Thursday 25 February 2010

4: Fear of living and dying

FIONA: WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO OVERCOME THE FEAR OF LIFE?

GUIDES: Live. How do you live? This is the best question you have asked us so far, Fiona. Do you know that many of you do not know how to live? What life is equated with, is an automatic functioning which feels like a death of the spirit. It is an alarm clock in the morning, a shower followed by something to eat, followed by a hard day at the office, followed by television, alcohol and then rest. This is life of a sort but living in its fullest extent is the enfoldment of self into the physical environment. This can happen through enjoyment but most importantly this can happen through connection to everything in life.

Zoë has just written about the importance of being conscious through your domestic life. This is what we mean by this. It means switching off autopilot. Hear your alarm; if you don’t like it choose another one. If you hate it, go to bed earlier so you can wake without one. It is about engaging with everything that is before you and assessing: Can I, in my entirety, exist with this? This is why we say, if you do not like your alarm call get another one. Why should you be woken by an alarming sound that instils fear and dread into you when you could be woken up with birdsong? But this is not something people think about.

Similarly, be aware of everything you choose to expose yourself to. You are a sensory being. You have your five senses. Yet many people expose themselves to sensory material that is fashionable rather than allows the spirit to unfold and enjoy itself in. There was once a movement, backed by us for obvious reasons that encouraged the enfoldment of spirit through love, beauty and truth. We think it is time for this again.

Give us some specifics, Fiona, and we’ll give you some suggestions. We feel our answer is very clear from our perspective but perhaps not for those who will find it difficult to live because they may never have done it.

FIONA: I WILL GIVE YOU SOME SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF THINGS WHICH PEOPLE WHO HAVE HAD A DIAGNOSIS OF CANCER MAY FIND DIFFICULT. IN WHICH PARTICULAR FEARS OF LIVING MAY BE TRIGGERED.

THE FIRST ONE IS A FEAR OF TRAVELLINGSOMEWHERE OR GOING ON HOLIDAY SOMEWHERE NEW. YOU DON’T KNOW THE ENVIRONMENT, OR WHETHER THERE IS ACCESS TO MEDICAL TREATMENT, OR WHAT THE FOOD IS LIKE, YOU DON’T KNOW THE ACCOMODATION OR WEATHER. YOU DON’T KNOW HOW YOUR BODY WILL RESPOND.

GUIDES: Let’s answer one by one.

You need to be aware that many people without cancer do not travel because of all of these fears. What does cancer mean to all of these fears? Nothing. What does it give to all of these fears? More fear. So, you need to ask yourself: what is important to me, living or being in fear? And you can choose that living to you means managing risks, such as healthcare. Management of risk will be different from one individual to another. One individual may think it is perfectly ok to go and explore their dream holiday in the jungles of Peru; this will be a way of for them to fulfil a lifelong dream. For another, managing risk will be going to a country such as Germany that is known for its cancer treatment. For another, it will mean going to the garden beside the hospital just in case anything happens.

Now, be mindful at all times, regardless of the fear: Where is my connection to life with this fear? The nature of fear is always to take the connection of life away. This is what fear does. It removes you from your immediate environment and creates another reality that, most often, does not exist. There is really only the onslaught of violence that requires the level of fear in the body that warrants an affirmation in life. That is what fear was originally designed to do: to take you away, to preserve your life, to make you run. If you wanted to go, then you could stand before that sabre tooth tiger. Nowadays, it is different.

Nowadays, the levels of perpetual fear in life create the equivalent of standing before the sabre tooth tiger and can create a situation that manifests illness or disease and that maybe a mass diagnosed as cancer.

Have we answered this? Let’s use you for this. Where would you like to go, Fiona? What would you like to do?

FIONA: I’D LIKE TO GO TO BRAZIL, THE CARRIBEAN, OR INDIA.

GUIDES: Which is the country that is best for you? Which is the country that is best for your cancer?

FIONA: I DON’T KNOW

GUIDES: We are glad you said that because we wouldn’t have liked an answer for your cancer for it would be a living reality all of its own rather than part of you.

If you have three countries you would like to explore, ask yourself , which, at this time, is the most life affirming. What do we mean by that? Which fills me with the most excitement? Excitement is a life affirming connection.

This can also be terrifying so, for example, if you have only travelled to your small town and suddenly you move to the big city this can be terrifying but if it is something you have always wanted to do then it is a good thing to experience. You can always go somewhere and decide to never do that again. You are not going to travel to a country and suddenly this country will manifest more cancer for you; only you can do that. So make decisions based on what will connect you more to yourself which is life and life which is also yourself, at any time.

FIONA: SOUNDS GOOD.