On Fear

by J. Krishnamurti

Is one of the causes of fear comparison? Comparing oneself with somebody else? Obviously it is. So, can you live a life comparing yourself with nobody? You understand what I am saying? When you compare yourself with another, ideologically, psychologically, or even physically, there is the striving to become that; and there is the fear that you may not.

So we are saying that comparison, conformity, and imitation, are contributory causes of fear.

So we are saying that comparison, conformity, and imitation, are contributory causes of fear.

This craving for position, for prestige, for power, to be recognized by society as being outstanding in some way, is a wish to dominate others, and this wish to dominate is a form of aggression. The saint who seeks a position in regard to his saintliness is as aggressive as the chicken pecking in the farmyard. And what is the cause of this aggressiveness? It is fear, isn’t it?

Living in such a corrupt, stupid society as we do, with the competitive education we receive, which engenders fear, we are all burdened with fears of some kind, and fear is a dreadful thing that warps, twists, and dulls our days.

Therefore, thought is responsible for fear. This is so, you can see it for yourself. When you are confronted with something immediately there is no fear. It is only when thought comes in that there is fear.

One of the functions of thought is to be occupied all the time with something. Most of us want to have our minds continually occupied so that we are prevented from seeing ourselves as we actually are. We are afraid to be empty. We are afraid to look at our fears.

When you see that you are a part of fear, not separate from it—that you are fear—then you cannot do anything about it; then fear comes totally to an end.

of fear now, acts instantly. But if memory tells me these are the effects,

‘Watch in order to escape’—

to try to get rid of fear means first censoring fear.

We are slaves to such words, and the mind that is a slave to words is never free of fear.

After all, the earth is not yours or mine; it is ours.

Fear corrupts, and to be free from fear one has to understand how the mind creates fear. There is no

There is no such thing as fear but what the mind creates.

such thing as fear but what the m...

Also, when there is comparison, of any kind, there is the breeding of fear—the comparison of what you are with what you think you should be.

To the speaker, this is very important; therefore, he feels very strongly, he speaks intensely; but he is not doing propaganda—there is nothing for you to join, nothing for you to believe; but observe and learn and be free of this fear.

that, it means you are no longer thinking in terms of the analyser who is going to analyse, going to judge and evaluate, and your mind is free of that particular burden called analysis; therefore, it is capable of looking directly.

HAVE YOU EVER held fear? Do you hold it, not move away from it; not try to suppress or transcend it, or do all

It is only a mind that is free from occupation of any kind that has tremendous energy. That may be one of the factors that may dissipate fear.

When this whole process of thought, time, and fear is seen, not as an idea, an intellectual formula, then there is total ending of fear, conscious or hidden. Self-understanding is the awakening and ending of fear.

So self-analysis or an analysis by another, however professional, may bring about some superficial changes, an adjustment in relationship and so on, but analysis will not bring about a radical transformation of consciousness. Analysis does not transform consciousness.

Meditation breaks down the frontiers of consciousness; it breaks down the mechanism of thought and the feeling that thought arouses. Meditation caught in a method, in a system of rewards and promises, cripples and tames energy. Meditation is the freeing of energy in abundance; and control, discipline, and suppression spoil the purity of that energy. Meditation is the flame burning intensely without leaving any ashes.