Fear is one of the six primary human emotions, the others being anger, guilt, shame, sadness, and joy. They are like the primary colors of a rainbow or spectrum from which all other colors originate. This palette of human emotions was always meant to be fully available to each of us, helping us to live creative and imaginative lives, based upon millions of years of gradual, painstaking, inter-generational evolution. Unfortunately, the last 4000 years have not been good for us or our wider earth community as patriarchy and materialism became the dominant socio-economic system, and fear and anger the dominant human emotions. The scourge of competition and its accompanying aggression has darkened a world where the illuminating light of collaboration and coexistence under matriarchy and spiritualism previously reigned. It is high time these two complementary and interdependent energy systems were understood and embraced within each of our lives. Our failure to do so will only prolong human suffering, environmental degradation, and the premature extinction of our species.
There is a classic moment in the movie, “Goodwill Hunting” starring Matt Damon (Will Hunting) and the late Robin Williams (Sean Maguire). Sean is a psychiatrist working with an angry and delinquent Will, and he keeps repeating, “It’s not your fault Will!” “It’s not your fault Will!” “It’s not your fault Will!”. Until eventually Will breaks down in tears and realizes the truth of this statement. Sean then says, “Will, it’s not your fault, but it is your responsibility!” And so, I say the same thing to you. and to the entire human race, “It’s not your fault, but it is your responsibility!” Rather than becoming passive victims, we can and should rise and continue our wonderful evolutionary journey towards healing and wholeness by learning how to balance our masculine and feminine energy, our doing with our being, minding our own business, nurturing our own natures, using the full palette of human emotions to collectively become the solution and not the problem on this beautiful planet we all call home.
Martha Beck in ‘The Way of Integrity’ describes how culture has dominated nature, and I imagine there was a time when nature dominated culture in the early origins of life itself. We are now at a point where due to the knowledge we have gained, culture and nature can finally coexist without fear of either side dominating. As a psychologist, I see a wave of change happening at a grass-roots level as individuals embark on their own personal journeys to live more meaningful and authentic lives. We are justifiably hungry and restless for more. Who wants to die without ever having truly lived?! But to revolt and attack each other is simply to contribute to fear, anger, and the ongoing arms race. The fact that we haven’t destroyed each other with our nuclear arsenals speaks to an instinctual wisdom that we are all part of a greater whole. If you would like to take responsibility for living your best life, please contact me, psychologist in Fourways.