From: ibshambat@gmail.com   
      
   I have come across an idea, expressed especially in New Age circles, that fear   
   is at the root of everything that is wrong with the world. I seek to contend   
   with that idea.   
      
   I have known a number of people who were genuinely courageous. These people   
   never claimed to disown fear. Instead they defined courage as willingness to   
   act in presence of fear.   
      
   I have not been through anything like the Second World War; but neither have   
   the New Agers. I do not see how their views on this subject have undergone any   
   kind of reality-testing. I would take advice on the subject from someone who's   
   been through    
   experiences that actually test courage. And the people I've known who had such   
   experiences did not disown fear. They were willing to act, however afraid they   
   were.   
      
   When I was driving through Utah, my car broke down. A Mormon man gave me the   
   ride to the nearest service station, then he paid for the repairs and walked   
   out before I could even thank him. I find this to be an amazing behavior. If   
   this had happened in a    
   community that had a strong New Age influence, they would have said that the   
   reason that my car broke down was negativity in my consciousness. Not only   
   would they not have helped me, but they would have avoided me out of the fear   
   that I would inflict the    
   negativity in my consciousness upon them.   
      
   Fear – and especially fear-mongering for profit or political gain – can   
   very well be a bad influence. However in no way is it the only one. Another   
   major bad influence is beliefs that teach people to be jerks; and this is what   
   we see of course all    
   around us, from all sorts of places, including New Age.   
      
   Maybe these people found these beliefs useful in adapting to capitalism. But   
   that does not make such beliefs right. Not only did many of them become as big   
   jerks as business conservatives, but some of them have outdone them in that   
   regard; and that has    
   made a mockery of themselves and liberalism proper.   
      
   I have a friend who's had an ongoing migraine since she was 22. Any number of   
   people believed that she was bringing it about by negative thinking, or that   
   she was doing it deliberately in order to avoid taking responsibility for her   
   life. She was being    
   blamed for something which was in no way her fault – a concept of course   
   that is alien in New Age circles.   
      
   Responsibility is one thing; being a jerk is another. If a Mormon right-winger   
   can be a better person than we are, boy do we have a lot to learn.   
      
   Many of these people started out in the same place as I did. They saw what was   
   wrong with the world. The solution that they have created however has been a   
   wrong one. Not only does such a thing deny basic human compassion, but it   
   creates wrongful    
   incentives within society. If responsibility is defined in this way, everyone   
   will want to become a yuppie. Nobody will want to become teachers, scientists,   
   military, police or anything of the sort – professions that do not pay very   
   much but whose    
   contributions are vast. This will starve the country of much of what it needs   
   and will have negative consequences for the country.   
      
   I've been a yuppie myself; and I did not find other yuppies to be more   
   responsible than scientists and teachers I've known. They made more money, but   
   the money that they made was based on the work of scientists. The reason that   
   they could be yuppies was    
   owed to their teachers and college professors; and the reason that they could   
   do business at all was owed to the military protecting their country and   
   police enforcing their property rights. Most of these people do not make very   
   much money, and by this    
   definition they are supposedly irresponsible. But the country in general –   
   and the yuppies in particular – owe greatly to all of the above.   
      
   When I was with a woman who had New Age influences, she wanted to do something   
   rash. I was telling her of the possible consequences of that – the   
   consequences of which others were warning me as well - and she was telling me   
   that I was preaching fear.    
   She finally had her way, and she got exactly the consequences of which I was   
   warning her – and of which others were warning me. She did not do so through   
   negativity in her consciousness; she had done a lot of work on herself and did   
   not have any. She    
   did this because she did something rash.   
      
   I do not see why one emotional state – love, fear, or anything else under   
   the sun – would be better or more powerful than another. There are however   
   things that are more powerful than all of the above. This is the case with   
   nuclear bombs; this is the    
   case with intelligence; this is the case with money. All of these things are   
   more powerful than either fear or love. And, just like both fear and love,   
   these can be wielded both rightfully and wrongfully.   
      
   Is fear a bad thing? Anything human can be either good or bad. For that   
   matter, love can be used for wrong things as well. Cults practice what is   
   known as love-bombing. Love gets used as a tool of manipulation. Fear of   
   course can be used as a tool of    
   manipulation as well. That something can be used for wrong however does not   
   mean that it is universally wrong in itself. Money can also be used for wrong;   
   but that does not mean that money as such is a bad thing.   
      
   There are many good things that have come out of the New Age. These attitudes   
   however are wrong. Love is not the same thing as being a bully, and   
   responsibility is not the same thing as being a jerk. Using positive values   
   for wrongful ends discredits the    
   values themselves. Love is a good thing, and responsibility is a good thing.   
   Neither of the above should be used for wrong.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)