The State of Freedom
A journey of Truth into the mind’s sanctuary
with the destination of inner Freedom.
Α25. The fear of repetition of the past pain.
In the next evening…
Acquitted and light, relieved of the burden of self-blame, the mind now takes his place on the recently established seat of introspection, in order to meet the enemy from inside, to see him in his full extent and demystify him. A wise master once said, “Face the devil!”, that is to say: “Meet courageously face to face the devil who exists within yourself!” My brothers, the psychologists, also say likewise that the only way to overcome our fears is to dare to bring ourselves face to face opposite to the object of our fear.
Now the mind, having suspected that he dreads whatever he dreads for no reason, decided to venture something even more drastic: to penetrate inside the object of his fear, not opposite the tiger which threatens him but inside his open mouth and between his sharp teeth, in order to see what is the worst that can happen, even if all his fears finally prove to be real.
Some American brothers, professors in universities, have found with statistic researches that 95% of our fears are never going to become real and that from the rest 5% which will become real only the 1% will have really tragic consequences as we imagined! Besides, even for this 1% I have seen that the adaptability which we have due to the ever-flowing and joy-generating stream of life which ceaselessly permeates us reduces significantly the pain which we experience.
The mind remembers with admiration and awe some brothers with serious disabilities, who thanks to the power of their will have created magnificent works in the arts, the letters, the sports, even in their humanistic action. By this he is convinced that, whichever distress may happen to him, it cannot deprive him of the possibility to rejoice every single moment by the joy rendered to him by the very gift of life.
Hence, the fear of the repetition of the old pain is necessary to be eradicated, if the mind wants to remain unpolluted by the anxieties which usually overflow him and to be in the position to make use of this innate possibility for joy which is available for him every single moment by his very nature. If for the eradication of this fear is necessary to get in his old pain again in order to relive it, he has decided it, he will do it, even if he pains again like the old time, because the pain is sweet and the mind can bear it, no matter how strong it is, when he knows that this is a part of the path which is going to lead him to freedom, whereas, on the contrary, it becomes unbearable, when it pushes him even deeper down into the abyss of ignorance and the despair of darkness, without any prospect for salvation.