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<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">Fear is a phenomenon of unconsciousness. It is a kind of anguish that comes from ignorance. One does not know the nature of a certain thing, does not know its effect or what will happen, does not know the consequences of one's acts, one does not know so many things; and this ignorance brings fear. One fears what one does not know. </span>
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/10-march-1954#p20</ref>
<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">In life it is the action of the subconscious that has the larger share and it acts a hundred times more powerfully than the conscious parts. The normal human condition is a state filled with apprehensions and fears; if you observe your mind deeply for ten minutes, you will find that for nine out of ten it is full of fears—it carries in it fear about many things, big and small, near and far, seen and unseen, and though you do not usually take conscious notice of it, it is there all the same. To be free from all fear can come only by steady effort and discipline.</span>
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/19-may-1929#p18</ref>
<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">Closeness of the human soul to the Divine is the object, and fear sets always a barrier and a distance; even awe and reverence for the divine Power are a sign of distance and division and they disappear in the intimacy of the union of love. Moreover, fear belongs to the lower nature, to the lower self, and in approaching the higher Self must be put aside before we can enter into its presence.</span>[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-godward-emotions#p7 http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24</the-godward-emotions#p7]ref>
<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">The Divine is infinite and innumerable, and consequently the ways of approaching Him are also infinite and innumerable, and on the manner of one's approach to the Divine depends what he receives and knows of the Divine. The bhakta meets a Divine full of affection and sweetness, the wise man will find a Divine full of wisdom and knowledge. He who fears meets a severe Divine, and he who is trusting finds the Divine a friend and protector... and so on in the infinite variety of possibilities.</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#0066cc;"><u>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/letters-to-a-young-sadhak-iv#p1</u></span>
<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">Fear comes with insincerity. If you want a comfortable life, agreeable circumstances, etc., you are putting conditions and restrictions, and then you can fear.</span>[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/comments-on-new-year-messages#p56 http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15</comments-on-new-year-messages#p56]ref>
<span style="background-color:#ffff00;color:#000000;">'''Fear'''</span><span style="background-color:#ffff00;color:#000000;">, desire and sorrow are diseases of the mind; born of its sense of division and limitation, they cease with the falsehood that begot them. </span>[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/gnosis-and-ananda#p16 http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23</gnosis-and-ananda#p16]ref>
<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">Fear is an invention of the hostile forces who have created it as the best means of dominating living beings, animals and men.</span>[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/10-november-1965#p3 http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16</10-november-1965#p3]ref>
<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">Fear is the prettiest gift these beings have given to the world. It is their first present, and the most powerful. It is through fear that they hold human beings. First of all, they create a movement of fear; the movement of fear weakens you, then hand you over little by little into their power. And it is not even a reasonable fear; it is a kind of fear which seizes you, you don't know why, something that makes you tremble, gives you anxiety. You do not know why, it has no apparent reason. It is their action.</span>[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/05/24-june-1953#p9 http://incarnateword.in/cwm/05</24-june-1953#p9]ref>
<div style="color:#000000;">Some people are spontaneously free from fear even in their body; they have a sufficient vital equilibrium in them not to be afraid, not to fear, and a natural harmony in the rhythm of their physical life which enables them to reduce the illness spontaneously to a minimum. There are others, on the other hand, with whom the thing always becomes as bad as it can be, sometimes to the point of catastrophe. </div>
<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#0066cc;"><u>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/19-june-1957#p7</u></span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">And even if by discipline and effort you have liberated your mind and your vital of apprehension and fear, it is more difficult to convince the body. But that too must be done. Once you enter the path of Yoga you must get rid of all fears—the fears of your mind, the fears of your vital, the fears of your body which are lodged in its very cells. One of the uses of the blows and knocks you receive on the path of Yoga is to rid you of all fear. The causes of your fears leap on you again and again, until you can stand before them free and indifferent, untouched and pure. One has a fear of the sea, another fear of fire. The latter will find, it may be, that he has to face conflagration after conflagration till he is so trained that not a cell of his body quivers. That of which you have horror comes repeatedly till the horror is gone. </span> [<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/19-may-1929#p19 http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03</19-may-1929#p19]ref>
= Nature of Fear =