Once , a disciple went running to his master.
"Master, Master, I am very afraid. I feel that I am going to die very soon. What can I do?"
The Master replied – "Don’t worry, I will solve your problem".
"But first let us have a cup of coffee."
Both of them sat and had coffee. The master then explained to the disciple that fear is just another thought; it is only in the mind. And the mysterious thing about the mind is that it can never hold on to any one thought for a long time. Not even the thought of death you can hold on to for a long time, the fear of death can be washed out simply by thinking about a cup of coffee. So you see how shallow fear is?
Have you seen a cat drinking milk? If you observe carefully, you will see that the cat always drinks or rather laps up milk with its eyes closed. Why? Because she thinks that by closing her eyes, she will be cut off from this world. We human beings also sometimes think that by choosing to ignore fear, fear will vanish. This is not possible, fear will be there whether you like it or not and the only way to counter fear is to develop the courage to fight it. Real courageous people not only fight fear they even flirt with fear.
"Master, Master, I am very afraid. I feel that I am going to die very soon. What can I do?"
The Master replied – "Don’t worry, I will solve your problem".
"But first let us have a cup of coffee."
Both of them sat and had coffee. The master then explained to the disciple that fear is just another thought; it is only in the mind. And the mysterious thing about the mind is that it can never hold on to any one thought for a long time. Not even the thought of death you can hold on to for a long time, the fear of death can be washed out simply by thinking about a cup of coffee. So you see how shallow fear is?
Have you seen a cat drinking milk? If you observe carefully, you will see that the cat always drinks or rather laps up milk with its eyes closed. Why? Because she thinks that by closing her eyes, she will be cut off from this world. We human beings also sometimes think that by choosing to ignore fear, fear will vanish. This is not possible, fear will be there whether you like it or not and the only way to counter fear is to develop the courage to fight it. Real courageous people not only fight fear they even flirt with fear.
You see, the very fact that you are alive, means that you have something to lose, and the moment you have something to lose you will always have fear & so there is no point trying to run away from fear. What you have to do is to face it, work on the causes that are creating the fear. Learn to flirt with fear.
