Vim Quietude

Afraid of nothing.

One post a month. I can swing that.

Anyway, on to the topic of fear again. It occurred to me that sometimes people get afraid when they don't know when something is going to happen. A common theme along these lines is death, while there was also a Friends episode in which "the fear" was a motivational tool in order to help Rachel get a new job.

But is it logical to be afraid of the unknown? You know, what you don't know can't hurt you? The point is that you aren't afraid of a sniper aiming a rifle at your head if you don't know and don't suspect that he's there. You could be afraid if you go around assuming there's eventually going to be a sniper aiming at you, or something like that. Odds are slim, yet it's still feasable.

So that's the real point. You're not really afraid of the unknown. That'd be horrible, because there's always so much you don't know. But anyway, it's not the unknown that creates fear, it's the possibilities that you do know that creates fear. Is it the dark that's scary, or all the possible things that could be lurking in the dark? Like spiders and maggots and things that'll stub your toe and killers with excellent night vision...

Or if you don't know what you're going to do after college, the fear is what you know could happen, which might seem as or even more likely than something good that might happen.

Is this the power of positive thinking?

posted by Deriser @ 11:59 PM