Move Beyond Fear Into Spiritual Enlightenment

by Matthew M. DeSilva

If you’re living a life of anxiety, it’s time get beyond fear. In today’s world, it’s easy to become entrapped within the prevailing atmosphere of alarm and panic. All around you are the messages of gloom and doom, whether it’s regarding war, the economy, possible climate changes, the decline of education standards, etc.

The normal “human” reaction to all this is to internalize it as “personal”. Rather than focusing on your own life, you focus on the world’s problems as yours and wonder what you can do about them. Because an issue such as the declining economy is extremely large and complicated, you begin to feel overwhelmed.

This leads to fear. Your mind begins to run away from you. You start wondering about all the bad things that may happen to you financially. Will you lose your job? Will your debt rise further out of control? Will you be able to survive in the future? What will happen to your family?

In order to move beyond fear and the angst this way of thinking is causing, why not decide to look at the situation in a different manner?

Have you ever stopped to think that we live inside a fearful world because humankind has ignored its spiritual growth for too long? Human beings still operate out of a “fear” paradigm. Most people are still trying to gain meaning from the material world.

When you focus outside of yourself, you’re always going to find competition and friction. There’s always a new race to win, always a new possession that’s needed, always more to acquire. Since your happiness and inner peace is all wrapped up in a future event, fear is manifested. You begin to find fear in all the possibilities that may keep you from winning or possessing the next “thing”.

You can move beyond fear by focusing on yourself and your personal situation. First, start thinking about your spirituality in a new way. Don’t worry about religion so much as your inner being, that part of you deep within that is formless. If you invest time on your own spiritual journey, you’ll begin to discover authentic inner peace.

The world’s problems are a result of humanity’s refusal to look at the world from a spiritual point of view. Rather than seeing foreign people and nations as a threat, each person needs to begin simply seeing another spiritual being having a human experience. Rather than trying to win or overcome other people, it’s time to receive others with understanding and acceptance.

Until this happens with more people, humankind will continue to look for meaning by winning the next war, gaining the next territory, etc.

You, however, can begin this process whether those around you want to or not. You can begin to move beyond fear. If you take this challenge, you’ll be a direct part of the solution the world needs.

You can start this process by merely dedicating a few minutes each day to getting away from all distractions and allowing yourself to experience stillness. Silence all the incessant thoughts going around in your mind. You may want to read about meditation in order to discover simple exercises to help in your quest for inner meaning.

Over time, you’ll be able to separate yourself from all the issues in your life. You’ll be able to see that your true spiritual essence has nothing to do with your worldly experiences, whether those experiences are positive or negative. As you learn this detachment, you’ll understand how your happiness and inner peace come from within, not without.

With this understanding comes the movement beyond fear. Rather then being afraid of all the “what-ifs” that could happen someday, you feel an inner centeredness regarding the present moment in time.

You’re now ready to make a positive impact on the material world. Instead of trying to solve world hunger on a global scale, why don’t you reach out to someone in your own town? Instead of worrying about war, make sure you don’t create negative feelings of conflict with those in your personal life.

It’s when all people live life in this fashion that the world can be healed of humankind’s negative impact. The world needs all people to move beyond fear into the state of spiritual enlightenment. It begins with you.