I've seen it on all sides of the Covid-19 experience and the vaccination agenda. I've witnessed the fear-based, reactive emotional triggering in both the unvaccinated and vaccinated. The fear started out being against the COVID- 19 virus, but the fear and ‘upset’ accompanying it is even more contagious and spreading like a wildfire. In my view, the virus of fear and its mutant, fast spreading variants are a much more dangerous threat to humanity than the Covid-19 virus could ever be. The good news is that while we may not be able to control Covid-19, we are completely in control of whether we get infected by fear or spread fear. The fears, if we choose to work with them, also hold the keys to our ultimate freedom.

I’ve listened to fears…

• To people that are afraid of overloading the medical system and real-life stress from hospital ICU's, including PTSD from the trauma and deaths
• To people that have had vaccine injuries or have friends or family members injured or killed by the vaccine
• To people that feared they might die when they caught Covid
• To people in fear of the increasing loss of freedom with what they consider to be overreaching, authoritarian restrictions and lock-downs imposed by governments
• To wild and not so far-fetched conspiracy fears
• To people that are afraid to question authority or even consider listening to alternative views for fear of the truth of what they might discover
• To people who fear the consequences of the lock-downs, social distancing and masks on our physical, mental and economic health
• To people that are afraid of how all of this has affected the children
• To people that fear the loss of their dreams and the uncertainty about the future

And, this is just the tip of the iceberg of fear. Even before the pandemic, the state of fear was a pandemic, spreading out of control, violent and deadly.

 “ Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” - Yoda, Star Wars

Within all this fear around the pandemic, the fear that saddens me the most is that the fear has rapidly extended to people rather than the virus or the vaccine. Across the board, I am witnessing that people are becoming more afraid of other people. It is creating division. This fear and distrust of others has been with us throughout history, but it appears to me that there is more fuel being thrown on this fire of fear than ever before.

People (both vaccinated and unvaccinated) are shaming, blaming, judging, reporting, restricting, and shunning others with differing vaccine status. At times, it has been violent. These behaviors are fueled by fear and this behavior towards ‘others’ is nothing new. Social media is full of this. Families and tribes have been doing this to each other for generations. In the fire of fear, loving kindness, understanding, respecting, compassion and empathy are often the first casualties. Reasonable thinking and common sense vanish in the state of fear. Our reactive ‘dark sides’ take control and seed even more fear and ignorance. Fear begets fear.  

Unfortunately, this fear of the ‘others’ is also being fueled by our leaders and media. Governments, institutions, and main-stream media, as a reflection of our fear-based populations, are creating and perpetuating even more fear. Fear is good for business. Fear is a tool of control. In the state of fear, patterns of manipulation and power-over structures take root and thrive. To hold onto power and to ‘keep people safe from their fears’, political and institutional leaders throw fuel on the fire of fear when they double-down on control, surveillance, censorship and unhealthy rhetoric. The state of fear thus fuels the creation of States of Fear.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt

How do we shift the state of fear, extinguishing it and its consequences?

How others behave or what they believe is generally not within your control, and often it is none of your business. If, coming out of your own internal fears, you are set on fixing others or saving the world, as Yoda says, it will lead to anger, the anger to hate and the hate to suffering. It will eventually backfire or you will burn out. Fear begets fear.

Fear is an internal state. It does not exist “out there,” but rather in the hearts and minds of people that carry it and spread it. Yes, we can, and need to rethink, adjust or dismantle the societal systems and structures of fear, such as prisons, unjust laws, materialism, dysfunctional educational systems, and communication methods that were designed from a culture of fear. However, because fear has its source within each of us, the only sustainable way to shift the state of fear is to take personal responsibility for our own state and pour water on it. By dowsing our own fear, we also strengthen our fear immunity so we neither catch it nor spread it. The only water that I know of that can extinguish the fear fire is the water of forgiveness.

Gandhi said, “BE THE CHANGE you want to see in the world.” If you want to live in a world without fear and its consequences, you must BE without fear. If you want to contribute to a world that is empathetic, compassionate, understanding, loving, peaceful and kind, then you must do the inner work to BECOME this. The good news is that you ARE this. Underneath all the layers of fear we have each tried on, there is love. Forgiveness takes us back to this core of love. 

“Named must be your fear before banish it you can” - Yoda, Star Wars

How can you identify your fears, so they can be forgiven and transformed?

If you are emotionally triggered by what is going on in your world, whether is with the vaccinated or unvaccinated, the narcissists, elites, liars, cheaters, manipulators, racists, misogynists, incompetent assholes, or the irresponsible idiots, then this is the place to start looking. Within or behind each of these labels or projections is the name of your fear. These are the names of your shadows. Your emotional upsets are your golden keys to identify the underlying fears/shadows. Once you have the key, through a process of forgiveness, you can open the door to personal freedom and more effectively contribute to freedom for the world.

Emotional upsets, blaming, shaming and judgement are symptoms of unresolved wounds within yourself. Those wounds or traumas are the source of your fears. You can never find complete peace until those wounds are healed. You cannot fully BE compassion, love and kindness until you have compassion, love and kindness towards yourself. Until you do this inner work, the world will always upset you, or you will upset yourself.

Life will persistently reflect back your own fears, often in the person(s) or conditions you hate or can’t stand. Rather than letting your mind judge them as “bad,” consider re-framing the encounter into “Wow, here is a beautiful, loving soul that has come to help me identify my fears. Thank you for delivering this key to me!”

Life will persistently offer you the keys to your ultimate freedom and joy. When the message comes, you can either shoot the messenger, or you can thank them and accept the gift. You have a choice to do the inner work or remain in the state of fear. If you don’t make the choice of forgiveness, you have no one to blame but yourself.

We live in incredible, transformative times. Humanity as a whole is being offered the keys to the kingdom of love, peace and joy. The keys are contained within the great upsets of these times. These keys are hidden in the states of fear and the States of Fear. These global upsets are the messengers delivering the keys to a brighter future, but we must individually and collectively make a choice. Do we shoot the messengers or embrace the message? Do we awaken to the possibilities or remain asleep in our habitual states of fear? Do we project our fears onto the messenger or do we take responsibility to name our own fears, forgive them and from a new state of love enter the new kingdom? Do we take action from a state of fear or a state of love? What choice will you make? The quality of your life ultimately depends on these choices