I'll upvote anything without a link to some stupid youtube video.

Fear is the primary tool in the monetary system to keep us enslaved.

For example My main fear is losing my job, not being able to find alternative income, losing all my stuff, my house, and ultimately not providing for my family.

This is my ONLY motivation for Turing up to work and working hard. I am a slave

That fear causes my anxiety. The fear of not being able to provide for my family if I lost my job.

I'm so sorry.

Though, I'm very proud of you that your awareness is higher than most (most are in denial)

My goal is slowly tunneling towards self sustainability. So that one day myself and my family can survive and thrive without looking to some company or government to feed us.

Money is food. But water & air are free in my country.

I have fear that water and air may no longer be so free in our world in the years to come.

If you already pay for bottled water then it isn't free...

Lots of people with the same fear. The real question is what do people do about it? Personally I've worked to free myself from those chains. I've moved to a simple home and am now mortgage free. I've more plans to free myself from other though smaller chains of control like power and food. More work to do to be free. I hope others work to be free as well.

bravery isnt the absence of fear, its doing whats right in the face of it,

That's some valuable insight, but the only thing I add is that sometimes hiding from a source of fear can be a form of tactical retreat until you are better prepared to face it. Hiding from a source of fear can weaken its resolve, or cause it draw itself out and expose it's own weaknesses, or throw it off guard when it is expecting you to fight.

Sometime direct confrontation and fighting isn't necessarily the optimal choice. But as you have so astutely noted, one should always be aware of what they fear and to be prepared to confront it lest they find it is controlling them. Sometimes confronting fear means not attacking it head on, but addressing it asymmetrically or disarming it with a change of tactics.

Glad I could offer something of relevance to your thread.

Fear is the mind killer.

I think fear is definitely a big part of the puzzle piece. But, in my opinion, the type of fear caused by immediate physical danger (Say when someone says give me your wallet and iPhone or die) is not the same as not doing anything to confront the subconscious fear of governmental 'cryptocratic' rampant bullying.

Perhaps you are just using this as an easy example to relate to, but I don't think it's helpful or beneficial in any way to risk your life over monetary possessions. In your example, you happened to pick two things which may not be worth fighting for... and only appear to be worth fighting for due to societal programming (money and "shame")

Shame is caused solely by oneself. The world can be laughing at you thinking you are gay and you could feel no shame. The same with this boy who has his money stolen and the girl he likes potentially thinking he is queer (most likely wouldn't fall for the latter though)

So, should he have accepted a punch in the nose? Perhaps disfiguring him for months? Or even the small risk of permanent damage? Falling to the ground and bashing his head against the concrete?

I'm all for confronting and exposing the big "ignoble lies" that, in the short term, seem to give many illusory comfort (the government protects us and doesn't lie, and we supposedly have less to fear because of it ... but are unhelpful, harmful deceptions in the medium and long term. Of course (!) the cognitive dissonance of the general public is gigantic since the government, media and intelligence agencies also force-feed us fearful, mostly imaginary tales...

We need to pick our battles. Although I do think our society is injected with a fear of death and non/mortal injury, and we need to overcome that to be able to bring this world back to sanity, we can't stupidly allow ourselves to be harmed without a plan, and certainly without obtaining tangible benefit.

Fear certainly can be better understood by the collective society and that will allow them to make better choices. Some psychedelics would help many here....

Figured that was just a toy example.

And yea I (think) I can tell a lot by people I know/meet who are "afraid" of experimenting with psychedelics. The are afraid of their mind. Afraid of potential skeletons being found in their closet. Afraid of the unknown. This is exactly the territory we need to confront in order to enact any change and deviate from the status quo of society (akin to the "status quo" of everyday waking normal consciousness)

Read Culture of Fear by Barry Glassner.

Well said. If it comes down to it, and my life is threatened I will fight that fear. Don't get me wrong though because I do have fears about certain things, but I fight that fear because if no one else is going to fight it for me who is? It's a battle that I have to face, and whether I face it alone or not. I am not afraid to lose my life over something I believe is right. I hate being a coward. There's a quote from the game God Of War III that I played a long time ago, and this quote sticks out to me.

"Hope is what makes us strong. It is why we are here. It was what we fight with when all else is lost."

So yeah. When push comes to shove I will fight for my life and those around me if they chose to. I stand for what is right, and I always will.

Sounds like you're starting to see the Fnords.

More Fnords

Robert Anton Wilson

RAW is a genius. A true free thinker.

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it is gone past I turn the inner eye to see it's path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain.

When you laugh at fear, it gets scared and retreats.

It could be it thinks you're a crazy person.

If I were Boy 1, that fella Boy 2 would have a broken jaw. Then I would tell the girl in 3rd hour about how Boy 2 kissed my fist. Problem solved. Fear? Yeah, I'm not a pussy, fear isn't a problem for me.

Yes, but distorted reality might be your problem.

In the case of smaller, younger boys, there are cases where the smaller has close to zero, or zero chance of bringing harm to a boy much, much larger.

Think a quick big build ... versus wiry build and unable to perform any quick or powerful movements.

Kind of but in that case, I'm fairly confident some feather-weights can beat up a heavy weight if the skill disparity is great.

For boys, the weaker one is probably untrained physically and mentally to fight even a small dog.

Completely agree. My point was only about picking one's battles. If it's a losing one with little to gain by one's sacrifice, what's the point?

Let's take an extreme (non toy-example)

Those who light themselves on fire committing suicide in order to raise awareness about a cause do it because there is good chance there is something really wrong about society in which they want to make sure others know about. (At least this is how I imagine it.) In this case there is usually something or someone pushing around the society in which the self-immolator is part of. And that is his/her response. Really crazy, right? The symbolism attempting to be portrayed is something like "You are BURNING us. And although I feel and know it, others do not or do not take it seriously, but serious it is..." Here, "mirror neurons" and empathy are activated when someone sees someone else burning alive.

Anyway, the self-immolator may even be fearful of death (or not) but they've certainly overcome that fear. And I am proud there are humans which have destroyed their ego so greatly and are willing to sacrifice their life for a cause they feel so strongly about. When all of our natural instinct is telling one otherwise.

Reminds me of Homeboy Sandman's Illuminati song. I get chills just thinking about it.

They'll be afraid because they don't have any faith.
They'll claim that they believe but that is not how they behave
As money comes to power over power that's divine
they will all turn into cowards cause they're all afraid to die.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsNfgRrtzos

We need less cowards; individuals who are willing to destroy their ego or have their ego destroyed.

I'm a big guy, but I have been bested by much smaller guys before. Likewise, I have bested men much larger than I. Size has little to do with it once you conquer your fears.

Did the smaller guy go for your legs?

Actually, the smaller guy ran through my legs, and as I leaned over to grab him he jumped on my back and started choking me from behind. Very much what happened in the Princess Bride as a matter of fact. It was embarrassing, but lessons were learned.

Lol. Makes for a good story, though.

Yeah.... I don't dwell on it. It was slightly less embarrassing than the time some little guy pulled my shirt up over my head and punched me silly. When I tried to fight back I punched the wall and my watch band broke and my watch went flying across the room. Ah...the good old days...

Easy? Life's not easy, it's about survival. Don't live in fear, don't let "them" define "you". Live your life, we're all going to die someday no matter what we do.