Fear is the mind killer.

Fear gets a bum wrap.

Fear is one of natures most useful tools, infact fear and pain together have done more for the survival of humanity than almost any other combination of human emotion.

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 has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Litany against fear.
Frank Herbert. Dune.

I posted this quote as a comment just today in fact it's pretty much my go to whenever I see someone writing about fear.

First because I can never resist using a Dune quote after all my account name is Shai-Hulud and rock a tattoo of my other favorite Dune quote on my ribs, second because for me it provides so much insight and a suggestion of how to process fear.

I must not fear.

Given to context with the rest of the quote I read this not as a refusal to acknowledge fear but rather a refusal to be in a state of fear.

Fear is the mind killer.

Fight, flight, or freeze we all know just how dramatically true fear can shut down our higher functions. When that ancient lizard brain, the limbic system is fired up good luck with being rational.

Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.

Fear can surface in so many situation and so often we decide to avoid a course of action under duress of fear and submit to that little death the real danger is in becoming habituated to submission to fear and fall to total obliteration.

I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

In this case facing is the beginning of observation, of becoming aware.

Fear can feel like an ocean that you could drown in but the concept of giving permission to pass over and through you carries the idea of your power over it and suggests that perhaps immersing yourself can provide value.

And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Again we return to observation, the experience of fear carries no value if we can't see its path, if we can't see it's trigger.

So often when we get that terrible feeling in our stomach we believe that the fear has come because of what we are experiencing at that moment but truth is more often than not the root cause occurs before that, you might believe your scared of public speaking but in reality you're probably scared of rejection or of loss of standing in your community.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Could it be that fear can be cleansing, that in its passing over and through it can take with it the unnecessary.

Only I will remain.

Fear reveals to us those things we care about, often deeply care about and action in the face of fear tells us much about our own character and strength.

If we can acknowledge the validity and importance of fear could we develop a taste for it?

I don't mean that we should develop an unhealthy desire for its experience but rather could we learn to identify the taste of those different kinds of fear from the capital "F" kind that is connected to our core values, hopes, and dreams and the little "f" kind that can be discarded and ignored.