Fear Is Not A Long-Term Strategy

By Eric Johnson, PhD

Fear has served as a biological tool and necessity for most of the existence of organic life. Fear in it of itself is neither inherently good or bad, rather it is a delicate biological condition that presents both benefits and challenges. The commonly used colloquial “Flee or Fight” to describe fear is surprisingly appropriate. Fear is the awareness of a living thing to potentially life-threatening factors in its immediate environment. In such cases living things are often faced with two choices; directly confront the danger (fight) or use whatever means that are available to avoid it (flee). Generally, the choice is often guided by which action is perceived to most likely result in survival. In humans there are distinct responses that indicate the presence of fear. Heart rate and blood pressure increase to get blood flow to the big muscles in preparation for the potential confrontation or chase, in addition glucose production spikes to provide potential energy to support either decision, in addition pupils dilate to give focus to the danger (almost a tunnel vision) and often times hearing is significantly reduced, so as to maintain focus. Moreover, the parts of the brain that usually deal with reason and rational decision making give primary attention to the identified threat. All these conditions have negative affects on the body in the long term. There is no attention to “long term” concerns meaning anything beyond the threat of the moment, the brain concentrates its amazing potential on surviving the evaluated warning. The Divine, in incredible wisdom provided us with a fear state to ensure that our survival is not solely left up to our potentially bad decisions. However, in no way was fear ever designed to be a long-term strategy to accomplish anything. Fear is helpful in a variety of ways but its potential challenges and consequences are many and significant. When collectives share a common fear; families, communities, nations, and even organizations, they can pool resources to respond to the common threat and there are many examples of those throughout history. The Black community’s response to lynching, the country’s response to WWI and II, many Jewish families’ response to the holocaust, and even the response to COVID-19 are examples of collective fears that required collective responses. However, the consequence of fear is that the response is most effective when the threat is clearly defined and attention is appropriately focused on survival. When fear states are heightened for too long the affects on the body are detrimental to the survival it claims to defend. When in a fear state for too long collectives have a tendency to turn on one another and threaten the lives they

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claim they are defending. Moreover, when fear states last too long the damage to the individual or collective have long term affects that tend to be both unintended and long lasting. When fear is wielded like a tool to manipulate action and arrest the imagination for arbitrary interests it often does produce the intended result but typically at great cost. Long term and often chronic damage is done to the target and the wielder becomes dependent on the tool in ways that forever alter the concept of integrity and truth. Fear has been used by many to control others; religious leaders, politicians, people who claim to have your best interest at heart and obviously people one would call enemy, in that way fear may be one of the oldest tricks in the book. The consequences remain the same no matter the source or the intent of the wielder. When fear is used as the driving force for any course of action it tends to do so at the expense of long-term interests but it is important to understand that wielders of fear tend to accept that cost. Whatever damage is done by the fear state is justified to the wielder by meeting their interests. As a consequence, it is always important to understand who is wielding fear and for what reason, the use of fear can be a good thing but never in the long run. Too often when people want to use fear to control either imagination or behavior it does so at the expense of the target’s long-term well-being in one form or another (spiritually, economically, physically or emotionally). The wielders of fear accept this as a cost of doing business understanding their own sense of integrity and truth is forever comprised by the effort as long as it produces the result they seek. It is important that politicians, spiritual leaders and other unknown parties not be assigned the brunt of the blame because the people who use fear most effectively are the people who know us best. The most effective wielder of fear to impact our imagination are the fears created in own minds. The irrational fears we assemble in our minds can serve as the most effective prison ever constructed. The use of fear tends be an ever-effective overseer of what we imagine to be possible. It is easier for wielders of fear to access the areas of our concerns when our minds provide the keys. We have to find ways to be driven by hope, possibility and perseverance of what we want out of this life and allow fear access to only those moments where it is required. Certainly, that quest is both complex and singular. No one of us can completely address the internal anxieties of another but each of us can invite all with whom we share our space to see the possibilities while also recognizing an individual’s concern. Fear is a natural part of what it means to be alive and it gives us the will and ability to defend the lives we have been blessed to live. A little fear gives us all the necessary caution to be our best selves but certainly too much encourages us to invest in the worst aspect of our own psyche. The ugly that can be produced by the human endeavor to resolve a fear can be a bottomless pit that feeds the worst of what this life could be. May fear never reign over hope, possibility and perseverance, and if it does let each of us go find what is required to replace our fear with the courage of faith in our own possibility. When we conquer our fear, we gain access our to own wisdom. Dr. Eric L. Johnson currently serves as the Chief Consultant with Strategies to Succeed and is on the faculty at Virginia International University. He is the former Chief of Research Publications for the United States Air Force Academy.