Fear: Not a Scourge

19 August 2011

When someone shares a fear,
  We seem quick to lay judgment on that person,
  'You shouldn't be fearful.'

And with haste, we set to dispel the fear,
  as if fear itself caused in us a deeper fear...
  But, a fear of what?

Is not fear a basic human emotion?
  In setting upon it as if it were a monster to be immediately dispensed,
  is it possible we miss the lessons and gifts it offers to us?

What if, instead of judging and exorcising the fear in ourselves or another,
  we summon the courage to ask what gifts it tendered?
  What if we honored it, sat with it, observed it?

Perhaps, fear is not a scourge, but a gift.
  What if, having learned the lesson offered through that gift,
  the fear wanes on its own, having accomplished the purpose of our soul?

And, we venture forth, more fully our selves,
  and gifted with compassion for ourselves and others
  when the gift of fear next visits...