Noble Fear

Not all fear is made alike. Good fear is this:

Fear which focuses you, concentrates you, and strengthens you.

The goal isn’t to fear zero fear… it is simply to not shirk from fear.

This means:

When David is facing Goliath he feels fear,,, but doesn’t let the fear PREVENT him from attacking (and then) destroying Goliath!

Pussy!

If you’re from my generation, you would have heard guys call each other ‘pussies’ for not doing x, y, z… out of fear. But — what is being a ‘pussy’ (coward) anyways? It is to NOT engage in virtuous and brave activity, because of fear.


How studying David is interesting

With David the statue is interesting. David exhibits fear, but is it more of a focused concentrated thing. Like the Spartans of 300, the fear was a sense of heightened focus. Adrenaline. Fear can be good in this regard; an empowering fear.

For example, with powerlifting this gets interesting because whenever I attempt a new PR in deadlift, squat, etc… there is of course fear! But this fear is good. It forces me to concentrate and focus, and give it 500% of my attention.


Fear is good

Fear is good. Without fear, we would have fallen off cliffs a long time ago. But perhaps the better question is:

Which fears are rational and which are irrational?

For example, I think most of human fears are predicated on the notion of starvation and death. Fear of death of the cold, foreigners, foreign enemies, foreign animals, foreign environments, etc. Generally speaking, our human adaptation is to avoid tail events of potential death or permanent disfigurement.

My fears

What are my personal fears? I don’t fear bankruptcy; it has already happened to my mom as a kid and it wasn’t that big of a deal. Do I fear loss of social status? No. I am vain enough to only care about my own opinion of myself. The only thing I really fear is dying on my death bed with regrets; regrets for not having attempted x, y, z. Or perhaps the regret of not attempting MORE… or wasting my life placating others, and wasting time trying to please others, instead of having the courage to follow myself, my own impulses.