Fear
Is fear good?
I was discussing about fear with a friend, when he said that fear is a kind of intelligence. In a way, yes. It is fear which makes a deer run for its life when chased by a tiger. But, is the fear able to save the deer? Imagine if deer were not afraid of a tiger. It would stand peacefully eating grass, as a tiger would come and finish off one or two individuals in the herd. What fear does is, it makes all the deer run for life, but a tiger still manages to catch hold of what it needs. In other words, the fear only delays the inevitable. In either case, a deer is going to lose its life. It only seems that Nature is playing a cruel game in which the deer, being afraid, tries to escape, but is caught by the tiger nevertheless. Why should Nature give deer the fear, make it run, and ultimately kill which would have happened anyway? Whatever may be the reason, one thing is clear. Fear does not help the deer.
Apart from this 'intelligence' that fear is supposed to be, I do not see fear being a kind of intelligence in any other respect. I would like some of my readers to point out if they find fear to be good in any way.
I was discussing about fear with a friend, when he said that fear is a kind of intelligence. In a way, yes. It is fear which makes a deer run for its life when chased by a tiger. But, is the fear able to save the deer? Imagine if deer were not afraid of a tiger. It would stand peacefully eating grass, as a tiger would come and finish off one or two individuals in the herd. What fear does is, it makes all the deer run for life, but a tiger still manages to catch hold of what it needs. In other words, the fear only delays the inevitable. In either case, a deer is going to lose its life. It only seems that Nature is playing a cruel game in which the deer, being afraid, tries to escape, but is caught by the tiger nevertheless. Why should Nature give deer the fear, make it run, and ultimately kill which would have happened anyway? Whatever may be the reason, one thing is clear. Fear does not help the deer.
Apart from this 'intelligence' that fear is supposed to be, I do not see fear being a kind of intelligence in any other respect. I would like some of my readers to point out if they find fear to be good in any way.
7 Comments:
1) Fear of cupping a course can make me do anything not to do so...If I were to think that things shall take its own course and not do anything about it, that would lead to disastrous consequences.
2) Right amounts of fear is a great motivator..But there is a very fine line between being cautious on getting a thing done properly and fear of not getting it done properly.
3) Animals act on instincts..they do the thing that suits the situation, be it rational or not...Can't call it being cruel..Just that they are lesser evolved beings.
I don't consider fear being a form/kind of intelligence. Especially, when you've assumed that Intelligence to be something that aids you with survival strategies.
Fear is one among the emotions we have. An emotion is a reaction and action. It doesn't aid, it just warns when there's a raid!
You cannot generalize with a few handpicked examples that fear is unnecessary. One big advantage of fear is that fear channelises your energies into doing what you really want. Eg. If you are afraid of death, you ensure that things are the way you want to be after yor death like writing a will.
The point is to overcome it. And overcoming fear requires strength - of the mind and of the soul. Only humans have that.
Nope..I dont quite agree on the fear delaying the inevitable part...fear is a kind of a motivation to work harder, better and in the most efficient way one can. But yes, there is a very fine boundary between fear and underconfidence. The moment u swing on to the latter side, you are gone !! I think fear is one which is the basic key to survival.
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i quite agree with what karthik said above... will just say one thing, which says it all.
"There were fearless deers once upon a time"
10:59
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