THE LAZARIS MATERIAL
	Lazaris Events  Schedules & Fliers	Lazaris Workshops  Register OnLine	Lazaris Downloads, CDs, DVDs, Tapes & Books	Lazaris Articles & Transcripts	The Jach & Lazaris Room (a private forum)

Transforming Fear from Enemy to Ally by Jach Pursel The Liberator by Gilbert Williams

As this year began, Lazaris spoke of seven underlying truths that were integral to our mastery and to the artistry of 1995. One phrase jumped out at me. "If you can consciously define your prison, you can plan and chart your escape." Fear is one prison that we all have in common; it is a prison we all know too well. In my experience, fear is both a feeling and a state of being. It is a feeling of being separated that often results in alienation and separation. It is a sense of being alone that imprisons us in loneliness. The feeling of being alone and lonely forever fosters helplessness and eventually hopelessness. To me, fear is anything that initially threatens us physically, emotionally, mentally, or etherically with separation or with aloneness and loneliness, and that threatens to leave us alienated, imprisoned, and helpless. Fear is more than a threat. Fear also jeopardizes our overall well-being. Our initial response to fear is somewhat instinctive; it is somewhat conditioned. Perhaps we try to eliminate fear by denying or discounting it. Maybe we try to obscure fear by defending against it or by distracting ourselves from it. There are times when we tell ourselves that if we are careful and if we plan well, we can just avoid fear altogether. At times we try to refuse fear with thick clouds of anxiety or with suffocating blankets called phobias. From time to time we have each rejected fear with counterphobic responses that fly in the face of fear hoping that our conquest will be our liberation. As we grow and change, we move beyond our initial responses, no matter how effective or ineffective they have been. We come to see that as threatening and as jeopardizing -- as frightening -- as fear may be, it can also serve as well. Fear can be a "good enemy." Fear is a survival instinct; it is an automatic response. This instinct is centered in the amygdala gland within the limbic brain. The limbic brain triggers the classic fight, flight, feed, and reproduce responses to that which is truly a threat -- to that which truly does put us in jeopardy. It is electromagnetic. It is chemical. Fear is biological, and it is natural. Fear is a great teacher; it is a great motivator. Often the first teacher we come across in infancy and throughout the evolving phases of life, fear is also an expedient teacher. There are some lessons in life best learned as fast as possible. Beyond teaching, our fears can motivate us to change and to grow. "If necessity is the mother of invention, then certainly fear is the father." (Lazaris) Fear is a constant companion around failure, continuously threatening and warning. It is also a constant companion of success looming at the boundaries and periphery, reminding us of where we have been and to where we are going. Fear is a universal wake-up call. It serves as messenger of our negative ego and it can be the messenger of our more real self. As well as a tool of our dark sides, fear (especially if we do not provide other tools) can be effectively used by our light side: By our Higher Self, by our Soul and Spirit, and by any number of unseen friends. In many ways, it functions like a smoke alarm. We may not like the sound or the interruption, but we recognize it is better to hear the smoke alarm than to be trapped in the fire. I have come to appreciate my fears. I have learned to see them and to work with them as "good enemies." Now I want more. Lazaris points out that "everything is different now," and I want fear to be and to work differently, too. We can redefine fear from enemy to good-enemy; we can transform fear from good-enemy to ally. I think that transformation begins with discovering our particular and unique pattern of fear. Regardless of the varied forms our fear takes, it has a specific pattern or function that is repetitively present and repeatably our own. Our pattern of fear is like our signature of fear. If we can discover that pattern, we can decipher it. Once deciphered, we can release the gifts and treasures locked inside fear. Liberating those gifts and treasures, we can set ourselves free. We can escape our current prison of fear. What are the patterns? 1. Abandonment and Betrayal. 2. Martyrdom and Punishment. 3. Perfection and Blame. 4. Defectiveness and Shame. 5. Entitlement and Suffering. 6. Dependency and Devastation. 7. Sabotage and Exclusion. Even though not every fear fits in any one category, most of our fears will cluster around one major theme. By listing past and current fears, we can soon discover where they cluster, and we can then determine our theme or our fear pattern. Another way to look at it is this: What is the consistent threat, and what is the repeated jeopardy of our seemingly random fears? Do we always come back to the threat and jeopardy of being abandoned or rejected? Instead are we continually sure we will be misunderstood, unappreciated (martyrdom), and punished? Are we convinced that we must be perfect or that others expect us to be perfect, and that we will end up being blamed for its lack? Do our fears, no matter their form, threaten to expose our defects and leave us buried in shame? Do our fears amplify our supposed entitlements and always add to our suffering? Are we convinced that fear -- any fear -- will lead to total devastation and therefore must be avoided at all cost? Have we concluded that our fears will sabotage us and our reality leaving us excluded from life, from love, and from those who could give us life and love? Once we discover our pattern of fear, we can use our metaphysics and our spirituality with their array of techniques to dismantle the pattern rather than always having to meet and face each fear individually. With the pattern of fear clearly defined, we can focus our attention on resolving the issues of that pattern. We can recognize and acknowledge that the intention of our fear is not to attack us, but is to teach us about the blockages or the encumbrances that are entangling us and standing in the way of our success. We can forgive ourselves and change by healing the underlying pattern of fear. In so doing, we reduce the sheer number of fears as well as mitigating their potential threat and jeopardy. We can use our fears not just to demonstrate our prowess of over-coming fear repeatedly: We can use our fears to direct us to the lessons we have chosen to learn in this lifetime. As allies, our fears can show us where we need more loving and more healing around issues such as abandonment and rejection, martyrdom and punishment, perfection and blame, etc. Then we can begin to unfold the gifts otherwise lost in fear: Living Imagination and Vibrant Visualization; Active Creativity and Innovative Invention; Trust and Intimacy; Intuition and Knowing; Will and Self-Determination; Dreaming and Dream Weaving; and Perseverance and Self-Preservation. We have used each of these to keep our fears alive and ever-threatening and ever-jeopardizing. We have used each of these to survive in a world where there are too many fears. Beyond the pattern of fear, we can use these traits -- these energies and forces -- to become the visionaries. We can use these qualities to heal the pattern and to love ourselves. We can use these gifts and treasures to free ourselves to create our reality and to manifest our creations more beautifully than before. These are the things I have been thinking about of late.