Coping With the Unknown

I fancy that I am competent To write on the theme of fear— Only because I have spent much of my life in fear And thus seem to know the emotion inside out! Now, coping with fear Is something like coping with the unknown. For irrational fears, like phobias and phrenias, The solution is probably to self-learn— To remain positive, Not only in thinking But, more importantly, in feeling: Most failures in this venture, in the past, are the result Of some mismatch between the two. Rational fears arise mostly From having to face unequal battles in life: Battling, for instance, with a wrathful, vengeful God, Who is out to punish any poor erring soul. But we know that to err is human. A wrathful God trying to get even with a frail human — That is something unimaginable. The bottom line: God is And will be what we take Him to be— Because we are all after all participant observers. And subtle are the ways of God, Which cannot be easily understood In terms of simple Newtonian equations. This awareness should save us From cognitive dissonance, if any. Religion may put fear in me—of God, Lest I should go reckless. So I must guard myself against recklessness. God, however, helps The brave rather than the timid. God is a Paradox, not Irony. Then, why fear God? Now, let’s not fear Other unequal battles in life, either; Be it with the spouse Or the boss or ill-health. The situation is like that of the (proverbial) mouse: As a muse fearing the cat, As a cat fearing the dog, As a dog fearing the tiger and so on: David vs. Goliath, Rama vs. Ravana, Child Krishna vs. Kalinga, Nabi vs. False Belief, St. George vs. the Dragon, Déjà vu! Then, why fear unequal battles? Poet Bharati equates fear with death, And Yeats would call it death in life. Let’s not be crippled— By the so called Conscience, Or Freudian Superego, Or Eric Berne’s Censuring Parent. Why fear fear? ***