Friday, September 19, 2008

Fears: good and bad

"Fear is the outcome of weakness, a coward’s friend, an enemy of firmness. Fear of death is the cause of all human fears. One who wins the fear of death wins himself. He is the one who wins the freedom. From his mental prison."
~ V.Prabhakaran. quotes

This is the quote that was in the quote box. However, I don't know if I really agree with it, and/or like it. What do you think of it?

"Fear is the outcome of weakness" Is fear really the outcome of weakness? Or is the real weakness what we do with our fears. I don't believe that anyone has lived a life without fear. Do we let the fear ruin our lives and dwell upon that fear, or do we work to overcome it? Some fears we don't want to overcome...and I don't think that is always a weakness either. My "fear" of smoking or doing drugs seemed to have protected me instead of making me weak. The fear actually helped to shape and create my values.

How do we know the definition of weakness? One person's weakness may be another person's strength. Surely the person who is liked and constantly around people has no weaknesses! hmm, but does he have the strength to stand alone? Maybe not.

"a coward’s friend, an enemy of firmness" Being afraid of something does not make you a coward! Like I said before, it is what we do with that fear, how we view it... and is it really a fear? I am not a coward for not wanting to stick a sword down my throat. Yes I would be afraid to do this, but do I let this fear affect my life? No! I could care less about sticking a sword in my throat! So this fear doesn't affect me, and it does not make me a coward.

"Fear of death is the cause of all human fears." To me this could be be true if "all" was replaced with "some" , but I felt it was terrible placement in this quote. I really did not feel that it flowed correctly into this subject. Death is not the cause of all human fears. Sometimes people who are alive scare me, and I don't think that this fear has anything to do with death.

"One who wins the fear of death wins himself. He is the one who wins the freedom. From his mental prison." Perhaps if someone did completely overcome the fear of death (I don't know if it's possible to completely rid the fear of death!) he would feel free in the mind. However, this quote does not hit the spot because I do fear death, but I would not describe myself as being in a state of mental prison because of this fear.
I don't think that all people who win the fear of death are free either! I believe that a person commiting suicide loses his fear of death for at least a split second. Does this fearless moment mean that he is freed from his mental prison? Doubtful! If nowone feared death we would all be dying. This fear is what keeps us on this earth longer, living, learning, and progressing. Fears can be good and do not always bring us to our demise!

6 comments:

Nathan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nathan said...

Anna, you are wise. Here's how I see it:
"Fear is the outcome of weakness"
Fear is the outcome of being scared.

"a coward’s friend, an enemy of firmness"
Cowards are afraid of fear.
Friends aren't afraid of each other.

"Fear of death is the cause of all human fears."
Fear of death is the cause of people still being alive.

"One who wins the fear of death wins himself. He is the one who wins the freedom. From his mental prison."
Because they will die soon.

"~ V.Prabhakaran. quotes"
You have a dumb name.

Anna K. said...

haha I love how you see it bro! Your are a very deep thinker...a philosopher I look up to.

Living-Bliss said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Living-Bliss said...

hahahahah to Nathan's review of the quote. and I agree with you Anna. I don't like this quote at all. If he was so unaffected by fear he wouldn't have thought to write this.
-Melanieee

Sheae said...

Hi Anna,
In the society and place you are living might not have that much impact whether you are courageous or not. There are millions of unfortunate people around the world living with the option to choose fight for freedom or live under oppression. Those words make much more sense to those live there.