importance of understanding the role of fear in our
lives and using it as a tool for growth and self-discovery. While fear may be a
powerful force, it is important to recognize the many other factors that can
influence human behavior and decision-making. Ultimately, by transforming fear
into positive action,

Fearism can help us to live more empowered and fulfilling
lives, both as individuals and as members of our communities.

Muhammad Iqbal,
Doctor of Philosophy (Phd)
Student of Political Economy,
National Cheng Kung University of Taiwan

Hi all, just wanted to encourage you all to take time to look through this FM ning site, to search in the upper (right hand) box on the front page for topics and see what shows up here, and/or start your own Blog writing and sharing, and of course Forum Discussion threads are also available and sharing Photos. Look forward to what 138 people can do IF we decide to work and connect and play together to revision a world that is not "fear-based" at its core, but shifts to a "fearlessness-based" approach to everything! 

Of course, then we have to study and learn and create, and check out reflectively what it iis we think we already know about fear and fearlessness, and that maybe we don't agree with others' views about these topics and/or we may have to be honest we don't know as much as we think we know. We can co-inquire, debate, dialogue, and travel respectfully, together, or alone or a bit of both--that fact is, this is an online community that can work for us or it can remain a 'shell' with little life in it. Our choice... 

Looking forward to continuing the sailing... 

As I rarely make policies as host of the FM ning, I am aware that I both want to respect the individual creative impulses of FM members to be free to express and share here. At the same time I have to be cognizant that the site does not disturb overly the enjoyment and concentration that people wish to have when they come on the site and want to study the issue of fear and fearlessness, to which this site is ultimately aimed at as its mission. 

So, re: posting images, please do not use active moving images, as they become part of the front page and take up a lot of attention, which is distractive to those who want to concentrate and focus on other content without a moving object grabbing their attention. I don't want to promote attention-grabbing 'advertising' in other words to this site. I will ask all participants who want to use these moving images to (a) remove them in 24 hrs. or I will; (b) show them as a still jpeg image in Photos and have a link there so that viewers can go to the original image in its moving form, but then it is there choice to be exposed to it there, not on the FM ning site. 

Thanks for your cooperation to FM ning policies. Of course, you can express your views about these policies and add to them to improve them over the years. 

Here' is Dr. Fisher's latest teaching video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UKmn9PEr98

I have long been interested in the fate of children in our societies and their enmeshment in cultures of fear--that is, being scared to death, being made to feel so fragile, and being unable to find a resiliency to meet the demanding (often oppressive) challenges of the day and their future. The 21st century is not going to likely be a pretty one, not for a long time that is. How can the path of Fearlessness help? How can we on the FM ning help? Let's have more discussion about children here and the nature and role of fear and fearlessness in their lives. 

One cultural critic has a good short summary of some of the issues Gen Z especially is facing... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvrMNDv6iYU

Not that I agree with everything Johnathan Haidt says about society, but he has some good points to consider. 

Hello fellow travellers and curious learners. Every now and then, since the beginning of the FM ning in 2015, there are people from all kinds of backgrounds, and cultures, and religious orientations, who visit this site/community. Some of them want to promote a particular leader or leaders that they follow. I think that is fine to a point, and yet, I am vigilant to tell everyone that please remember and respect the purpose of this FM ning and the responsibility you have as a FM ning member: 

Better, and more critically, understanding the role of fear and fearlessness in our lives and world is critical to healthy sustainable life.

 

-------------------------------

Therefore, if anyone on the FM ning crosses the line of intention and only wants to proselytize only one orientation or perspective on reality and is not directly engaging the purpose (mission) of the FM ning community, I will give them one warning--and if they persist I will pull their membership and close their entry to use this site. All moderators of serious ning communities have to do this to ensure integrity of their ning mission. Note: I pay over $300 US funds to keep this ning going (which I barely can afford), and to serve the FM ning community and I want that respected by its users. BTW, this policy of proselytization here applies to yours truly as well. Thanks. 

 

-Michael (FM ning founder and host)

Some psychiatrists, for example, are very concerned in recent years with the fear-based (hyper-)polarization of American society (but also elsewhere). I've scanned an article you might want to check out on this, and noticed they used the word Fear Matrix at one point, a concept I believe is also useful for individual and cultural therapia. 

Anyways, here's a link to this 2021 article: "We must depolarize America now if we want to avoid a repeat of the past four years—or worse. From the vantage point of history and psychiatry, we offer a set of solutions to America’s polarization dilemma." 

-----

Note: I did my Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction (UBC) in 2003 on the 'Fear' Matrix, check out: https://fearlessnessmovement.ning.com/photos/my-dissertation-cover 

A leader of "Fearlessness Studies" --and an "expert", is what I have recently been called by Dr. Barrett, March 29/23:

For my latest radio interview with founder and host of Truth Jihad Radio, Dr. Kevin Barrett, as we discuss fearlessness and Marianne Williamson and her 2024 campaign for president of the USA (start at 15:34): 

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=552u7yqT-YM

I have followed the sociologist Dr. Frank Furedi's writings (mostly his fear writing) since 1997. I like a good deal of his critiques. Yet, I strongly am not in agreement, for a lot of reasons, with a lot of it--including, and in particular, his biased ideological (materialist = secularist =  exclusionist = traditionalist-modernist) leanings of interpreting the relational, social-cultural and political world. He gets quite reductionist, hyperbolic and extremist at times.

I haven't listened to this particular talk per se by him, but it is always worth a listen. He researches his topics well. He thinks independently and he challenges the stataus quo. 

For the record, I cite his work often in my publications. Sadly, over the years, he has chosen not to cite my work or dialogue with me on the fear topic or education topic (which he also critiques Education often in ways I find stereotypying if not fearmongering itself). 

----------

Note and Questioning: I am thinking of how a Fearlessness Paradigm is so different in many ways from the Fear Paradigm that Furedi works with in his perspective on society and what is going on. His corrective to the Fear Problem? He is a libertarian (politically and ideologically) as far as I can tell, though I do not think he actually says this explicitly anywhere. He is definitely not in favor of government or any authority body taking over the parent's role with their children on certain interior and moral aspects of their development. He is kind of conservative that way, as an educational thinker. That said, I wonder if the very language of calling a phenomenon life excessive fear, or "culture of fear" (as he also writes about) a "Fear Epidemic" is actually useful and to what end and who does it serve? 

In a Fearlessness Paradigm there is more depth and breadth to conceptualizing the Fear Problem than Furedi wants to make out. And, although that is a much larger topic and critique, suffice it to say here in this blog response that maybe we would benefit more as a culture if we called what he is referring to as a "Timidity Epidemic" or a similar term even less flattering a "Cowardice Epidemic." From within the core of the Fearlessness Paradigm of critical analysis and intervention, the role of the Rebel, and Sacred Warrior (and Magician) archetypes is important in my theorizing of 'what humans need to recover'--and the warrior-spirit is a sacred notion that is able to overcome the cowardice dynamics of a "culture of fear" in ways that I think bring about true emancipatory implications. The latter, I do not see in Furedi's philosophy, theories, historical understanding and in his diagnoses and general interventions of how to improve society.  

The early developmental years are crucial for children when it comes to their relationship with fear/anxiety and other aspects of their innate and conditioned life-orientation to: Is Life Trustable or Is Life Untrustable? [1] There are more people now a days starting to ask questions about what the impact of COVID-19 pandemic (shock and awe and isolation) had on this new crop of COVID children (and their care-givers)? I have not done research on this but I have heard more than one person in the field of education and daycare field talking about this connection. Are the young children especially (but not only) really impacted more negatively by COVID-19 than we can even imagine as adults? Are these a more disregulated and mistrustful, and anxious group of children now who are going to grow up and create a whole lot more problems (and costs) for society, from within families, daycares, schools and beyond? I'm calling this the COVID-Fear-Bubble phenomenon. OF course, it is just speculation at this point. 

On the recovery and rehabilitation side of things, however, there are some good stories of pro-active interventions into children's well being in relationship to fear, for e.g., John Coleman, of the Apocatastasis Institute just published his summary of an article recently published on offering various nature interventions with children to help them overcome some of their fear of nature (and of life itself, perhaps)--see the BEE BRAVE presentation he gives: https://www.bitchute.com/video/P5YqcYT5niyU/

Let's keep the conversation going about fear/anxiety [2] its positive and negative sides, including the impacts of COVID-19 especially and how can we teach not just about being braver, but being more courageous, being more fearless. I have a great deal of experience and research and thoughts about this connection of a spectrum of means in how to live life in a better relationship to fear than being so paralyzed and harmed by its excesses, individually and collectively. So, also check out The Fearology Institute happenings. 

Note: 

1. Life-orientation education, as I am calling it, has many levels of evidence and reality, but there's at least an important one in Erik Erikson's emotional/affect development research and model puts "Trust vs. Mistrust"  (or Love vs. Fear) at the foundational base of child development as universal. My colleague Four Arrows (Dr. Don T. Jacobs) has more or less offered an analogous conceptualization with overlapping meanings and implications in his worldview education distinction. My other fearwork for decades has played with these ideas but only very recently am I seeing how important this is in bringing a universal ethical basis to education--and, philosophically, arguably it is a telos of education..

2. For a good video on fear/anxiety in the individual and coping strategies and the way society conditions us, especially in parenting, and by offering children distractions and other means of "isolation"--there are chronic problems that accrue, especially with the "attachment" bonding ecology, and this is where fear/anxiety will grow, and even panic patterning that will affect people for life--see talk on this by Dr. Gabor Mate' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39RyGEVRbWk

Some people have asked about my most updated cvRMF2024.doc (professional academic resume). So, I will make it available here. I have also an CVArt RMF.DOC

Note 1. WIKIPEDIA buffs out there, you may want to create a Wikipedia page on my name and/or "Fearlessness Movement," or "In Search of Fearlessness Project". This still needs to be done in order to recognize this fearwork for historical purposes in a vast encyclopedia form. [p.s. I'd be happy to help organize this but someone else will have to take it on as a project and ; contact: r.michaelfisher52 [at] gmail.com

Note 2. Also for Wikipedia there is a need for pages on "Fearology" ; some other links on the FM ning show some of the early work I did in 2015- onward trying to start a Fearlessness Movement Wikipedia entry; go to for e.g.: https://fearlessnessmovement.ning.com/blog/new-wikipedia-entry-fearism

and https://fearlessnessmovement.ning.com/forum/fearlessness-movement-wikipedia-version-summary

A student of the eminent Rollo May, here is my FearTalk with Kirk J. Schneider, exploring topics of interest to how to create a better democracy, and its relationship to dialogue, to fear/anxiety/terror of existence, etc. 

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.

Works cited:
Bogan, Louise “Medusa” Creative Delights. Compiled and edited by Shreedhar Lohani and
Rameshwor Adhikari. Ratna Pustak Bhandar, Kathmandu. 1997.pp 380-381.
Conway, Cathleen Allyn. Through the Looking Glass: A Discussion of Doubling in Sylvia Plath's "Mirror",
University of Greenwich, London. file:///C:/Users/USER/Desktop/FEAR%20IN%20BAEUTY/4672-
Article%20Text-14468-1-10-2013123.
Devkota, Laxmi Prasad. “The lunatic” Creative Delights. Compiled and edited by shreedhar,
Lohani, and Rameshwor Adhikari. Ratna Pustak Bhandar, Kathmandu.1997. pp.332-338.
Freedman, William. "The Monster in Plath's 'Mirror'." Papers on Language and Literature 108.5 (1993):
152-169.
Ghalib, Atef, et al. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education Vol.12 No. 11 (2021), 2592-
2597 Research Article 2592 Sylvia Plath Revisited in the Lens of Depersonalization. Thi-Qar University,
Iraq. file:///C:/Users/USER/Desktop/FEAR%20IN%20BAEUTY/6257-Article%20Text-11537-1-10-
20210513.pdf
https://image,slidesharecdn.com (a poem by Sylvia Plath)
Kroll, J. Chapters in Science of Mythology: The poetry of Sylvia Plath. New York: Harper &Row. 1978.
http://www.gradesaver.com/sylvia-plath-poems/study-guide/summary-mirro.
Lohami Shreedhar and Rameshwor Adhikari. Creative Delights. Ratna Pustak Bhandar,
Kathmandu.1997. pp.338.
McCort, Jessica. Sleeping Beauty Awake: Sylvia Plath through the Looking-Glass.
file:///C:/Users/USER/Desktop/FEAR%20IN%20BAEUTY/4376-Article%20Text-13845-1-10-20131219.pdf.
Russell, Bertrand “Keeping Errors at Bay,” Flax-Golden Tales: An Interdisciplinary
Approach to learning English. Compiled and edited by Moti Nishani and Shreedher
Lohani. Ekta Books, Kathmandu. 2008. pp.373.
Schwartz, Susan. Disenchantment, Disillusion, and Dissolution in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath.
file:///C:/Users/USER/Desktop/FEAR%20IN%20BAEUTY/DepthInsights-Issue5-Fall2013.pdf.
Schwartz, Susan E. Sylvia Plath: A Split in the Mirror.
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.

[note: the percentages, are given based on testing values, and they approximate the % of USA population roughly operating in that worldview] 

With our current "Culture Wars" re: Value and values, and political debates on which is the better way to go for society--there, is a need to step back and look at the bigger picture of value-memes (as one form of worldview analysis [1]). The diagram above is an integral theory mapping of 3 major worldviews (or value-memes). This diagram is useful on many levels, although, I understand it would need a much more nuanced discussion and teaching around what are wordviews and/or value-memes (in Spiral Dynamics theory and Integral Theory). That said, it is still a good quick map for seeing what has been going on in the world of conflicts, "Culture Wars" and "Paradigm Wars" etc. in the last 50 years or so. There is a dangerous heating up in conflicts between these worldviews. There is fear-based thinking and values in each of these worldviews shown here, and there is also good healthy non-fear-based thinking and values. The issue is understanding perspectives that they each bring to society and our problems. How will we work with this conflict and fear in each of these? I find that a really interesting and serious issue, and I have studied Integral Theory for over 40 years. 

The next diagram shows a fourth worldview (value-meme) called "Integral" (perspective)--that is, where "Developmentalists" as thinkers are attempting to analyze and solve the world's big problems from. This is where I've situated my thinking and theory, i.e., the location of Fearlessness (as aperspectival-integral consciousness or Fear Management System-7). This next diagram shows the way to approach dealing with all the differences and conflicts, and similarities, in the other worldviews (value-memes), and how an integral-developmentalist approach is probably the best way to go overall--which, would be non-fear-based. A larger topic... but here is the diagram offered: 

Acknowledgements

Thanks to those at the Institute for Cultural Evolution for the summary diagram above, from their website. 

Endnotes

1. Note, that worldview analysis comes in many varieties and this is only one way shown here. Another powerful critical postcolonialist worldview theory is proposed by Four Arrows (Dr. D. T. Jacobs) where there are only two meta-worldviews operating "Dominant worldview" (global and Western)--and, "Indigenous worldview." The latter, as Four Arrows argues is really the only foundational worldview that offers a healthy, sane and sustainable worldview. Developmentalists (integralists) typically avoid integrating such a critique. Four Arrows agrees, as would many integralists, that "fearlessness" is the basis of the worldview that is propogated as emancipatory.