Our Irrational Fears
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- Опубліковано 15 лис 2021
- Originally released as a Spreaker podcast for for October, this is a lighthearted look into the fears and phobias which give us pause (or send us rushing out of the room). Evolutionary psychologist Dr. Hector Garcia joins us for the second half of the broadcast.
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I was a tech pastor at a church (now an atheist). I was once reprimanded by the head pastor because a couple complained about using "demonic music" in the church announcements video. That song was Viva La Vida by Cold Play. How seriously they took this was quite strange considering the pastors previewed and approved everything ahead of the service. This was one of the first times I considered what we believed was bullshit. If our beliefs are subject to human politics how could they be true? How could I, as a believer at that time, have unknowingly released a demon into our congregation? Thankfully this demon did not produce any noticeable effect on anyone. If this couple had not informed us of the demonic influence no one would have been the wiser. Good thing they were there to inform us. After I went thru my angry atheist phase my anger transformed into pity. Now that's all I feel for them. To unconsciously be shackled by your own mind is the definition of insanity.
I don't know... Cold Play does suck...
@@fumanpoo4725 true, maybe I did release a demon
"Tech pastor"?
I've lived too long...
@@WCM1945 you and me both, sister
I was stung in the white part of one of my eyes when I was 2 ... we were on a motor boat in the Florida Keys. The stinger was left in my eye. My dad had to use tweezers to pull it out. As a result, I have a subconscious fear of anything being pointed close towards my eyes and was deftly afraid of bees until the Summer of 2001 ... I was driving to Colorado Springs from Chicago with wife and three daughters in tow, traveling at 80 mph. Somehow a wasp was in the car and had settled on the dashboard right in front of me. I literally froze. I couldn't breath or move. My wife and the kids were all sleeping. A curve on the highway was ahead. I finally squawked loud enough for my wife to hear me. She woke up and asked what's up. She saw I was frozen, looked at the dash and saw the problem. She talked me down and we were able to safely pull over. Oh boy did I cry ... I put my entire family at risk over an irrational fear. I hated myself for weeks after that. I vowed to get over my fear of bees. I started a backyard garden which forced my hand on that one. I no longer fear bees
Thinking Atheist, Seth, you are wonderful 👍🥰❤!💯✌
Seth, u r MY FAVORITE!!! Ok, past the gush now... My husband & I watch/listen 2 EVERYTHING we we can find that u host. I find your voice soothing & lovely. So none of that had anything 2 do w/y I write u now; after we listen/watch one of your shows I tell my hubby that u r a gift from God! (hope that gives u a giggle) LOVE THE SHOW! Carry on, Seth! ❤️
Good news for Suzanna: you can now buy and drive electric cars, and you never need to go to the petrol station to fill them up!
Hopefully, she has no fear of electrocution...
Indeed! I absolutely enjoy that i never have to deal with gas filling or oil changes ever again!
@@clericstorm2009 And I hate that I do have to deal with it when I use rental cars on vacation!
I bought your book at the recent Faithless Forum. What a joy it has been to read. Not only do you share with us your deconversion story but you do it in an intimate and highly personal way. You are generous with your theistic family and friends and you grace your experience with eloquence and down to earth language that makes this reading so enjoyable. At first I was skeptical thinking that the experience of a bible belt American male was so different from my life experience that I might have trouble relating to something that seemed so alien to me. What a refreshing experience. Thank you.
‘THE OUTHOUSE’ The source of fear & nightmares for me when I was a small child. My great grandparents(R.I.P.) lived out in the sticks & had no indoor bathroom up until my mid teens. When I had to relieve myself I would skip the OH & go into the thickets to handle my business. In my nightmares I went inside the OH & the floor gave way & I fell into a deep pit onto a GINORMOUS pile of CRAP‼️ 💩 I’m screaming @the top of my lungs for help & nobody hears me. I have doo all over me & there are things w/glowing eyes crawling around everywhere‼️ I won’t even use a port-a-toilet present day. 😖
Grandparents house, and I would pee off the side of the porch rather then use the outhouse. Got in trouble for it but I didn't care.
15th Like! Listening now! Full support!
Here's your cookie 🍪
I must be half Vulcan because I have no irrational fears. Cautions aplenty, but nothing else. I simply look at things very logically, and base my actions on that process. I treat irrational fears in the same manner as supernatural and religious beliefs . . . unacceptable.
My fear is called Mazeophobia. Which is the fear of being lost in uncomfortable or unfamiliar places. I experience this every time I travel somewhere new or not quite familiar. Google Maps is a big help against this fear.
I can relate to the caller who had a fear of clowns that she acquired from Poltergeist, but mine was acquired from the original IT with Tim Curry. I was about seven when I first saw it and was absolutely terrified of pennywise or clowns in general for years. I would stay awake for hours staring at my open closet thinking IT was in there looking at me. Eventually I would get up and crawl into bed with my parents. I would also leave the bathroom door opened partway so if while taking a shower, pennywise came out of the drain I could make a quick escape.
I’ve been afraid of anything pointy to get near my eyes, because a childhood friend once told me her granny lost vision in one eye due to accidentally sticking a knitting needle in it. I’m an avid knitter, so my reading glasses are a blessing.
Talking about snagging: my mother would frequently cut her fingers preparing food. When she would brush my hair, individual hairs would snag on her cuts all the time.
Hah! Here's an off-topic fork: I used to service electronic organs for a living. I was called to investigate a report from a very angry pastor who complained about a local CBer (undoubtedly running a huge "kicker" nearby) who came in over the organ speakers right after the convocation: "Yeah, that's a big 10-4, there, good buddy!"
I never knew God was a CBer. I had to install several RF chokes in that system. But I also reported the CBer to the FCC.
A fear of spiders is fairly rational if you live somewhere like Australia.. 😂🕷️🕸️
To this day I still have irrational fears surrounding hellfire or anything that's similar to it. For example, if I'm playing a game that involves escaping from fire and it doesn't even have to be representing actual hell. Completely irrational and probably a result of my indoctrination. Psychology is a fascinating subject, I think that the similarities of our fears (as well as mythologies that often reflect these fears) irrespective of where you are in the world can teach us a lot about the mind and how our minds evolved.
My fear of Hell was cured in moments by a worse(to me) existential threat. I spent my formative years believing in both the afterlife and the pre-existance of my soul/spirit(Thanks, LDS!) and when I realized that I couldn't believe in God or the supernatural, I also realized that my existence was not eternal and Hell just didn't seem so bad anymore.
I live in fear of the horrible scream emanating from the area of my wife if she _thinks_ she sees a spider. Such a sound will shatter a tungsten anvil...
My biggest fear however is the dark.
I am 49 and I still can not sleep in the dark, I can not sleep in silence, I can not sleep in a house alone. I have to have someone even if it’s a pet. The dark is my worst nemesis.
Mhhh, interesting. I decided to respond, because I'm quite your opposite....... I love the night and darkness! I love silence and prefer to be alone. I'm almost 60 and in my younger years I was a sun-loving guy and I needed excitement and loud music to feel "complete". I guess, we all go through changes. Ha ha haaa. Nowadays, I enjoy quietness, moon lit nights and the ticking noise of my cookoo clocks. Most people can't understand how beautiful darkness is! 😆 Take care.👌👍
Very common: needles, spiders and snakes make me shiver.
I used to hide in my room 24/7. It felt like I was afraid of everything.
However, after my diagnosis with ASD I realized all my irrational fears were due to my extreme hypersensitivity. With my condition, all sounds are significantly louder, all smells significantly stronger, and all touch sensations far more sensitive. I cannot block *anything* out. So it turned out that what I was actually afraid of was the pain caused by the excessive noises, smells, and other sensations associated with the things I appeared to fear. This pain went unrecognized because those things are not supposed to be painful and are not painful to most people. For example I was afraid of (and still hate) combing my hair, dressing up, driving, being anywhere crowded, opening a garage door, doing laundry, running a vacuum cleaner, using smelly cleaning products, cooking, ect. However now I recognize that I'm not actually afraid of these things, nor am I lazy. I am simply afraid of the pain caused by my hypersensitivity. We have gotten rid of a lot of stuff and replaced things with quieter/less smelly/nicer feeling stuff. I now know how to brace myself and work my way through necessary chores with plenty of breaks. I am also receiving help and support. So I am a lot better off now than I was pre-diagnosis.
Anyway, a lot of the irrational fears described to you on the program appear to be sensory related: the balloon pops and cheap napkin rubs and so on.
Mostly it's people. My nightmares frequently involve people coming into my place, looking into my windows, etc.
I LOATHE thunderstorms. Funny that lightening, which is the really dangerous thing, only bothers me because it's the sign of thunder to come. I used to have a dog who hated thunderstorms, and we would cling together shivering whenever one happened.
My late mother-in-law would hide in the bathroom during thunderstorms. Imagine if a lightning bolt sets the house on fire, and you don’t find out until it’s too late, because you hid in a room where the only way out is through the burning house.
I love thunderstorms. If one wakes me up in the middle of the night, I’ll open the curtains to watch for a while before going back to sleep.
When I was little I was scared that if I jumped into a puddle I'd fall into the sky. To this day I can't look down at a puddle without getting freaked out.
Mine would probably have to be small, fast bugs or anything like that whizzing by or at my head. I'm pretty sure it stems from every year in P.E. class, something wound up flying into my head.
Maybe situational fears might've been worth mentioning, too. Like, show me a mouse on TV, online, or in its habitat as a pet and I'm fine. Show me one crawling around on the floor in the room and I'm suddenly squeamish.
People with contacts. I’m a nurse but contacts freak me out!!
Spiders make me feel like I’m having a heart attack
Heights I get really dizzy, sweat profusely, and tremble severely.
Having people behind me. No matter if I know them or not. People behind me.
Dying alone. Having no one there when I’m dying, feeling truly alone.
I caused my daughter a big fear over her bellybutton.
I use to tell her I’d push her button and make her arms and legs fall off. She wouldn’t let me tell it to my grandson. Took all the fun out of it for me. Took her until she was 8 to figure out I lied.
I'm really glad your daughter prevented you from scaring your grandson, as you pointlessly upset her before.... Frankly, the fear you caused her was cruel and nasty..... and I'm glad your daughter has more common sense and decency than you display.....
2:45 : Bellybuttons… I have this weird thing about not letting anything near my bellybutton. Probably on account of the seeing the first Matrix movie when I was a little too young for it. It’s the scene where Neo has the surveillance bot inserted (which is then removed in a later scene) from his bellybutton. Gross, unnerving, terrifying.
I have submechanophobia. Fear of man-made objects under water. Like the Jaws shark
NJ still has full service gas stations. It was a big adjustment having to pump my own gas when I first moved out of state.
I was an anaesthetics nurse, not at all squeamish, but I never saw a zadeks procedure (ingrowing toenail removal). I passed out 3 times trying. One of my anaesthetists was terrified of expanded polystyrene, couldn't even stand to be in the same room.
The whole "dragging the nozzle off the pump" thing is something I've only seen in US videos
Is it irrational to fear getting physically stronger? I don't wanna get "swole" because I feel that it's provocative. There's even a fear of success. I can relate to that one and others.
I would love to know where the irrational fear of spiders comes from.
I don't believe it is exclusivly the evolutionary fear of potentially dangerous animals, because the irrational fear of scorpions should be similarly prevalent in this case.
I think it also has to do with the *uncanny valley:*
A spider's bodyplan has a body, a head, legs, eyes and often "hairs", things which we associate with our bodies - but in any other regard its bodyplan is totally alien for us.
A scorpion, a close relative of spiders has at least a somewhat "common" body structure:
A head on a stretched body, ending in a tail, and distinct types of legs (as in front/rear or arm/leg) - so it is less unfamiliar as a spider.
I think this plays a role as too, maybe supported by the way spiders tend to move, which is pretty "alien" to us as well.
Most gas stations in Oregon are still full service. There are people that grew up there that still to this day have never pumped their own gas. haha
Dutch painter Co Westerik painted “Snijden aan gras”, a finger receiving a cut from a blade of grass. A very uncomfortable picture for those disliking paper cuts.
Used to work in surgery long ago and love to watch...everything but the initial incision...can't watch that ::shiver::
I have one for you. When I was about four years old, my dad told me not to go to the deep end of the pool or I'd get sucked down the drain. I had reoccurring horrific nightmares about it until I was 15 or 16. 🙄😁
Imagining what may be lurking under the dark water in which I’m swimming (I have a intense fascination and deep fear of aquatic life) and the thought of having my Achilles’ tendon cut (thanks House of Wax 🤨)
I have Telephonophobia, so there's no chance that i could ever call Seth. I also have an extreme phobia of relationships as part of CPTSD, makes for a wonderful life..........
I have astraphobia (fear of thunderstorms), and I swear, right when you said what it was our town's tornado siren went off. My heart rate seems to have doubled and I got that kinda ZING when adrenaline kicks in. Whew, glad it was just a test!
I also have a fear of driving off with the nozzle still in the tank, but I've never done it. My son works at a gas station and on occasion has to reattach the nozzle to the pump after it happens. It doesn't seem like a huge deal with modern pumps.
As a sheltered kid from a frugal religious family, I used to be afraid of using vending machines, bc I knew I'd make a fool of myself.
I had exactly the same experience with spiders. It was incredibly irrational because I actually love these animals and are interested in them, as in invertebrates in general - I kept mangrove crabs, dwarf shrimps, ant colonies and are generally sympathetic to nature. I could watch documentations about spiders for hours, and horrorfilms about spiders weren't a problem either, but the thought to have one close to me or on me freaked me out.
As somebody who is into vivaristics I visited an invertebrate show - and there I had a big tarantula on my hand as well.
Tarantulas move very carefully, it feels almost considerate. And my fascination about the animal and the experience overcame my irrational fear.
And it certainly helped that I went to the show with a girl.. 😅
Yes, my real name is Sol Rosenburg, and I'm afraid of my own shadow! Everywhere I go, there it is! Scary!
I can remember many years at my workplace one of our fleet drivers drove off with the pump nozzle still in the car. Caused allsorts of damage to the pump
I hate driving over bridges. Not like little ones over creeks around here. But like the ones over rivers or lakes. It's white knuckle territory thr whole way across.
When my fingernail grazes the wall and I shudder at the sound/feeling
My biggest fear is heights. Pretty run of the mill phobia.
The township where I worked for the past 27 years, there are no self serve gas stations, full serve is required by law and until recently were not allowed to be open 24 hours. It was a safety thing way back when and they just never changed it.
In my country self serve stations do not exist
40:00 Halloween Horror Nights is a blast. Top quality haunted houses done on the sound stages
Snakes, that is about it! I think it is pretty reasonable to keep this one.
Ironing clothes. Not exactly a phobia but wow I start recoiling at the thought of trying to iron a shirt or pair of pants. I think what freaks me is that I can't seem to actually make it work. Any time I've tried it the result is so unsatisfactory that I just want to walk away from the board and never wear that article again. A movie made me terrified of lycanthropy. The thought of my body changing into something else, something evil (not necessarily a canid form). Used to have horrible nightmares about it and, damn, I sure hope I haven't just retriggered that damn dream for tonight. ugh!
Again not quite a phobia but I've gotten over some revulsion of spiders by looking closely at real closeups of very tiny spiders. Trying to appreciate the beauty of them a creatures. Not ready to go hold a tarantula in a pet store yet though.
Eyes and mouth trauma, I just cannot deal with. I can watch surgery videos all day, no problem, but those two things, I'm out. Just can't do it
Creepiest body part for me is the big toe. Especially when they have been amputated and reattached as thumbs! 👍
Please look into Anarchist Philosophy, the works of Leo Tolstoy are a pretty could introduction for Christians.
Being alone
NATHAN I HAVE THE SAME FEAR
This is old now, but I still wanna add one: the thought of teeth on yarn makes me cringe. My mum used to knit a lot, and would bite a strand if she couldn't find her scissors.
The only thing that really gives me the hebegebees is centipedes. I don't know where it comes from because I have no problems with any insect except centipedes.
They are vicious creatures. I used to live in Hawaii and got bitten twice in my first month there, once on my face.
I can maybe understand some discomfort at the sight of a cloudy cream on one's hand... I won't go into detail here.
Needle Phobe here...I can't see a needle, no shots, not even on a video...I'm ok with giving blood, getting a shot, but if I see that needle, I'm gone.
Oh yeah. My husband the same. Just show him the needle. Even when we warned nurses, they would poo,poo the whole thing and then watch him melt to the floor.
Brian called in to an AXP show recently with the same Demon on a tape story. 🤣
Heights is a major issue for me.
Felt tip pens on cardboard makes my teeth and fingertips hurt
"Leaded or unleaded?"? Child, the phrase was "Regular or Ethyl?"
Soo young...
Should we engineer this out of the human brain?
I have a fear of fleas, and it's not in some rational "I don't want to itch" way. If I think there is a flea anywhere near me, that someone might have fleas in their house, or a pet has come into my house which might have fleas, I AM FREAKED OUT. I can't sleep. I can't wear the clothes I was in when near some other potential source of fleas. I'll say again: I can't sleep! What if a flea came with me and is in the bed? What's that sensation on my leg? A flea? No, it's nothing, a phantom sense--NO IT'S A FLEA!
It's rational that I would develop an irrational fear of fleas, because when I was a child, I spent the entire summer with my father sporting a hundred flea-bites at any one time. No one else had that many bites, none of the other kids or my parents--just me. It was relentless, and it didn't matter how many times they used a bug-bomb in the house; within days, I'd be bitten again.
Thankfully, I spent the other 9 months of the year living in the desert, and fleas couldn't live long in that dry air. Now, my cats are indoor-only cats. I can sleep at night ... unless a friend's pet has fleas and I visit them. If I find out about the fleas, I'm out of the house in a half-second and home to strip out of my clothes, shower, clothes go into a plastic bag and are isolated until there's no way a flea could be alive in there (washed, dried, left in a bag in the freezer, etc.).
There must be a name for wasp phobia. I must look this up now. I should know since I DEFINITELY have it lol.
Edit: Spheksophobia there ya go! In case anyone wanted to know lol. (OMG! Why does Google insist on showing me giant close up wasp pictures when I Google this!!!)
Now...how do you say it?
Hey Seth I thought you would like to know it takes zero conditioning to get a pack of hungry pigs to eat q human body if you where to dump a body in a pigpen the only thing you'll find by time the pigs have finished bis teeth
Hair-wash sinks at styling salons.
😅
Is there still no God?
If you have a fear of pumping gas, just move here to New Jersey. We aren't allowed to pump our own gas.
I heard that before somewhere and had forgotten it. Why aren't you allowed to pump your own gas?
@@c.merritt7884 It was supposedly a safety measure. The law was passed in the late 1940's and gas dispensing was somewhat more dangerous than it is today. Some say it was also done to keep stations from undercutting prices by offering self service.
Oregon has the same regulations. Not sure why. I only found this out when driving through the state and trying to pump my own and having the pump wrested from my hand by the attendant.
Cat poop. Everytime I see cat poop i throw up immediately. If I see something and I just assume it's cat poop I throw up on myself.😶... it goes without saying my husband handles the litter box😶... ( I threw up a little just writing this ) 🤢....strangely enough dog poop I'm okay with 🤔
Cat ____ is the worst smelling.
Toads and frogs. I literally get a heart attack if I see one.
It seems like you don’t know the definition of literally… 🤦♂️
@@MichaelSmith-mc8ji Why do you care how I react towards a fear? Seems to me you are the one that doesn't know the definition.
@@bclarke4389 I didn’t claim to “know it all” but language is important to me. Unless Ena Roos ACTUALLY (a synonym for literally) had a heart attack every time they saw a toad or frog then using the word literally was LITERALLY incorrect. That’s all. Not trying to start an internet fight, just concerned with the proper usage of words.
@@enaroos4608 Wow…
@@MichaelSmith-mc8ji who made you the UA-cam police when it comes to me using "literally" in a sentence? Have you ever been around me to know my symptoms due to my phobia or to even know the depth of my phobia?
I’m afraid of fundamentalist Christians.