“When a man has learned within his heart what fear and trembling mean, he is safeguarded against any terror produced by outside influences. Let the thunder...

The 33 Strategies of War, Strategy 33, The Chain-Reaction Strategy

Quote Continued

…roll and spread terror a hundred miles around: he remains so composed and reverent in spirit that the sacrificial rite is not interrupted.”

Explanation

The fears we experience in life are arguably our most critical weaknesses.

When we are truly scared of something or someone, we lose all sense of reality.

Overwhelmed by emotions, we become erratic and make strange decisions, we shy away from pursuing our aspirations or fulfilling our duties, we become paralysed and retreat into ourselves.

Ironically, this process of allowing fears to infect our minds often attracts that which we are so scared of, bringing about the anxieties we have been seeking to avoid in a cruel twist of fate.

So terrified, so weak and unsettled, when these fears appear right in front of us, we are all the more vulnerable to them.

On the other hand, when we have confronted our fears and anxieties, we become impervious to them.