Fear Not

Six Months of Faith 

A Lifetime of Freedom from Fear.
By Brian Zater

"Anything that is love cannot be fear, and anything that is fear cannot be love. If we can find our way to stay in a space of love, particularly for ourselves, then fear is an impossibility."
A Course in Miracles

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."
                                                                                                               The Apostle John, known as "The Apostle                                                                                                                    of Love." (Between AD 85 and 90)

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Preface

We can cultivate a culture of faith over fear.

To 'cultivate' means to foster the growth of by tilling or by labor and care. 'Culture' means the act of developing by education and training, and the customary beliefs of a social group.

'Customary beliefs' are the result of the past fostering and development of ideas through education and training by leaders and dominant social organizations in a geographically-connected society.

There's an interesting field of study called Memetics. Generally, it involves the study of memes. Not of the online comedic, but of the 'idea' sort.

Memetics study how ideas spread, likening it to how viruses spread. The only difference, unlike with a virus, we're unable to see a meme (an idea) beneath a microscope. And where viruses spread through the air, or through different avenues of animal-to-person or person-to-person contact, ideas spread from person to person through example.

Ideas are propagated through one generation inculcating the next, parents to children, the public to the public, the media to society.

Many ideas are born from sources of authority, like the Bible. Others come from more worldly authorities.

Ideas can only become beliefs when they grow legs. An idea by itself is like a table top with no legs. A leg is only added to support the idea when a person or a group of people directly experience an expression of the idea, thus providing a (past) reference for it. The leg is glued to the table with emotion. The stronger the emotional response the stronger the glue's hold will be.

For example, exposure to an idea; that is, seeing someone who flies into a violent rage when they learn that their significant other has been unfaithful, plants the idea 'If I'm cheated on, then I'm supposed to fly into a violent rage' into the minds of those who witness the rager.

Watching a marathon of the TV show "Cheaters" will expose a person to this idea over and over again, giving the idea legs, generating emotion, transmuting the idea into a belief, influencing many of the show's audience members to think 'That's how I'm supposed to react in that situation.'

Another way to understand Memetics is by considering the often-quoted statement, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." Whenever people visit a new place; especially, one with a different culture, most will stand back and observe how the people living there interact with one another and behave in different life situations, or react to events. The visitors take these queues (memes) and attempt to emulate them. This is done for many reasons: to not offend; to not stand out; to immerse into and better experience the culture. To fit in. To socialize. To be accepted.

Babies are sponges, starvingly soaking up every meme expressed by their parents (whether the parents want this to be true or not). Babies aren't born, though, with any egoic expressions of fear of anything or anyone in the world. They can be thought of as a state of pure faith, a recognition that Jesus, the founder of Christianity, made (at Matthew 18: 3-4) and represented. If a rattle snake, for example, makes its way into the crib, the baby, upon seeing it, won't be in the least bit frightened.

Fear of the egoic type is a meme. It's an idea that humanity has cultivated into its worst ever global pandemic. It's been allowed to grow countless legs in every culture on the planet.

But we till; that is, churn up the ground soil of beliefs by questioning them. By questioning the bulk of the fear-based memes that we've caught from a predominantly faith-lacking society--as seen by 97% of the population members who fight to stay within the confines of their comfort zones--we break up the root systems holding that soil in place within us. This in turn provides us with presence of mind to recognize when we're about to exemplify a negative meme, thus continuing its teaching into our micro-community of friends and family. Consequently, maybe even paradoxically, the ground becomes fertile opportunity into which we're able to deeply plant seeds of faith.

Faith is its own meme; an idea that can grow legs. By exposing ourselves to others' experiences in faith, we give faith legs (reference points) within ourselves. In this way we make it stronger and stronger with each new example encountered.

Where the world may have 'Cheaters,' heaven and its citizens--us--have the Bible. Its host is God. And he provides episode after episode of what happens when people shift from Fear to Faith (F2F); example after example of God telling people "Do not be afraid" and of the amazing, miraculous things He does for those who choose to listen.

Yes, we can cultivate a culture of faith over fear. We the church can become the Rome amid whom others see and hear our example to emulate, infecting themselves with the meme of faith, so that they can fit in too, and, like us, be accepted as adopted citizens (children) of heaven.

We are the cure. And the cure can create a wholly different sort of global pandemic--a pandemic of healing.

Over the course of the following posts, we're going to encounter six months worth of F2F seeds to plant into the churned-up soil of our past fears. These will grow within us, together, evolving us into the spiritual titans we were born to be. We'll be the mustard-seed mountain movers who'll move us as a society that much closer toward fulfilling God's will, in and through us, to make things "as above, so below"; "on earth as it is in heaven."

What is our collective purpose, expressed by each of us in our unique ways, if not to leave things here on earth better than we found them?