No Longer A Slave To Fear

Discover how our fears often dictate our lives and how we can break free from the chains of our own imagination. Tune in as we delve into the profound nature of existence being only love, embracing the gift of being human in a vast landscape of compassion and freedom. Understand the difference between the reality and our perception of it within the context of fear. Join Tiger in this enlightening exploration of fear, emotional disturbance, and our perception of self.

Transcript

I think that's an interesting choice of words.

A slave.

Meaning that our fear dictates our lives.

Dictates how much love we will allow ourselves to experience.

Dictates how much joy we are allowed to experience.

Dictates how much love we will share with the world.

Dictates how kind we will be.

It dictates what you do and what you don't do.

That sounds like a slave to fear.

That first we have to check in with the fear before we decide to be alive.

Is it okay to express myself?

Is it okay to paint this picture?

Is it okay to be honest?

To be sincere?

Is it okay to be myself?

All in some way asking,

Is there something to be afraid of?

That's to be a slave to fear.

No longer a slave to fear.

How might we want to approach this one?

First,

Can we in the most non-judgmental way,

With a huge dose of compassion,

Look at how much fear plays a role in our lives?

How much fear is behind every single emotional disturbance?

I find this interesting.

In order for me to be angry,

I have to be afraid.

In order for me to be irritated,

There has to be fear.

In order for me to be sad,

You'll find a bit of fear.

In order for me to be stressed out,

There's got to be some fear.

In order for me to be overcome with inadequacy,

There's a whole bunch of fear.

And then with this ingredient of fear,

It touches every aspect of our lives.

I think it's wise to recognize the connection between emotional disturbance and fear because so often we can feel how we feel.

And in our frustration,

We can proclaim that we're not afraid.

But yet if we get deeply sincere and intimate with our experience,

We'll find that we're only feeling as we do because we're afraid.

Which is beautiful because if we can recognize that there's a root to all of this disturbance,

We don't have to figure out the 10,

000 stories of being disturbed.

We could just understand the fear,

Which will always be the same fear expressed in 10,

000 different ways.

As the title says,

No longer a slave to fear.

I think that's an interesting choice of words.

A slave,

Meaning that our fear dictates our lives.

Our fear dictates how much love we will allow ourselves to experience.

Our fear dictates how much joy we are allowed to experience.

Our fear dictates how much love we will share with the world.

Dictates how kind we will be.

It dictates what you do and what you don't do.

That sounds like a slave to fear.

That first we have to check in with the fear before we decide to be alive.

Is it safe?

Is it okay to express myself?

Is it okay to paint this picture?

Is it okay to be honest?

To be sincere?

Is it okay to be myself?

All in some way asking,

Is there something to be afraid of?

That's to be a slave to fear.

Understandably.

Given the conditioning,

Given what we've been taught,

Given the fearful environment of humans that we have been born into,

That teaches us that there is something in life to be afraid of.

Furthermore,

10,

000 things in life to be afraid of.

And so naturally we just buy into the narrative.

However,

I'm going to propose something wild.

And that proposition is the truth,

Maybe more gently as the possibility,

But really the truth.

That there is nothing in reality,

In the life that is real,

To be afraid of.

To go one step deeper,

There is nothing in life,

In reality,

That you are afraid of.

This has always been the case.

This is the case now.

And this will forever be true.

Sounds like a bold statement.

However,

As far as I'm concerned,

It's a very simple statement that has been said a thousand different ways for thousands of years.

Inviting the human being to wake up and see reality.

To wake up and see that there is nothing to fear.

Which is really quite beautiful.

Because the more that this is seen deeply in the heart of what you are,

Then life in reality becomes your favorite resting place.

To such a degree that if fear ever shows itself,

You go home to life.

You come home to what's real.

You wake up from your dream.

Well,

Tiger,

If I'm not afraid of anything in reality,

Then what am I afraid of?

We are only afraid of the mind's content.

Which is to say,

We are only afraid of our imagination.

And again,

I understand how crazy that might sound.

Especially living a whole life of being afraid and being convinced that you're afraid of something that's actually happening.

That sounds absurd.

There's a question that I invite you to ask.

And this is a playful pointer.

If you are afraid of the darkness at nighttime,

Is it the nighttime you're afraid of?

Or is it the monsters you imagine in the dark?

So easy it is to say,

I'm scared of the nighttime.

But yet,

It is not the nighttime that scares you.

It's your imagination.

Furthermore,

It's your belief in imagination.

So easy it is to blame reality for your dream.

But yet,

The nighttime cannot make you imagine monsters.

It does not have that power over you.

Yet still,

We can blame the nighttime,

Proclaiming it does have that power.

Subsequently,

Giving up our power and wishing so badly that the nighttime not be what it is,

So that I don't imagine monsters.

And even so,

During the daytime,

I find myself still imagining monsters.

As you live your life and you experience anxiety,

Stress,

Agitation,

Emotional disturbance,

All birthed from fear,

Are you afraid of what appears to be happening?

Or are you afraid of the stories you're telling?

Are you afraid of what you think it means about you?

Are you afraid of life?

Or are you afraid of your imagination?

You can see here,

Potentially,

That it's not so much the imagining of monsters that's terrifying.

It's the confusion that mistakes imagination for reality.

The problem is not the imagination which tells stories.

The hindrance is a belief in those stories.

Meaning that there is the assumption that the story is real,

Is true.

Not recognizing that the story is a product of imagination and can never be true,

Can never be real.

What is there to be afraid of?

Is it as wild for you as it is for me to realize I have never been afraid of life?

I have never been afraid of anything that's actually happening.

Nor will I ever be afraid of something that's actually happening.

I will forever only be afraid of my own stories.

There's something interesting that arises in this discovery.

In the words that show themselves for me in this moment is a profound curiosity.

A curiosity for when I get scared.

A curiosity for when I become emotionally disturbed.

A curiosity at any time I'm stressed out or anxious.

A curiosity every time I feel like love needs to be withheld.

This curiosity asks,

Yeah but what's really happening?

Sure there's the story you're telling.

There's what you think.

There's what you imagine.

But what's actually happening in life?

What's real?

And this curiosity leads me into presence.

This curiosity guides me home.

Where in this investigation the monsters show themselves as imaginary.

And I recognize that as I am in this moment there's nothing real to be afraid of.

This allows for such a delightful melting into the miracle of life.

A great remembrance of what is actually true.

The depth of discovery that allows for the most peaceful night's sleep.

Naturally as I speak about these things it's not uncommon to assume that because I say XYZ I must mean ABC.

Let's be cautious there.

Because even though it's profoundly obvious to me that there is nothing to fear in reality,

In no way am I suggesting that one should not experience fear.

In no way am I suggesting that it's wrong or shouldn't be.

For that would only be a fear of fear.

This points so beautifully to the fundamental nature of life in existence.

Being a space of immense and abundant love.

A love so big it is not concerned about your fear.

Because love knows there's nothing to be afraid of.

So why would it fear your fear?

This love,

This landscape,

This fabric of existence extends a freedom to you.

A freedom to imagine whatever you want to imagine,

Even if that's imaginary monsters.

Knowing all the while the reality of what you are is untouched by your imagination.

All the while knowing without doubt that you're really okay.

This love isn't concerned with your imagination about yourself that thinks you're not okay.

This imagination about yourself that thinks you're not enough.

That thinks you're missing something.

All of which again is your imagination.

This space of love sees what you really are beyond all the story and sees clearly that you are perfectly whole and complete.

And so this love gently holds a space waiting for you to come home and see that there's nothing to be afraid of.

This is life holding space patiently waiting for love to be seen.

No rush.

That would be fear.

No hurry.

Infinite patience.

Infinite compassion.

Infinite everything lovely.

Once again extending to you a freedom to imagine whatever you want to imagine.

Not interfering.

Not demanding.

But a beautiful letting go of you.

This is love.

Love doesn't say I want you to be this and I want you to be that.

That would be fear.

Love doesn't need you to be this or need you to be that.

Love sees what you already are.

Love doesn't have a condition that says I'll love you if.

That's fear.

Believing that love could be lost.

That's impossible.

That can only be imagined.

Do you understand a little bit here why throughout the history of human beings there's been these crazy fools looking beyond the veil of illusion,

Discovering a profound nature of existence,

Being only love.

And then they're not able to shut up about it.

They keep running their mouth.

Look,

Look,

Look.

Wake up.

Wake up.

See what's real.

Open your eyes,

Man.

Come play.

We have this gift of being human that's temporary,

Held in an epic landscape of love,

Compassion,

And freedom.

Let's play.

I can't because I'm scared.

Scared of what,

Man?

My imagination.

I know.

Come back to reality.

Come home.

And yes,

I know in one way it sounds so simple and yet it seems like it's so difficult.

I get that.

I get that it seems so difficult,

Which is also a way of seeing it,

Which is also imagination.

Isn't that funny?

If you believe it's difficult,

Which is to imagine things about it,

It's like it becomes true.

It's interesting because it's not the thing that's difficult.

It's the way of relating to it that's difficult.

If something seems difficult,

I'm relating to this in a difficult way,

Which also means there's a much simpler way to relate to this.

And if it's difficult,

Then it's being related to from a place of fear,

Which makes sense why it's difficult.

And my goodness,

Again,

This is one of those things that we could spend seven days talking about.

Maybe that's a good taste.

Does that inspire a curiosity?

Does that inspire a potential devotion that says,

Holy shit,

Maybe I'm not seeing?

Well,

If we're afraid,

Then yes,

We're not seeing.

Which is so brilliant in the way spirituality in its most authentic context invites stillness.

Be still and know.

Be still for what?

Why?

So that you can see the imagination is the imagination.

So that you can see everything that you think is happening isn't really happening.

And know.

Know what?

Know that.

Know reality.

Discern the difference between imagination and reality.

Let's move on to the Q&R phase of this program.

Questions and reflections.

And then after that,

We will dive into a five-minute guided meditation.

Oh,

Benji,

Benji,

Benji.

I love your question,

Man.

Tiger,

There are genuinely dangerous things in life though.

Or are there not?

Is all pain imagination?

Well,

In everything I just said,

I didn't say anything about danger.

I didn't say anything about physical pain.

I was talking about fear.

Fear has nothing to do with danger.

Fear has nothing to do with physical pain.

Suffering has nothing to do with danger.

Suffering has nothing to do with physical pain.

But I love so much that you brought it up because it's an important part of the conversation.

For exactly that reason,

To bring clarity.

Danger is not fear.

In fact,

When you combine fear and danger,

You approach danger in a very stupid way.

Danger is to encounter circumstances that impose a playful threat to the reality of your human existence.

Intentionally,

I say playful threat,

Most notably because what you are doesn't really die.

So it's playful.

The belief in loss that you can actually die will trigger a fear response,

Which will discombobulate your ability to respond to danger practically,

Attentively,

Wisely.

Danger in its proper context will ignite a very natural and effortless response to handle the situation at hand.

Your biological system is set up that way.

Adrenaline will kick in.

You will experience an intensity of focus and do what you got to do.

Fear,

In a lot of cases,

Will run away from the danger.

Run away in such a way that it doesn't take into account the reality of the situation.

It will cloud your vision,

Making it difficult to handle the situation.

What about pain?

We don't suffer over pain.

We suffer our imagination about the pain.

The story wrapped around the pain,

Which is interesting to observe to such a degree that the more you reject the pain,

The more you judge the pain,

The more you fight the pain,

The more you resist the pain,

The louder the pain screams.

The more you don't want winter to be winter,

The uglier winter becomes.

To let pain be pain,

To let it serve as the alarm that it is,

To bring you back to presence and deal with what's happening.

There's a deep gratitude for pain.

It's there to serve wellness.

However,

From the standpoint of fear,

Fear sees pain as an interruption.

Fear sees pain as in the way.

Fear sees pain as undeserving of love and attention,

And so it imagines pain to be a monster and amplifies its existence.

Turning it into something is not.

Might be a good follow-up.

Nature says,

What about more or less chronic alarm feeling in the nervous system without story?

Old traumatic response.

How does this fit in with what you say?

Well,

Again,

Spoke to it a bit.

First,

We're invited to discern the difference between the reality of that alarm and the story you have about that alarm,

Which naturally invites you into a space of equality with that alarm.

It's like inviting an old friend in for a cup of tea that you've held resentment for for 20 years,

And you really don't want to meet that person.

You really don't want to talk to them,

But you recognize your own confusion.

You recognize that this is your issue and not your friend's issue,

And so you invite him in for some tea,

And you guys sit down,

And you just deeply listen.

What do you find in that deep listening?

There was an epic misunderstanding.

I was blaming you for something,

And in that blame,

In that resistance,

It amplified the pain,

And I made the pain bigger than it was so that I could hold on to my story of resentment.

So often,

Especially with issues of pain,

Human beings have become so out of touch with reality,

So out of alignment with the way of life,

That they are making themselves sick.

For example,

The fear that we hold on to,

The resentment,

The guilt,

The shame,

The judgment,

All of these are ways of perceiving that are so far removed from reality,

And in a way disconnects you through perception from the source of wellness that heals all things.

We're trying so desperately hard to do it on our own in service and survival of our own ego,

That in many ways we've told life,

I don't want your help.

There's a bit of arrogance in our humanness that thinks it knows what this life thing is about,

Which is about you getting to the future,

Which is about you holding on to what you want to hold on to,

Which is about you protecting an imaginary sense of self-importance,

Rather than in contrast to a beautiful humility,

A beautiful openness,

A beautiful reverence for the miracle of life.

And pain and suffering plays its part to wake us up,

To bring us home,

Because life knows that that's what we really want.

And so it has designed life in such a way that is a constant invitation to wake up.

The question is,

Are you listening?

Jennifer says,

After hearing this,

I realized how big of a web of fear I've woven in my life.

How can we set ourselves free?

Oh my goodness,

In one way,

You don't set yourself free.

You see that you already are free.

You see that you have been free.

You see that you will forever be free.

It's not something you do,

Which is interesting because we're always so quick to look for a solution through doing,

Which I find utterly fascinating in this work for over a decade,

And all the questions I've heard,

And how much they're looking for something to do,

Which implies the answers in the future,

Which implies the answers in your imagination,

Which keeps you in a mess.

It's not a doing,

It's a seeing.

So keep showing up to this program and just keep seeing.

Let it unravel.

All right,

Lovelies,

We're gonna jump into the guided meditation.

You ready for that?

My apologies to all the other questions,

But I've got a playful time limit here.

Let's do the meditation.

Let's connect with reality.

Meet me here,

In this moment.

Gently,

We can recognize the dream playing out in the mind.

Thinking and thinking and thinking.

Thinking and thinking.

Past and past and past.

Future,

Future,

Future.

Where is life?

Where is what's real?

Can you connect with what's real?

Can you connect with what's real?

Come home.

Allow your breath to carry you back to this moment.

Let every vibration in your body be a song of deep acceptance for what you are,

And allow yourself to drop into life.

In this moment,

There is nothing real to be afraid of.

To be afraid of.

In life,

There's nothing to fear.

So come home and open yourself to the abundance of love that's already here.

Let's take one big deep breath and let it be a celebration for the truth of life.

Breathe.

Reviews

Tiger, you are truly one of my favorite crazy fools

Very helpful. Thank you.

Truth!

Simply perfect! Thank you. Just what I needed and wanted to hear.