Fear as an evolutionary force

A friend asked me the other day what I had learned from having Fear as something of a nemesis in my life.  I said it had pushed me to keep learning and understanding and prevented me from finding a place to settle.

And then I read today, in a book I have just started, The Basic Code of the Universe, the science of the invisible, in physics, medicine and spirituality, by Massimo Citro, MD, the following:

‘ Knowing comes from the need to survive and from curiosity. Behind both lies fear. Each form is determined by function, the function of need and the necessity of fear, without which there would be no evolution. Knowledge is also a medicine for fear….’

And so, yes, fear is more than a physiological response to danger, it is an evolutionary driving force, present in greater form in some than in others. We are all called to different paths and to learn in different ways. Astrology demonstrates that quite clearly.

Understanding and meaning can assuage fear and both are acquired through knowledge and curiosity is no more than a yearning and search for knowledge, whatever the impetus may be.

We are born fearing the unknown to some degree. When we make  known we come to understand and we lose fear, or we gain a belief that we have a measure of control. We can only manage fear of the unknown by removing the uncertainty and making known that which we fear.

That is why if we are in the dark and fearful, when we turn on the light, in an instant we become less fearful because we can see, identify, know in ways the darkness would not allow.