To fear something is to believe in it. If you do not believe in something, it cannot make you afraid. That is why religions suggest that we fear God, not because God is scary or that we should be afraid that God would hurt us, but because to fear something, you must believe in it. Fear is belief with uncertainty. It invokes an active physiological state in preparation for responding. In everyday life, we experience fear as a physical phenomenon in our bodies, referred to as the “fear response”, the “fight-or-flight response”, or the “stress-response”. Whatever the label for this experience, it is activated by our brain affecting our bodies for the purpose of some potential action, heightening our alertness and awareness. It is this greater consciousness of and indeed gratitude for being that we experience in our fear. It is ultimately belief in ourselves that provides us with fear. We believe that we exist. To fear God is to believe in God. To fear dying or danger is to believe in existing. That is the gift of fear.
