The Power and Perils of Fear-Based Thinking

I write a Tuesday column for the Huffington Post. In my most recent column about “Why rational thinking is not all it’s cracked up to be?” a reader commented that my example of a paranoid client was not a good one as paranoia is not rational. I did not say that it was, but used it in the column as an example of how our brains can go wrong and we can still believe them. It struck me that paranoia is a not-so-distant relative of fear. In fact, it is often defined as excessive fear. But when is fear excessive? What are the implications of this?

There are many situations in which fear is protective. If you were walking in a dark alley in a dangerous area, you might become afraid. If you were about to encounter a dangerous animal, fear would be helpful. In these instances, fear is obviously helpful and informs us about something to avoid. However, there are also situations when fear is harmful. For example, fear of airplanes may limit a person’s ability to travel, and fear of public speaking may limit a person’s ability to express himself or herself. In these examples, the role of fear is obvious. But what about a time like we are in now-when fear based thinking is so rampant?

Fear-based thinking can affect us much in the way in which paranoia does. A colleague of mine once drew my attention to how fear and hope have so much in common. They are both expressions of a willingness to invest in an unknown future, except that we are often much more comfortable with fear than with hope. Why are we willing to invest in an unknown future with fear and not hope? If they are both unknown, why not choose hope?

Hope is an attitude of willingness to explore. In being hopeful, we are essentially tuning our perceptions to find what we are looking for. If we looking for a needle in a haystack, by tuning in to all things thin, long, sharp and silver, we would be more likely to find the needle. Similarly, by tuning into what we hope for, we have a greater chance of finding what we want.

If we look for things with the instruction of fear, we will also find what we are looking for. If we look for disappointment, we will find it. If we look for sadness and loss of things and love, we will find this too. The more I think about “possibility”, the more I realize that in the phenomenal world, everything and its opposite is there for the taking. Good and bad health, happiness and sadness, wealth and poverty: these all exist in the world. When we hope, we shine a light on the positive and find those things. When we fear, we shine a light on the negative and find those things. We often rationalize life based on what we have found. During the recession, all eyes are on all things falling: money, houses and jobs. They are in the spotlight. True, they are happening. And the spotlight is on them. But I write this in order to caution against confusing what is happening with what your journey is.

If you were looking for a needle in a haystack and you suddenly poked yourself while lifting up bundles of hay but still couldn’t find the haystack, what would you do? You would wash the wound, and put a band-aid on it. But would you return to looking for the needle. If you had hope of finding it, you would. If you had fear of being poked again, you would not.

Fear becomes counterproductive long before it becomes paranoia. And just as the paranoid person cannot see his or her paranoia, we cannot see our own fears very well either. But that does not matter. Finding fear is not the only way of handling it. Replacing it with hope is another option.

William James was a medical doctor and prominent philosopher and psychologist at Harvard. In his essay “The Will to Believe”, he eloquently describes the position that we find ourselves in, and a rationale to support hope: “…We stand on a mountain pass in the midst of whirling snow and blinding mist through which we get glimpses now and then of paths which may be deceptive. If we stand still we shall be frozen to death. If we take the wrong road we shall be dashed to pieces. We do not certainly know whether there is any right one. What must we do? ' Be strong and of a good courage.' Act for the best, hope for the best, and take what comes. . . . If death ends all, we cannot meet death better…”