Living from Fear or Living from Love

Some people live from a basis of fear and some from a basis of love.

Fear sees scarcity; love sees abundance.

Fear hoards and says "Don't take what's mine!" Love shares, even when there truly is scarcity.

Fear sees "Different" as "The Enemy." Love sees brothers and sisters who have beautiful differences.

Fear sees sinister conspiracies everywhere; love sees patterns and appearances of patterns resulting from people's acting in the aggregate according to human nature.

Fear resists change; love fosters growth.

Fear demonizes those who disagree; love looks for common ground.

Fear looks to be told what to do; love trusts its own heart.

Fear leads to rejection and dismissal; love leads to compassion and engagement.

Fear breeds hatred; love breeds brotherhood.

Fear kills; love nurtures.

Fear destroys; love creates.

Look around--which do you see as more common? Look within--which will you choose?

Do not misunderstand: I do not believe that there is any such thing as a "negative" emotion. There is nothing wrong with *feeling* afraid. Fear is good and is often useful. It is only the actions based on our feelings that can be positive or negative. A fear-based action to back away from a high cliff is a positive fear-based action. A fear-based action to hate someone for being different is a negative fear-based action. Fear is useful to protect us from actual danger. It is, I think, not useful as the basis for our outlook on the world or for our daily actions.