Fear of God
Baha'i Mysticism - What if Fear Extinguished?
Doesn't fear also derive from the power of attraction? Isn't it love and desire which cause fears to exist? And isn't it also true that if all fears were extinguished then "the phenomena of human life would disappear"? And if only all our earthly fears were extinguished then a phenomenal spiritual life would appear!
Everything I hear about how to deal with fear seems to be what I call fear management. It offers methods for dissolving the fears we find limiting, but it only expands our sphere of fearlessness, only pushes back our limitations. It never offers a means for escaping earthly fearfulness entirely. I think our Writings offer us that means, that They offer to burst the bubble of this sphere of all our earthly fears, forever.
This concept is quite simple. Whatever we love, we are attached to it emotionally, whether it's a person, a thing, an idea, or even a feeling. So when we experience or even contemplate its loss we are ruled by fear. "Love is always accompanied by fear."1 So we cannot avoid attachments but we can upgrade them toward attachment to naught save God.
If we love physical things, we are ruled by our physical world. If we love people, we are ruled by our social relationships. If we love heavenly things, we are ruled by our heavenly condition. If we love only God, then we are ruled only by His will and good pleasure.
Further information
http://www.planetbahai.org/resources/mysticism/refeara.html
Doesn't fear also derive from the power of attraction? Isn't it love and desire which cause fears to exist? And isn't it also true that if all fears were extinguished then "the phenomena of human life would disappear"? And if only all our earthly fears were extinguished then a phenomenal spiritual life would appear!
Everything I hear about how to deal with fear seems to be what I call fear management. It offers methods for dissolving the fears we find limiting, but it only expands our sphere of fearlessness, only pushes back our limitations. It never offers a means for escaping earthly fearfulness entirely. I think our Writings offer us that means, that They offer to burst the bubble of this sphere of all our earthly fears, forever.
This concept is quite simple. Whatever we love, we are attached to it emotionally, whether it's a person, a thing, an idea, or even a feeling. So when we experience or even contemplate its loss we are ruled by fear. "Love is always accompanied by fear."1 So we cannot avoid attachments but we can upgrade them toward attachment to naught save God.
If we love physical things, we are ruled by our physical world. If we love people, we are ruled by our social relationships. If we love heavenly things, we are ruled by our heavenly condition. If we love only God, then we are ruled only by His will and good pleasure.
Further information
http://www.planetbahai.org/resources/mysticism/refeara.html
posted by Unknown | 8:15 am
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