Fear Is The Mind-killer

Fear Is The Mind Killer

Frank Herbert wrote in Dune, Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death… Indeed, fear is the more dangerous virus infecting us.

Witness the fearfulness engulfing Americans:

• Fear of the virus.
• Fear of being called a racist.
• Fear of being canceled.
• Fear of not being woke.
• Fear even of saying the truth.

Fear works. The face of America has taken on a pallor. Before the specter of 2021 descended, we were proud to identify as The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

Now, after a year of cautious, quiet desperation precipitated by a shower of those fears, we have become The Silence of the Lambs.

Our Fearful Leader bangs his drum of fear incessantly, hammering a dent into our sense of free ill. Nine days before Christmas, the President told us, “I want to send a direct message to the American people. We are looking at a winter of severe illness and death for the unvaccinated — for themselves, their families and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm.Prepare for your winter of death, he advises.

Never in American history has a president openly told Americans to be afraid: death is coming for you. Quite the opposite is the norm. FDR, in his first inaugural address, said, We have nothing to fear, but fear itself. The threat then was the Great Depression. Now, we have this whole litany of newly invented irrational fears to overcome, and perhaps not the national stomach of that previous era, to face them down.

Fear Limits Your Creativity

Sometimes people experience severe fear which limits even their creative mind. They are afraid of exploring new ideas and thoughts.

It almost seems as if theyre stuck in the same thoughts and nothing will get them out of there.

Creativity is extremely important to see the big picture in life, boost your confidence, simplify your feelings and thoughts, and to help you solve problems easier.

Most importantly, creativity helps you to overcome uncertainty. Thats because creativity assists in creating new solutions and methods to your problems.

For example, creativity is a highly valuable character trait and skill for an engineering mindset. It helps to innovate new technologies and find solutions to the occurring problems.

I Have Heard It Said That When We Are Young Our Principles Are The Foundations Upon Which We Will Change The World But Too Often When We Get Old They Become The Caves That We Hide In

Yet fear is a useful tool for those in power. Sensationalizing matters into a crisis gets us to click on news and empowers them with our attention. Thus the media lies to us to get clicks. The government knows that if it can keep us afraid and in our homes, we are more easily controlled. In my lifetime I have watched every Communist government that has ever existed use this strategy to control and suppress its people. From the use of late-night police raids, demonstrations of force, and crushing dissenters tyrannies have acted thus since the beginning of time, and the only way to stop it is to confront it and do what is right rather than be fearful.

Bullies of all types, whether they are in government or the school yard fear someone standing up to them.

Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them they are liable to spring upon you but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight. Orison Swett Marden

As I said, most fears never come to fruition but tyrants also, as I have said, seem to be motivated by fear, and what they fear most is the people rising to resist. You saw this in Canada, the Netherlands, and China today, Czechoslovakia, and other communist countries in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. And we have seen it all the way back in ancient Greece.

and,

The best way out is always through. Robert Frost

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Fear Makes You Scared Being Judged By Others

Fear is the mind killer because you are perceiving criticism as a devastating occurrence. You believe everything you hear, you take everything very directly, which results in negative self-talk. You start devaluing yourself.

You must learn a new way to think before you can master a new way to be. ~ Marianne Williamson

Instead of taking criticism as an opportunity for self-growth, you take it as a fixed opinion that cant be changed. You take it like a physics fact which is never changing.

You root the criticism in your emotional brain and think based on emotions instead of your mind.

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Why Dunes Litany Against Fear Is Good Psychological Advice

The Bene Gesserit litany against fear from Dune is surprisingly good psychology.

Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP

Fear is the mind killer. This is the striking first line in the Bene Gesserit litany against fear. Dune fans have long been entranced by the litanys power, and many of them have even tried to use it. In fact, Stephen Colbert shared that he was influenced by the litany himself after reading the book when he was 19 years old. The book combed into my view of the world, he said in his interview with Dunes director.

Hes hardly alone, prominent author Michael Chabon recently tweeted:

Dunes litany against fear may come from a work of fiction published in 1965, but it happens to be shockingly solid psychological advice. Repeated many times in the book, the litany is at the core of the Bene Gesserit orders powers. It is also how Dunes main character is tested: Paul Atreides relationship with his own fear and his success in using the litany is how the Bene Gesserit define him as a human instead of an animal.

Fear Prevents You From Achieving Your Dreams

Have you ever thought to achieve financial stability so you can do whatever you want in life?

Have you ever thought what is it like to have a group of caring friends that you are always looking forward to meet with?

Fear is the mind killer because it sets your mind in a cage. You cant think further and look for solutions. The best way to cope with it is just by simply starting.

Creating a thorough plan of actions is the number one step to fulfill your dreams. All you need is to begin and trust the process.

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The Importance Of Fear Is The Mind Killer

The saying fear is the mind killer teaches us that fear limits our mind in experiencing something new and challenging. Fears are the number one reason holding us back to explore ourselves to the full potential.

Therefore, only dedicated people can overcome their fears to challenge their minds. Understanding how fears limit your potential can be eye opening and allow you to get out of your comfort zone.

Destructive Nature Of Fear

Fear is triggered when we perceive threat, and kicks start a survival mechanism that enacts the fight-flight-freeze response in our nervous system. It is thus mostly a self preservatory in nature. However, when this gets out of hand, it can negatively impact peoples lives and incapacitate them or limit them instead.

• It can slow or shut down systems in our body not needed for survival, like the digestive system.
• Increases heart rate, and blood flow to muscles, leading to lesser blood flow to the brain.
• The brain starts reacting to the amygdala instead of the forebrains rational processing systems.
• With the overactive amygdala, everything is perceived negatively, as well as remembered or encoded that way.
• Fear weakened our immune system functioning.
• It can cause cardiovascular or gastrointestinal problems, like irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers, reduced fertility, accelerated ageing etc.
• Chronic fear can cause damage to the hippocampus, which is responsible for the consolidation of long term memories in the human brain.
• It can cause a hindrance to our emotional processing, and impact our decision making negatively. Fear can lead to impulsive reactions.
• It can have mental health consequences like fatigue, PTSD or even clinical depression.

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I Must Not Fear Fear Is The Mind

Fear starts in the amygdala which rapidly signals danger to the rest of the body, initiating the fight or flight response. In humans, our higher cognitive brain can modulate that fear based on what weve learned. Thats why we can enjoy fear from an amusement park haunted house. But real fear or facing life-threat has a way of shutting down our higher cognitive brain as the fight-or-flight response takes over. The brain becomes flooded by fear the prefrontal cortex goes quiet and incapable of strategic or complex thinking.

That kind of fear can realistically be understood as a mind-killer because it shuts down our minds ability to think. Under fears influence, we actually default back to a more animal response than a human one.

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Acute Observation And Truthsay

Bene Gesserit are trained in “the minutiae of observation”, noticing details that the common person would miss in the people and environment around them. When combined with their analytical abilities, this “hyperawareness” makes the Bene Gesserit capable of divining secrets and arriving at conclusions that are invisible to everyone else. Slight differences in air currents or the design of a room might allow a Bene Gesserit to detect hidden portals and spyholes minute variations in a person’s vocal inflection and body language allow a Bene Gesserit to deeply understand a person’s emotional state, and manipulate it. Knowing that any schooling impresses a particular pattern in its students, they are able to use these clues to predict and anticipate actions. Despite efforts of concealment, the Bene Gesserit can easily determine a subject’s origins and root language by analyzing their speech patterns, cadence, and pacing, as Jessica does when she realizes that a visiting Spacing Guild banker is a Harkonnen agent.

Fear Becomes Part Of Your Mind

If you stay in fears for too long, fear will definitely be your mind killer.

The reason for that is very simple you start making decisions based on fears. You dont raise your hand, you resist learning new skills, you trap yourself in your tiny life.

If you cant predict something, you will be afraid of it. You will hesitate and wont do it.

While you know that it might be better decision to risk it and experience something new, your mind simply doesnt let you.

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Fear Doesnt Let You Explore

You must not fear otherwise you wont be able to explore the opportunities that life offers you. If you will always live by saying Fear is the mind killer, you will never discover life that you deserve.

If constructive thoughts are planted positive outcomes will be the result. Plant the seeds of failure and failure will follow. ~ Sidney Madwed

Besides, you cant run away from fear. If you try to run away from it, at least try to run to the direction of new opportunities.

Fear is a sure way to be unhappy and unfulfilled in life. Dont let that happen to you.

Dune: What Fear Is The Mind

byBibhu Prasad PandaSeptember 12, 2020, 2:31 pm

The Dune Trailer came out only yesterday. It was grand enough to blow all our minds away. The Atreides Family is coming back with a vengeance. Frank Herberts epic sci-fi/fantasy saga is getting yet another live-action adaptation. Directed by Dennis Villeneuve, the new Dune movie is slated for release in the near future. The trailer has broken many records, gaining millions of views in the span of a few hours. Dunes trailer has a scene where Timothée Chalamet, the actor who plays the lead hero Paul Atreides in the film, says the iconic line: Fear is the Mind-Killer. Anybody here knows what the statement actually means? Let us enlighten you if you are just as clueless as the rest of the folks.

The movie is based on the 1965 science fiction novel series written by Frank Herbert. The Book series has the same name as the movie. It tells us the tale of a young man named Paul, who is the son of a nobleman named Duke Leto Atreides. Leto is played by Oscar Isaac in the movie. Isaacs character is charged with taking command of the planet of Arrakis, the source of a mysterious substance named Spice. Spice is the substance that keeps empire running. Its various mystical properties help in unlocking deep space navigation and travel, extending human life-span, as well as grant a certain sect of human beings with supernatural powers.

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Reasons Fear Is The Mind Killer

Every situation has a silver lining discover a mindset that heals and enlightens.

What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds. ~ Wayne Dyer

Fears pull us away from our desires and groundbreaking achievements.

For that exact reason fear is the mind killer that limits us from our successes. A Sci-Fi masterpiece Dune has illustrated that very well.

However, this saying can be very well applied in our every day life and it basically reflects why people dont manage to achieve what they want.

If you think about it, its a very valuable statement that sparks curiosity about its purpose and importance.

Fear Provokes Negative Thinking

Fear is the mind killer because your mind gets stuck in a negative thinking loop. As a result, you cant focus on the positive end and encourage your mind to start taking actions.

To overcome your negative mindset you have to:

• Dont try to be perfect.
• Ask yourself if your fears are valid.
• Learn to say no.
• Dont compare yourself with others.
• Be grateful for every opportunity.

In a sense you could say that negative thinking is the mind killer. To be fair, you wouldnt be far from the truth negative thinking is also what makes people fear of changing themselves.

Fear Makes You Compare With Others

Another reason why fear is the mind killer is because you fall into a comparison trap. You start evaluating your life based on your peers achievements or skills.

This behavior is extremely toxic and certainly destroys your self-esteem. The comparison trap often comes from:

• Social media.
• Being aware that youre not perfect.
• Inability to accept failures and mistakes.
• Fixed mindset.

Basically, you fall into the idea that grass is greener on the other side. People face a lot of difficulties and they vary person to person. The key is to focus on your own development.

Content Of The Litany

The Litany is as follows:

“I must not fear.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

Frank Herbert Was Right: Fear Is The Mind

Monday, May 4, 2020

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

Frank Herbert, noted writer of science fiction, was being scientifically factual when he included this line in his novel Dune. Fear is, in fact, the mind-killer.

Dont get me wrong, fear serves a purpose. There are times when fear is justified, and its effects on our brains and bodies are needed to keep us alive. Weve all felt that jolt of adrenaline when something scares usour fight-or-flight reflex readying us to either do battle or dash awayand it has served an important evolutionary purpose.

But the increased speed and strength along with the heightened senses, like all things, come with trade-offs. Because the process of fear involves multiple portions of our brains doing complicated things like coordinating the release of various hormones and neurotransmitters and limiting the blood supply to non-essential processes , it cant do other things as well. According to the University of Minnesota,

Fear can interrupt processes in our brains that allow us to regulate emotions, read non-verbal cues and other information presented to us, reflect before acting, and act ethically. This impacts our thinking and decision-making in negative ways, leaving us susceptible to intense emotions and impulsive reactions. All of these effects can leave us unable to act appropriately.

That first quotation from Frank Herbert goes on: