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The Importance of Overcoming Fear Q: What
would you say is the most important mindset or direction that somebody could
have for the easiest, the most fluid avenue that somebody would take to be
able to both explore and understand and implement for all the Virtues? In
other words, if the idea of becoming a Brother by the year two-thousand is
foremost in most people’s minds or very soon thereafter, there must be some
kind of—There are no shortcuts to it, but the most fluid avenues that one
would take, like exercising unconditional love towards somebody, does that
allow more understanding of all the Virtues or is there another— RK: Well,
the Virtues is how you get to that kind of love, I think. Q: Or
is it the “chicken and egg” kind of
thing? RK: Well,
they kind of build on one another. Whenever anybody asks me, “What is the
most and what is the best or what is the simplest,” I have a hard time
because there are so many things that interweave. First, given that the
person accepts the idea that Brotherhood is possible and that they themselves
can become a Brother and are willing to work on it, I think nothing happens
unless they are in that position, mentally. The first thing to do is to
overcome fear. That is what takes so much time. That is what so difficult: to
overcome fear. Q: Any kind of fear? RK: All fears; any kinds of fears at all. Now
that usually requires—I would say a sense of love overcomes fear; the two
just cannot stand together and that is true. But, I think there has to be a
sense of competence—personal competence—to be able to deal with things which
otherwise people would become afraid of. It is the things that we feel we are
not able to handle or to cope with that gives rise to fears. If you are able
to deal with those situations, then you do not have fears about it. You may
have some kind of feeling that you have to prepare yourself and marshal your
efforts in a certain direction then that is what you do. It does not mean
that you have to be afraid. It may be a boor or tiresome but— Q: Competence in doing things, competence in
handling emotional situations? RK: Coping is a nice word. So, I think that is
the mindset, and if that sounds like an over-simplification then I invite you
to think about it more and more. I think it will come down to—I have thought
about that a lot. How do I pass along information to people about how to get
from here to there, and I think fear is the big thing. Q: That
is what is engendered in a patriarchal society? RK: Oh,
right. Q: We
live under fear of everything. RK: Yes.
If you are not afraid and guilty, you are a danger to the society; the way it
is operated. Q: Both
in a religious way and a political way? RK: Every
way you can think of. You have got to be taught to follow orders or otherwise
there is going to be something unpleasant come along as punishment. Once they
get that into your head, then you tend to be a properly functioning “cog in
the gear wheels.” Q: I think,
for me, when I set myself on a specific path, it was a life of
self-examination. At that point, everything that I needed to bring into
balance came to me without me needing look for the direction. It was there.
It was obvious where I needed to go. And I think everybody’s path is probably
different until they get more balanced. RK: But, you have to be willing to look at the “beast within” and
then change yourself, so that it is not there any longer, or, at least you
can overlay with a better way of doing things. That takes a lot of stamina;
emotional stamina. Yes, I admire people who embark on this path and stick to
it. Whoever it is doing it, they are dealing with a lot of stuff that most
people just are in denial about for their entire lives. |
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