The Source of our Fears: An Exploration
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- Опубліковано 25 січ 2021
- 1:24 - The problem with a narrowly scientific approach
2:49 - The problem with trying to see what we don't want to see
4:19 - Our fear of non-existence
6:08 - Our fear of the unknown
9:00 - Our fear of change & letting go of attachment
10:32 - Our attachment to suffering & misery
12:17 - Our fear of the reality of life & death
15:10 - Soren Kierkegaard's concept of dread
18:48 - Humanity's appetite for destruction
20:43 - Our desire for what we fear: The darkness within ourselves
23:23 - The project of living past our fears
25:12 - Why there's no shame in cowardice
27:18 - My own journey...
Many thanks Eric for your highly competent thoughts and skilled "fear exploration analysis". I am glad I really did inspire you to deep further in this interesting topic. But I am still not really convinced that the "unknown" is more scary than "non existence". To me "the unknown" can at the same time be challenging and interesting and not always frightening. But I agree with you, "non existence" may in certain situation also be a relief (as for Shakespeare´s Hamlet), but the scary part is then how to cope with that ............ Well Eric, I guess you gave me/us some more valuable "fear aspects" to think on here. Anyhow, this challenge is an important part of the life game, and many thanks again for your videos.
Best regards,
Ralph Nisell, Stockholm, Sweden
And thank YOU, Ralph, for giving me the impetus to put my thoughts in order. I appreciate that. As for being convinced one way or another about the source of our fears... well, over time I've come to the realization that most of the time, simply exploring things is ambition enough. So, these days I rarely try to convince anyone of anything. For me, it's enough just to feel the horizon of possibilities opening a little wider. Anyhow, thanks once again... Gratitude. Eric D.
Sounds like a very good and wise strategy Eric.
One more question: What do you think of the “meaning of life challenge” regarding feelings and characteristics like fear, courage, pain, suffering and love? Is it possible, to your opinion, to put/categorize the answers in the same “meaning box” or should there be more than one answer boxes for these items? What is your suggestion?
And many thanks again Eric for your pedagogical excellence and dealing your (valuable) thoughts to me, us and others. It really helps, not only theoretically, also in real life.
Ralph Nisell
Senior rheumatologist, Pain physician
Stockholm, Sweden
dont know if anyone cares but if you are stoned like me during the covid times you can stream pretty much all of the new movies on InstaFlixxer. Have been streaming with my brother during the lockdown :)
@Diego Bruno yup, been watching on instaflixxer for since december myself :D
Watching this video is a way better than having a whole session of fear therapy. Thanks.
Eric, I can only express my gratitude for the pedagogical brilliance you offer us subscribers. Every time I watch a video I learn valuable wisdom - this process is aided by your passion and clarity as an educator. Thank YOU, Eric.
My university lectures never seem to grab my interest as much as yours do. Thanks for making my time in college more bearable!
Greetings Prof. Dodson
Glad to see you still with us and sharing your wisdom with the online community. After nearly losing my father to covid and reflecting on that experience, I just wanted to say that I appreciate you and the work that you are doing, thank you.
I have anxiety and depression for 20 years now. but I'm not a coward, and I'm not afraid of death. Anxiety is not fear. When I feel fear I feel alive, I have an energy; with anxiety it's the opposite. Fear is better than death, non-existence is better than anxiety.
As i see my grandmother decay and be on the road to death, i find myself confronted by a lot of complicated and socially difficult emotions. I see a lot of avoidance and fear within me and I know it has to do with my own morality and helplessness that i see in that person.
I'm glad i watched this video. I feel better. This was such an important reminder.
I guess the hard thing to say was this- that you know what---- "I am a coward. I am scared seeing this and I don't like this."
I don't find myself able to help in any significant way. And for the life of me i CANNOT sit with this person. Never THAT close anyway. I find myself horrified and disgusted- yes disgusted, witness the degeneration of this person. But i also feel empathy for her that i cannot explain. Instead i run away.
Well, don't worry too much about being a coward. The truth is that we're all afraid of one thing or another. And if there exists a person who's never afraid of anything... well, that's even worse, because fear is actually an adaptive reaction to danger. And it's just idiotic not to be afraid when things are dangerous. And okay, I get that it's hard for you to be present to your grandmother. That's perfectly understandable... because, as you've already sensed, the unraveling of her earthly existence tells us something very personal about our own predicament. It's just a matter of time before we too will have to turn toward the unfathomable. So, it's perfectly understandable that you'd have difficulty being present to her. Of course, the other side of the coin is that with practice, we *can* learn to face our fears... to feel them fully, and yet to take the next step forward anyhow. But I think that for most of us, that kind of progress happens slowly, mostly because it takes a fair amount of practice. In that regard, perhaps the final gift your grandmother is offer to you is... the chance to practice moving forward despite your fears, even if you do it imperfectly or fall backwards. And who knows, you might even just expand your soul along the way. But then again, if the time isn't right for that sort of thing, there's not much sense in trying to force it. Just a thought (or two). In any case, good luck with your journey. Gratitude. Eric D>
@@ericdodson2644 Thank you so much for the thoughtful reply.
"Take care of your Soul" Thank You
Great to see you again Dr. D.!!! Yet another timely and well presented analysis. I must say that as I get older (prefer to view this as gaining experience) , death is brought into more clear focus by the deaths of those around me...as I have had the privilege to know what death looks like and learn that there are many things that are far worse than being dead, my greatest fear is to not "die well"...I love the "spirit that releases the dove" photo...too good...hope you are having fun in retirement!!
Great to see you again, Professor. I noticed just yesterday that you hadn't uploaded anything in a while. A lot of my philosophical endeavors began with these lectures, so I just want to say thanks. ✌
Professor Dodson, thank you for your laser-like unflinching revelations of the human condition. Buddhism, Stoicism, Camus-ism, Nietzsche-ism...one of my first spiritual understandings was that "truth is one--the wise call it by many names." You generously present truth.
Professor Eric Dodson, you are the man! I've been watching your videos for years and have even cited your videos in some of my graduate studies. Just thought I'd finally thank you for your work. THANK YOU!
I would like to draw a distinction here, I think when we are encountered with danger, that danger awakens our intelligence, but I wouldn't regard that as fear. Fear is like you said our attachment to ourselves (to thought) that we cling onto in every moment and can in the worse case define our path through life. So that being said, is it possible to be completely free of fear? If thought creates fear, all we need to do is not think about it right? lol but of course nothing is more difficult in the world. and I think you're right as we get older we are more aware of our fears (conscious and unconscious). And I won't go into death here, it's too much. but If fear like I proposed earlier is thought, what we fear is the known not the unknown.
Thankyou for that Eric, always so articulate and engaging walk though the most hard to navigate and to comprehend topics.
its takes courage just to live
as Axl Rose also said 'Use your Illusion' use your illusions well folks! Peace from Ireland!!
I love the stuff you upload man
Explain this to me. How I can sit in my living room and when I see somebody walk on the edge of a high-rise building on TV, that fear engulf me?
Thanks for making the video.
I’ve been having really bad fear lately and I know what it is, it was when I went trick or treating last year at the age of 14 I’ve been having this fear because I’m afraid that I might be shamed for it one day and not have friends again because of it.
Brilliant
One of the toughest exam in india is "Upsc" and a upsc topper who had philosophy as optional subject suggested to watch "Eric dodson "
Love ur video sir !
Great to see you back. I checked back on to your channel several times in recent months to check for updates....was growing concerned to know you were good or if you’d perhaps retired from retirement. Anyway I look forward to more thought provoking content going forward. Hooray for Prof Dodson!
The greatest fear is the fear of death.
But death is nothing to us since we are here, death is not here;
And when death is here,
We are not here.
Was that life ?
I want to say to death.
Well then!
Basically, fear is another form of procrastination. (& well spent 28 minutes towards my death) :)
i love this guy 9:11
The trick I found to be more laid back even if I'm scared all the time is to live each day as though it was the last. It's not that simple in the beginning but it works pretty well after a month of reprogramming your Subconscious mind. I'm not coward, I wouldn't say that because I overcame rather unscathed lots of crappy situations. But I'm anxious in nature. I would say that the principle of life itself scares me in that sense that when I overthink of it I really find that It is a swindle because you are entrapped in a society you are obligated to navigate in even if like me you are anti-social. I am not afraid to die but of course to suffer before dying. I know or I'm persuaded that there's an after life and I follow Geneviève Delpech who is a French medium helping, like Alison Dubois did, the police to find missing people. It works and missing animals too. There's something out there unarguably. That's why I'm not afraid to die.
So yes living each day as though it was the last is very helpful, running errands for the day only is a good trick. I go to the grocery each morning and I only buy what I need for the day as if there were no tomorrow. It's the trick I bear in mind each morning to find my existence acceptable otherwise It would be the hell.
Greetings from France
"Because I could not stop for Death/ He kindly stop for me...." Emily Dickenson
Great to see you back Professor! Hmmm could this be adequately explained by the Lacanian “Real”. Or what Burke calls the “Sublime”?....By the way your Heidegger lectures were awesome! 👏🏻👌
Happy to see you again. I hope you keep consistent uploads as your content is really thorough and profound. If you could do more about responsibility, becoming doer and taking action like the lectures about sartre I would be grateful. Which resources or books you recommend about that topic?
Great as always! Though the timestamps are missing the most important one: 17:47 (or 17:57 )
Is it possible that there is no "ultimate or root fear" that we can reduce everybody too with respect to one's ultimate fear? Perhaps our root fear is itself a phenomenological experience in which each personal fear of death, if a fear does exist, is a conceptual byproduct of our unique personal construct system, the story we tell ourselves.
Perhaps some people really are only fearful of the sudden, suspected pain when they land at the bottom of a cliff, or is of lossing control as they begin to fall. Perhaps some people's ultimate fear is regret for what they did not pursue or a realization that they are actually fearing really living in the first place. Perhaps each persons fear is unique or more likely, categorical.
Conceptually, the "how" could be reduced to the original argument put forward, that the how is explained by an interpretation of a physiological experiences. In essence we experience fear because we have learnt to label physiological sensations generated from exposure to what we suddenly or gradually realize, as fear. The "why" might be tied to our learning that we should fear x,y,z because we have been socialised too to believe such and such.
I wonder for example, if a Spartan of old, would fear death at all, or happily embrace it if he had adhered to living life as a Spartan appropriately.
Final thought. Perhaps our core fear is lossing our identity or never finding it in the first place. Perhaps there are people who do not fear not having an identity because they found an acceptable one and that when they die they belive their identity will remain and thus they are lossing nothing.
:O
Finally....Some sense drawn from where it should be. Shakespeare's nuance doth do what your science dare not .
Ha ! Life !
I’m 47 seconds in, so I’m sorry if you address this later in the video but I wanted to write it down before I forget it. Isn’t it possible that even if the fear of heights, for instance, can be attributed to the fear of pain/death (or non-reproduction, even) from an evolutionary or natural perspective, that the fear itself is actually the fear of heights per se. Just as the pleasure of sexual stimulation remains the same with or without the use of contraception, that is to say removed from what the pleasure “boils down to”. Reduction to adaptation might be useful for explaining the origins of our psychology, but perhaps the experience itself can be removed from its origins. This has been a recurring brainworm of mine for a while.
Revival by King deals with this topic
"The dead know nothing at all."_ Ecclesiastes 9:5
That attraction to death is Freudian. The Thanatos is no different from Eros.
2 people 1too young and 1too old together ,does it makes them Equal??
Tony Robbins sold alotta tapes saying this very thing ;)
Do you have an interest in occult? If not, have you delved into it at some point in your life?