Fear is one of the worst enemies of man.  Just from where one learns to fear and be afraid of the unknown is hard to say.  It is true, to stay with the unknown produces a sense of dissatisfaction within the human mind.  Man wants to know.  Once the unknown turns into something known, the comfort from certainty brings peace to the mind.  Knowledge brings light to the mind just as the lighting of a candle tears away the dark.  Light and knowledge take the fear away.

The unfortunate experience with light that does not alleviate fear

The unfortunate experience with light is when, it brings to one’s knowledge not comfort but cause for anxiety.  This is the human experience at present.  Never has there been such an abundance of knowledge and the quest for it.  However, it is not the kind of light that can tear away the darkness.  The light of knowledge coming out from our world is a kind of spreading haze, a kind of dulling confusion of the senses.

A lot of the information today is news.  People are seeking an understanding of what is happening by staying informed about what politicians and military leaders are planning.  While military leaders are planning the next wars, politicians along with their business partners are creating the environment where the war machines can be let loose.

Should one look only to one specific country or a specific news event?  No.  There is plenty of bad news coming out from different parts of the world.  And yet in all this, there is some sense of fear-defeating-light that comes.  It does not come from those we are keen to call leaders.  On the contrary, it comes from the reflections of the most common and ordinary of people who have ordinary lives and simple concerns, a family, and some friends.  What does that tell us?

Many small lights

In our world today, there isn’t some grand light that can light all and everything up and remove all fear.  There are instead many small lights that burn from the hearts still unafraid to face the darkness and refuse to be overpowered by it.  So, perhaps, it is not so much a question of knowledge as it is of the willingness to have courage.

I imagine the great light to be such that it would vanquish the very cause of fear in the human heart.  Could a day such as that come when the children of God will be washed away of all fears, never to be afraid again?  It will happen.  Not because of what humans falsely consider enlightenment.  The enlightenment of the mind alone has never vanquished fears.  The spirit must be set afire.  Whether that fire is in the heart of a scientist or a philosopher or a beggar, a farmer or a humanitarian – regardless of beliefs and ideas – it is a thing of value, as is every child born with hopes.  It is from there that knowledge can draw and seek to guide…