13 thoughts on “Planet Waves FM: The Nature of Fear”

  1. Thanks for the insights Eric. This bears listening to more than once. Fear is definitely the leitmotif of our culture. I generally advocate pushing-back but admit that I am finding it increasingly difficult to find a comfortable line between wanting to be informed about what is going on in the world and the desire to just turn off the news and never touch another newspaper again. I’m so fed up with the fear mongering, which has taken the place of any real depth of understanding or analysis. Fear mongering in the media is the equivalent of the crotch joke that the mediocre comedian always goes for. It’s an easy ‘win’ inasmuch as everyone ‘gets’ it. But it’s also incredibly lazy. There’s so much (in the media) at the moment about the power of the media, but of course it’s all one big jack-off about how positive that power is. Well… big front, big behind as my therapist used to say. Anybody seen this RSA video challenging the assumption that the internet always empowers citizens?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk8x3V-sUgU&feature=share. The denial of the dark-side, the really toxic influence of today’s media is dangerous. Challenging stuff.

  4. wellspring:
    like your thoughts. or rather, like where you were connecting the dots, as bullfighting is disgusting and barbaric, really murder, not just killing. such beautiful animals. and the energy signature of a bull is something else. gotta respect that.

    agreed: planetary energy incites the yearning to wanting to feel alive, to feel vital, a force in your veins so to speak, but if it is expressed (there’s that word again!) in an unhealthy way, it can turn to a type of blood lust. so yes. the world stage. BTW, did anyone ever mention Osama’s chart- anywhere? don’t remember seeing it. check out the kidney thing too, right? a little medical astrology, anyone????

    Bahrain: chaos

    Paul: I need to think on that one. I’m feeling there’s a pearl in there somewhere…

    peace.

  5. The key will be okay but that closet will be shaking with fear. Challenging relationships require challenging relationships. The potential to deepen love outweighs risk. Somebody has to lead the way, that would be you.

  7. Thanks Eric, I really loved that.
    As I was listening to you talk about Mars in Taurus, I was scribbling the symbols down. As I looked at them both there, you talking about the pointy Mars and the soft but strong bull, the image of bullfighting (Aries, Aries point?) came to mind.

    The bull itself being not there willingly (external forces), also being a pattern of Mars in Taurus, you stated. The bull being a victim in the name of recreation, the bull forced unwillingly to take the aggression of the masses into its softness, it doesn’t really have a way out…. And after the killing, the masses feeling somehow stronger, more invincible and in control of their lives, the illusion that fear has been conquered, for a while, through another, the bullfighter.

    There is much symbolism here related to world events just in that one astrological event. The warrior moving into the public arena with the bull (who would probably be much happier out in a paddock with a cow or two if he had his way), to dance the killing dance, becoming one with the bull, the masses being crucial to the event as it wouldn’t happen without the audience.

    Just a thought or two.

  8. Eric – I just started listening to your podcasts recently and I am totally blown away. Thank you for a great one tonight.

  9. crap!

    forgot to mention another important (to me) thing :
    and that is that this cycle of fear (notice I am NOT capitalizing it) creates also this false notion of
    SCARCITY.

    that there is “not enough”
    not enough pertaining to goods, money, or abundance

    or how about “not enough”
    Love, or how about We are not enough. that can really do some damage.

    yep. scarcity. fear and scarcity go hand in hand and it’s not a Good hand in hand, strolling kind of way.
    note: pretty sure in the etymology ‘scare’ is in scarcity…maybe not but sounds plausible…

    k.

    carry on.

  10. this was f-ing outstanding!
    v. v. insightful.

    just to push through, off the top of my head, I absolutely love the story about your Dad. I had to chuckle on a couple of occasions thinking of some of my own family’s mannerisms and habits. personally, there exists a huge dichotomy between my own standard(s) of living and my family’s, and it makes for some funny and interesting (to me) observations when I visit-often surreal. anyway, some things you said made me smile.

    nevertheless, no matter how many dishwashers you may have in your kitchen,
    the question begs to be asked: what do we need to feel safe?
    and what do each of us do to ‘imprison’ ourselves?
    we all have had something. for me, (Spirit of sharing floats in), I have kept my personal expression on lockdown for fear of criticism, being dis-included & not valued, branded, or just harassed with rolling eyes and disdainful body language.oh and screaming. but even besides these very real things, there is much truth in just the existence of fear in our minds, as a product we manufacture ourselves because we are scared of the 1 million and one things that COULD go awry (but prob. won’t!).

    personally, I’ve realized the cost of this prison of (imagined) fear is just too great- in fact, it was becoming deadly to my v. existence. BTW, this is synchronously tying in with my freedom of expression theme. I guess the bottom line is I have to have creative expression (and there’s a lot of it in here) in my life or I’m as good as dead. and like many things in life, one has to get down to their own bottom line. for me, I can’t walk around like a zombie. so the choice I see, for those of us that can’t be zombies, yet still have fears is to one, go insane, or two, like Eric said, challenge the notion that you can’t face this threat!!!!

    following your train of thought of the destructive cycle of fear leading to corruption, and people obsessed by greed (easy to imagine if you just think of people fighting over goods- be it limited iodine tablets or those to-die-for limited ed. Manolo’s). you can see how that mentality is the reverse of sharing. this type of fear shuts down the avenue for sharing. and then extend that from goods to one’s feelings. or gifts. yes? ?

    so flipping it around, this destructive cycle of fear prevents us from sharing ourselves and what we have which then keeps us separated, or isolated, and from there we can go to “well, if no one knows what I am feeling (because I don’t share), so no one can understand what I am feeling, and if no one can understand what I am feeling, then they can’t feel what I am feeling, and therefore cannot be empathetic. and I can’t be empathetic either. because I mean, I’m over here and they are over there, and that is different. so it’s me against the world!!
    phew!
    anyway, easy to see what a big mess it is. who can clean that shit up?? esp. when being constantly bombarded, as you say, with more fucking fear???

    I do have some not perfectly formed thoughts about the difference btwn. how fear is so more communicable than happiness and tying to Maslow’s Hierarchy. but need to give it a rest.
    step down and let someone else say something for crikey’s sake!!

    thanks for the delicious podcast. much there. I took notes. please don’t discontinue them.

    peace.

  12. This is brilliant, and I can’t thank you enough for it. Wonderful to hear the depth of your own inner journeying come through in words to bring light to others.

  13. good morning, Eric–
    I lost your podcast at 19:27 or so, sort of mid-sentence. You okay?
    –j

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