F.E.A.R.

A Christian Science perspective.

Maybe the hardest thing in life is to live without fear. Because fear can hit us in all kinds of ways, at any time. Sometimes fear feels like a continuous white-noise hum just below the surface. But other times fear explodes like a sudden slammed door.

How do we find rescue from fear – and from the trouble that causes us to be afraid? Can we ever live with a continuous sense of serenity, confidence, and fear-free peace of mind?

The Bible assures: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isa. 41:10).

How wonderful if we could actually draw on the strength, help, and righteousness in that promise – and palpably feel the uplifting presence of God as fear drains away.

We can.

But we need to trust in God, divine Love. And we must have the confidence to pull back the curtain on fear to expose it for what it ultimately is: nothing. An illusion.

Fear has no part in divine Love’s universe and therefore no authentic part in ours. Fear is an intruder. An impostor – a mere temptation to believe in a reality other than omnipresent harmony.

Popular financial expert Dave Ramsey recently coached one of his radio listeners through a money crisis. As Mr. Ramsey listened to the caller’s tale of panic and woe, Ramsey explained that fear – F.E.A.R. – really stands for False Evidence Appearing Real.

That simple acronym teaches a profound lesson: We get a grip on fear by unmasking it and seeing it for what it is – an empty threat.

Still, those people facing a house foreclosure or other kinds of trouble may need more than a soothing acronym to face adversity. When someone in this situation says, “My impending financial ruin (or debilitating disease, pain, or homelessness) doesn’t simply appear real, it is real!” – on what basis can a rational person claim that fear is simply “false evidence appearing real”?

On the basis that Christian Science reveals: Divine Principle creates and governs reality. And everyone has a right to experience this divine reality now.

When we view life through the lens of Spirit, we see ourselves and others as we actually are: spiritual beings, the expression of divine Mind, and therefore subject only to Mind’s harmony and security.

And this viewpoint naturally brings about an adjustment in our circumstances, because human experience is ultimately an expression of our thinking. The fog of fear lifts, and a sense of peace floods into consciousness. You feel you can trust the 23rd Psalm’s promise that “goodness and mercy shall follow [you] all the days of [your] life.”

The key? Don’t be fooled. As Mary Baker Eddy explained: “If the eyes see no sun for a week, we still believe that there is solar light and heat. Science (in this instance named natural) raises the human thought above the cruder theories of the human mind, and casts out a fear” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 189).

All of which points to a second way to consider the nature of fear through the acronym F.E.A.R. Forgetting Everything About Reality.

Because forgetting everything about reality is the basis of fear. But remembering everything about reality is the basis of harmony.

Freedom and peace, as well as health and every other form of good, come from remembering that right now, at this moment, everyone is the radiant spiritual expression of Mind – the radiant spiritual expression of Life.

Mind and Life (along with Love, Spirit, Soul, Principle, and Truth) are synonyms for God, the very substance and fountainhead of our being. And in God’s realm, good never stops. When we remember this – when we remember everything about reality – we will surely see a turnaround.

We will experience the Bible’s assurance of strength, help, and righteousness.

Righteousness = right thinking.

Which means that right now, each of us can master fear through right thinking.

Each of us can Face Every Adversity Righteously.

From an editorial in the Christian Science Sentinel.

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