How can we deal with not just a particular fear, but our general fearfulness?

‘Fear is our response to pain in the future.’[1] ‘Fear arises when we believe we will not be strong enough to handle the pain we will be given. We don’t have faith in our ability to hold our own against the sufferings and the sorrows the world can bring.’ ‘We approach each day of our lives with tremendous anxiety’ [2]

‘In the Christian scriptures there is a story about Jesus and his disciples crossing the sea of Galilee in a small boat. Suddenly a great storm rose up, the winds tossed the boat to and fro, and the boat began to fill with water. The disciples were overcome with fear; yet Jesus remained asleep. The terrified disciples woke Jesus. Jesus said “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith”?’

‘In the middle of great danger, Jesus was at peace. The disciples could not rest until the danger had been extinguished, while Jesus’ sense of safety rested in a deep faith that all would be well – even in the midst of the storm.’[3]

‘What do we mean when we use the word faith? We may begin by noting that in most ancient scriptural texts, the word faith is not a noun but a verb. Faith is not something one person “has” and another “doesn’t’; faith is a way of being’.

‘It is a way of discovering a place inside us where we are in intimate conversation with what is deepest in our spirit, where we listen to the still small voice of our soul, where we are in a compassionate relationship with what is strong and (good) inside us’. [4]

‘Faith is not a fortress against danger, (but) a quiet place of deep trust. It is not a magic formula that prevents suffering; it is a place of strength where we feel most present in heart.’[5] ‘The Buddhist word for faith, sraddha, literally means “to put one’s heart on”. It is etymologically akin to the Latin cor, (or “heart”) from which we derive the word “courage”. The practice of faith is clearly the practice of a strong and cour-ageous heart.’ [6]

‘Genuine faith is born of the ability to trust in what is most fundamentally true within ourselves. Circumstances will change, and all manner of things pleasant and unpleasant will arise and fall away; sometimes our lives will be touched with joy, and at other times we will be given sorrow. Many times we will be afraid. Faith is not about trusting in a God who will rescue us from hurt, or who – if only we believe strongly enough – will make everything better. The object of faith is to find the spirit within, the divine strength that lives in the deepest part of ourselves, in which we can place our ultimate trust, (and) gently allow the fear and pain to simply move through us’.[7]

‘It is a place to which we go when all feels lost, when our strategies have finally fail-ed, and the world has become unmanageable. Then, in despair, we turn inside, in search of our deepest strength. It is a place that others rarely see. This place of inner fortitude has been our most trustworthy ally for much of our lives, yet it is a place to which we go with remarkable infrequency. Only when we are terribly fright-ened do we go deeply inward to that place.’ [8]

‘As we cultivate faith we become more able to accept whatever we are given. Re-gardless of whether we are given, pleasure or pain, we gradually come to feel confident we are resilient enough to endure the perils of being human.’

‘Throughout our lives, our jobs will change, our bodies will grow old, people will come and go. Nothing will stay. And yet in the midst of it all, we can still breathe, our hearts beat, we remain present and alive. The courageous heart feels it all, yet remains as-sured that within ourselves, all will be well.’[9]

‘True safety is not the absence of danger, but the presence of a sense of faith, born in the heart, and sustained by a spirit of serenity (through) trust.’ [10] ‘That, despite the hurts we are given, somehow, within ourselves, all will be well.’[11]