Fear

        In the natural world the impulse of fear aids in survival. Fear narrows thinking causing it to become focused the immediate need to overcome or avoid a possible threat. As civilization has developed, so has fear. Beyond the fear attached to immediate survival, a multitude of fears have propagated to match the range of our interests and activities. The number of our fears has virtually become limitless, with our greatest fears being the unknown, the uncertain, and of losing what we have obtained for ourselves.  When fear becomes chronic and unrelenting, fear will no longer be concentrated on a particular object, but will become a constant condition. Vague and undefined, this state of fear will seem to exist without cause. Psychologically, the mind will struggle to find ways to justify its existence as something rational.  This type of vague and constant state of fear will often be found in the individual, or when dealing with millions of people, it will be found as a dominant characteristic of an entire society. 

       Fear is instinctual, an emotion which insists on action with little or no time allowed for thought. When fear is a constant state and when thought should help alleviate it, thought is distorted and twisted backward on itself, irrationally supporting and justifying the constancy of the fear.  In the case of an individual, it will be determined that the person suffers from paranoia, anxiety, or some other disorder which manifests this mental state; external help can be offered. In the case of society, when a mass of millions of people suffer together from this affliction, the situation will become dire as there is no family member to give help, no higher power to intervene and insist on positive treatment of the condition. The patient will continue on, becoming more distorted, making greater and greater errors of judgment, becoming more deluded as time progresses.  The delusions caused by such a societal fear will blind the society from the dangers it faces from its own actions. When voices are raised to offer an alternative approach, or suggest that things may not be as they seem, the instinct of fear will incentivize action to censor them.

       When fear becomes the general state of society, its course will become erratic and its ability to cope with crisis will diminish. The public policies in such a state of affairs will be limited and shortsighted, usually in response to a few particular areas which are the focus of the fear governing the public psyche. As the focus is limited, problems and developments which fall outside of the narrow area of interest will be ignored to develop into much larger problems; if a crisis emerges unexpectedly the society will be caught completely unprepared to deal with it.  The bad management in such a situation will lead to greater and greater difficulties for the society.  As the situation deteriorates, there may come to be multiple factions of the society each reacting to arising problems, and in conflict with each other.

       The solution to fear and the problems it gives to society is reason. To manage a system as complex as a society which is a part of an even larger global system, it is crucial to use logic and reason; it is imperative to base decisions on all available information, to consider every possible solution and every possible consequence to each solution. Time is essential in making good choices, fear demands a rapid response, but well thought out plans require time to be formulated and usually require time to be adequately executed.  For good and thoughtful management of complex situations in a democratic society, two things are required: Politicians that will not pander to the fears of the society to gain or maintain their positions, and for the millions of individuals that make up that society to ask their politicians for more than the immediate satisfaction of their fear.  It is the last point that is perhaps the most essential, it is the individual’s ability to overcome their own fear and choose reason that determines the state of the society.  The individual must be aware that sacrifice and patience is often required in making the right choices that will ultimately make a better society.  It is also important that the individual realizes the difference between what they want personally, and what should happen at the larger level of society; what may be good for them, may be very bad for the larger society. They must understand with reason, that to be a good citizen, sometimes they must discard their desires for the good of the larger society. 

       When personal fear is placed to the side, and only reason is used in judgment of situations, an altruistic and more humane approach is really the ultimate outcome.  Without fear guiding our choices, we see that when we each help our neighbor and consider others in our society, then our society becomes a place where each one is respected and cared for. A society of millions of people living and taking action in fear makes a society of fear that makes poor choices; a society of millions of people using reason and rational thinking to conquer their fears creates a more rational society capable of taking logical and timely decisions to overcome any crisis.