Fear and freedom

[Christopherscience]

It occurs to me that fear is a limiting factor.

 

I've never read Dune, nor seen the movies, but in it they say, "fear is the mind killer."

 

I'm going to agree; fear tends to shut down higher-level thinking in favor of primal drivers (fight, flight, freeze, and fuck... strangely. The parasympathetic nervous system is integral to fight-or-flight and arousal of the sexual kind... and... to be perfectly honest, I've noticed that, in times of high stress, I have a higher libido, which is not at all helpful apart from making a save file of my genes in case I die... Though I can see the evolutionary advantage to having sex before going off to battle, I find it less than helpful).

 

The equivocal mind is undisturbed by fear and the mental disruptions of the primal instincts... Fear makes you choke, and is oppositional to clear thinking.

 

So then, courage grants a kind of freedom: The freedom to do something perceived as dangerous.

 

This is neither good nor bad, and depends on the context and situation.

 

Some risks are worth being courageous for, while others are not.

 

I find that freedom itself is a risky proposition, and having grown up a kind of slave - freedom scares me sometimes.

 

The best way to break a slave - is to make them yearn for bondage. (On a side note, the popular, polemic MGTOW-themed book The Manipulated Man, by Esther Vilar, opened my eyes to a kind of reversal I didn't want to even entertain the possibility of; that men love being slaves to women... because they fear freedom... And why? Perhaps it has something to do with the people who raised them. And the people who raise children are, overwhelmingly, women. I know that my mother was a teacher of terror, personally, but that's anecdote, and perhaps some good mothers instill a love of freedom in their children above conformity, and respecting authority.)

 

I find it difficult to commune with my child-like desire for adventure sometimes, but I have good self-control, and can recall the state of mind of excitement and decisiveness.

 

I then inhabit that state of mind sometimes... and savor it - savor the feeling of decision and excitement.

 

But fear... Fear is the mind-killer, and, thus, it is anti-freedom.

 

Yes: not all freedoms are preferable, and fear serves a purpose... but it is an excellent servant which makes a horrible master.

 

... And the adrenaline often serves no purpose; I have no bears to run away from, and, thus, the extra blood-glucose is quite unnecessary.

 

My mastery of fear requires a silencing of specific thoughts... It's more of a feeling that I switch, really. I imagine it is something akin to what actors do; embody a state of mind, or channel a set of behaviors and feelings. This is what I meant by self control.

 

... But really I just wanted to make the observation that courage can grant a measure of freedom, because courage can override the fight, flight, freeze, or fuck instinct.

 

I'm trying to perform thought-experiments to test the limits of the claim that courage grants a measure of freedom, and that the antithesis [of fear] reduces personal freedom.

 

... When I decide something I tend to do things in full measure... so, if I decide to be courageous, then there's really no turning back.

 

I think the implications would be interesting, and I'm very close to making some very large life decisions*, but I will think about it a little more deeply. And I will relax to optimize my ability to think on these topics (or "meditate" if you prefer). In some sense, I've already made my choices, and simply need to continue following them through and not choke under pressure. Sometimes the mind is too quick, and takes a while to parse the underlying motivations... but, so help me - the motive forces are strong, and I want to steer them well (a thousand horse-power car is almost useless without a steering wheel).

 

Because notifications are not great, don't assume a fast response if you post to this topic, but thank you nonetheless, and hello moderator(s).

 

*The instances are unimportant - the principles (for the sake of discussion) are what are important. The life-decisions have to do with moving, career choices, and improving my lifestyle (Ha, maybe I can donate more if I earn more disposable income. But that's not germane to the discussion).