The Book of Fear E-Book

Christopher Reusch

• Herausgeber: tredition
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 289

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

We live in a time of fear. Fear can be imposed on us from without or drive us from within, like a herd of wildebeest. The question that must be asked, to understand fear in all its facets, is: "What is fear?" How does fear arise and how can one learn to deal with fear? Is there a way to recognise fears and work with them independently? These were the questions I began to ask myself one day. I gathered experiences and insights that brought me very close to the essence of fear. This book is a guide which has the intention to give you an understanding of fear. This book is a guide that aims to show you how to recognise and successfully transform your own fears. This book is the key to your fear! Why do we buy so much? Why are we not able to be alone? Why do we not dare to be honest and do what we actually want? What keeps us from being happy? In a world where you can have everything at the click of a mouse, no one has yet managed to market bliss. Bliss is something you have to work for. I think I have found a way to make this possible. I have found a way for you to be happy. The only thing you have to do is to look at your fears. In this book I have compiled many definitions and explanations of fear. This knowledge is based on my own experience and is clearly explained through many examples and insights. In addition, you will find many suggestions for practical implementation and valuable thought-provoking impulses. The aim of this book is to dissolve the mystery of fear and to enable you to be free of fear. Whether you succeed is entirely up to you. Good luck.

Leseprobe

Christopher Reusch

The Book of Fear

– A Guide to being Brave –

OR

– Why Fear is a Coward –

© Christopher Reusch, Lüdenscheid 2021.

Publisher & Printing:

Tredition GmbH, Halenreie 40-44 / 22359 Hamburg

This work is protected by copyright. Any use outside the copyright law without the consent of the publisher is punishable by law. This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, filming, processing and distribution.

ISBN: 978-3-347-42408-1 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-3-347-42409-8 (Hardcover)

ISBN: 978-3-347-42410-4 (e-Book)

It is our actions, that transform thoughts into reality.

Dedication

I dedicate this book to the children. The children of the past and the children of the future. My own childhood has shown me, what I want to change. The children of the future give me the strength to carry it out.

Our mission is to construct a new world full of wonder for the children. One alone is not able to achieve much. Through me, you and every other person, who reads this book and helps, we are getting a little closer to this dream. A world in which children grow up in love. A world, where we have learned to deal with our fears in a healthy way. A world, where no one is weird or marginalized. This project will break down boundaries and show a new direction.

Acknowledgement

To all those who made it possible to write this book. Each experience was an important step in completing this work. I would also like to thank every person who has the courage to question themselves and face their fears.

In addition, I would like to thank my family, as they have always encouraged me to believe in myself. Even though we are all so different, I would not have been able to complete this book without my family. My parents have always given me a place to come back to. They encouraged me and they gave me the space I needed. It wasn’t easy to move back into my own children’s room, but it was absolutely necessary. Thank you. My sister told me over and over again that I was good at writing. It took me a long time to believe her. Thank you. My brother and I are very different. But when we put our differences aside and just play Frisbee, all is Forgiven and Forgotten. Sometimes it takes a while for the seed to germinate and become a tree.

Thank you.

Disclaimer

Before you start exploring this book, there are, unfortunately, a few things that need to be said. Since, apparently, the general public cannot be trusted to act on their own responsibility, please let me tell you the following:

Everything written in this book is based on my own personal experience. It is my intention to present things from my life to humanity as a comedy. I must emphasise all the more clearly, that I am by no means a doctor or medical advisor. Therefore, it is important that you carefully weigh every word in this book and examine it with your common sense. Above all, please take responsibility for your own actions and double-check everything I write here. I do not give any guarantee for the correctness of my statements and refer you to an expertly trained orthodox doctor, psychiatrist or specialist of your choice, if you would like to relate to some of my very personal experiences. Furthermore, I also give you the right to simply read this book and see it as a well-intentioned novel. If you can accept it as a comedy, you would even be doing me a favour.

At this point, it should be noted that extensive passages in this work, were written under acute fatigue and thus, the credibility as well as the ’seriousness’ of these passages was severely affected. Nonetheless, this very fact seems to have made an essential contribution to the completion of this work. Here I would like to raise the question of whether a fact is capable of making an essential contribution. Since I do not mark or otherwise label what I have written according to the respective degree of fatigue or alertness, I suggest that you read and evaluate the entire work with a highly critical attitude. I personally cannot recommend anyone to take anything in this book seriously or to consider putting any of it into practice. I also believe, that it is safest to read this book exclusively in a cocoon of polystyrene and blankets to avoid possible accidents. Please make sure that you get enough oxygen. The note about the danger of suffocation with plastic bags, does not only apply to small children and babies. I also ask you to refrain from consuming or handling hot drinks when reading this book. Although the book should not burn without external influences, please remember that paper is a highly flammable material and can catch fire under the right circumstances.

In the hope that you find these notes helpful and instructive, I remain with kind regards and wish you much enjoyment with this book. May it, in a safe environment, exhilarate you.

Thank you.

About the author

Perhaps it seems a little unusual to write this section myself. However, since I have not previously informed myself about how exactly something like this works and I feel the need to briefly explain my background, I am writing my very own introduction about myself.

My name is Christopher Reusch and I was born on 6 February 1989 in Lüdenscheid, Germany. I don’t know why this is relevant, but I think that our roots are crucial for our progression. After I had been busy with my school career and the acquisition of the general university entrance qualification until 2009, I decided to study. So in September 2009, I began my studies to become an environmental engineer at the FH Bingen, in Bingen am Rhein. What impact this step would have on my life was not clear to me at the time. That’s exactly what I admire so much about life: You never know exactly where you will be in 10 years or what today’s decision will mean for the rest of your life. Moving on: At the end of my studies I got an internship at the National Park Administration of the Bavarian Forest and subsequently wrote my bachelor thesis on the topic ’Analysis of activity patterns of the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) and its prey’. Thus, I finished my first degree in 2014 and could have applied for a job as an environmental engineer from then on. However, things turned out quite differently…

The universe sometimes has its own way of playing. After living and working in Maastricht (Netherlands) for 1 year, the time had finally come. The next stage, which I had been working towards as a call centre agent for 1 year, was just around the corner. In June 2016, my journey to South Africa began. I had decided to do a Master’s degree at the University of the Freestate, in Bloemfontein (South Africa). However, the prerequisite for this degree programme was a Bachelor of Science Honours degree, which I finished in December 2016. So I first returned to Germany to apply for a new study visa and then made my way back to South Africa in May 2017. The Master’s programme specialised in behavioural research and I had chosen a project in the Limpopo Province, that dealt with vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus). My task was to take a closer look at the activity and diet of the primates and, after a year of data collection, to analyse and write down everything.

In February 2020, the time had come and I submitted my dissertation entitled ’Feeding ecology, habitat use and activity patterns of the vervet monkey, Chlorocebus pygerythrus’. After several weeks of nervous anticipation, I successfully completed this degree as well and was able to add the ’Master of Science majoring in Wildlife’ to my repertoire of titles.

I spent most of my writing time in my home country and got to know it in a new way. I was also a different person after 9 years of moving around the world and changing a lot. I felt that I was different. After all, I had lived for several months in a small nature reserve in the South African savannah. Surrounded by crocodiles, giraffes, snakes, scorpions, monkeys and various species of antelopes and birds, I made experiences that changed my life. Experiences that changed me before I even realised it.

The time during my studies helped me to get to know myself better and I went from being a dedicated atheist to a spiritual person. I became very involved with the teachings of spiritual masters and was initiated into Reiki Grade 1 in March 2020. But the journey did not stop there and so in October 2020 I decided to turn my life upside down once again. I made the decision to look at the question, of what I actually wanted, until I had an answer. I found this answer and it was not an easy path to get there.

I reached my limits several times and had to get to know myself anew several times. Finally, I knew that I wanted to write a book and so I wrote the first draft of a book called ’The Book of Fear’. There were three drafts in total, the last of which you are holding in your hand right now. It took me three attempts to discover myself and my nature and to put them into words to my own satisfaction. The second attempt already contained more than 130 pages, when I decided to revise everything again. I myself went through so many of my fears, because I knew it must be possible to write a book that does justice to me and my experiences. It was worth all the effort, because I knew I could not rest until I had finished this work. It was basically a struggle with myself and the desire to do, what my heart wants. I still think it is worth fighting for and to question everything. I thought I knew who I was: Christopher Reusch. Now I know for sure who I am: Christopher Reusch. Well, at least I have come much closer to knowing my purpose and my mission in life. I have learned to accept myself and to no longer be a slave to my fears. I have learned to observe and thus not to be a slave to my emotions. ’Observe rather than serve’ is a saying I have used in my podcast and it refers to your own emotions and fears.

If you want to know more about me, my podcast and other projects, then take a look at my website, where you can also find information on my YouTube Channel:

www.christopher-reusch.com.

In this sense, I leave you to yourself and to what may come.

Prologue

We live in a time of fear, which the current situation shows very clearly. Fears are imposed on us from outside, but we are powerless as long as we do not know how to deal with our fears in a healthy way. Fears are not there to teach us to be afraid, but to learn what it means to be brave. If you’ve made it past the title, you’re probably ready to work with your fears. I will show you how to do that in this book. Take as much time as you need, because each step will bring you closer to your goal.

What I write in this book is based on my own personal experiences and insights. I have dealt with the topic of fear very intensively and reflected on it. What you will not get in this book are references. Why? Quite simply, I don’t believe that citing sources really adds any more truth to the written word. There are now countless scientific articles, each carrying a message. The original intention of science was to generate new knowledge and to question, understand and admire the world around us. By now we think we know that we have understood the world and are only looking for confirmation of our world view. As a result, science has lost its original status and nowadays has more the use of an opinion amplifier. Any opinion on a subject has probably already been researched and weighed up. If I want the message in this book to be, that coffee is a good thing, I will use the appropriate sources. If my aim is to demonise coffee, I will therefore look for references that reinforce my opinion, in a negative sense. Therefore, I will not use references at all, as I believe that science nowadays creates the knowledge that benefits the current sponsor.

In addition, I would like to criticise the fact that German spelling uses an unnecessarily large number of commas, which makes it possible, to create endlessly long sentences, that give the reader the feeling, that he or she will never reach the end and probably also leads to comprehensionlessness. I am unsure whether the word ’comprehensionlessness’ actually exists. But since it was created according to the building-block principle, I assume that it is easy to understand and self-explanatory. Another feature of the German language that made words like Flohsamenschalenpulver (psyllium husk powder) possible. Hurray for common sense and the ability to bring seemingly unrelated things together and make sense of them.

Contents

Part One: The Foundation

1 - Introduction

a - The Story of the Old Man

b - What’s the point?

c - Instruction Manual

2 - Comprehension

a - What is fear?

b - What increases our fears?

The Medial Truth

Television

Diet

Beliefs

The Absence of Courage

3 - Methodology

a - Reflection

Projection

Polarisation

Summary: Part One

Part Two: The Pillars of Insight

4 - Introduction

a - The Book and the Bee

b - The Author’s Remark

5 - Before You Start

a - Farewell Comfort Zone

b - Energydrainers

porNOgraphy

Diet

Border control

I mean, you mean, he/she/it means

6 - The Art of Doing

a - Setting goals

b - Motivation

c - The Little Helpers

Don’t forget to breathe

Meditation

Sport

Summary: Part Two

Part Three: The Consciousness

7 - Why Freedom is a Decision

8 - The Art of Gliding

a - Dreams

9 - Transformation

a - Expectations

b - Letting go

c - Renewal

Experiencing fear

Closure

Part One:

The Foundation

1 - Introduction

Dear Reader,

at this point I would like to draw your attention to the fact that you are in the first part of this book. I cannot tell you what exactly awaits you here, because everyone who reads this book will read it in a different way.

Every person is an individual and therefore our sensations and the information we draw from a sentence are very different. Let’s say you stumble across the following sentence in this book: ‘You are a beautiful person’. I can already imagine different scenarios. On the one hand, you might be offended by the personal form of address and think that I should rather address you as ‘Sir’. You could also immediately deny it and think that I could hardly be referring to you, because I (the author) could not possibly know what you look like. You might also think that I (again, the author) am right and that you are indeed a very beautiful person. Similarly, if I were to talk about cancer, cannabis, alcohol, clouds, Dalmatians or rainbows in this book. Everyone associates experiences, memories and emotions with words.

This is called an association, i.e. a chain of links. A so-called ‘chain of associations’ links different terms or sensations together. I hear the word ‘blue’ and the following happens in me: blue, water, sea, fish, dolphin. If I say ‘cancer’, my chain of associations might go in the direction of biology, while someone else’s might go in the direction of illness and death. So maybe 9 out of 10 readers would have no problem with me talking about cancerous tumours in an example. The 10th might burst into tears or be furious that I allow myself to talk about such a sensitive subject.

In fact, it is exactly this kind of reaction that you can work with. In the first part of the book, I’m going to take you through the methodology you can use to face your emotions. What I tell you here about fears, you can just as easily apply to anger, greed or your opinion of sport.

However, since this book is about fear, I will mainly focus on relevant examples to this topic. Now, before you delve further into the wonderful world of fears and what I want to tell you about them, may I take this moment to thank you. I thank you very sincerely for having the courage to dedicate yourself to yourself and your innermost being. I thank you for wanting to recognise what is holding you back. Nothing is more difficult than admitting to yourself, that you are afraid and that you want to do something about it. Thank you friend, for your honesty with yourself and your willingness to make a change.

a - The Story of the Old Man

Once upon a time there was a man. An old man. Not as you imagine an old man, frail and rickety. The man in question was not a victim of the local orthodox medicine and therefore, wasn’t ‘treated’ most of his life with unnecessary drugs, which have more side effects than benefits. NO! The man in question was a so-called ‘savage’. Or, as he would probably call himself, a human being. Most of his life, this man, who was a human being, lived where he was born. In the jungle. At this point it is worth mentioning, or suggesting in a well-intentioned manner, that it is not at all relevant to the course of the story where exactly this was. In fact, as I write these lines, I ask myself how much nonsense a book can really put up with, without losing its seriousness.

Where were we? Or rather, where was I? Ah yes. The old man in the jungle:

The old man in the jungle had already seen a lot in his long life. What exactly would probably go beyond the scope of this book, not to mention the patience of the reader. Patience is actually something to linger on for a moment and to raise the question, how far you might stretch the patience of the reader in any creative work? I am drifting off again.

Relatively near the end of his life, one of the younger jungle dwellers asked him a question: ‘You? Old man? Can you explain to me what fear actually is and how I can stop being afraid of fear?’ This was exactly the question the boy asked the old man in the jungle.

The old man thought for a moment and then he began to speak. ‘That is a question I cannot answer in a few sentences. I’ll have to elaborate a bit, so make yourself comfortable, young one.’

‘You are very lucky, because I have been thinking about this very question for many years. Why are we afraid of fear? In fact, I only found the answer after years of observing the milksops. It seemed to me that every time I led a group into the jungle, the participants were very nervous. I made it my business to observe this more closely and to pay attention to exactly what kind of questions they were asking or what was making them so incredibly nervous. In fact, the jungle itself, is quite a good example, which I will bring in due course.’

‘First of all, though, I want to stay with the milksops, because they helped me understand fear better. Through the white man, I have learned to see fear from a completely different perspective. I am very grateful for that. Fear itself, I have come to realise, is that which is hidden. When we don’t see something or feel that something is there that escapes our view, we are often afraid. However, there are other things to which fear can attach itself. For example, it is our experiences that can be a breeding ground for our fears. Before I confuse you with my explanations and you can no longer follow me, let’s stay with the unknown for now. When we are in a situation where something unknown confronts us, we are nervous. This shows itself internally, through a spreading restlessness, or externally, through trembling or similar symptoms. Whenever I led a group into the jungle, there were some who were very calm and mastered every situation with flying colours. Others, on the other hand, were very upset and would jump out of their skin and flinch at the slightest noise. They were extremely tense and expected to be attacked by a jaguar at any moment. “Why is this so?”, I asked myself? My understanding is that it has to do with our childhood on the one hand, and our soul on the other.’

‘Some people come into the world and are very calm, while others are constantly crying. Then there are those who sleep all day long. There are also those who can’t see enough of the world and want to touch and examine everything. That’s the way it is and parents who have already become parents several times can certainly confirm this. No child is like another. All are different, all are individual. This is important in order to understand that there are different perceptions for each person and that you cannot lump all people together. Nevertheless, I believe that our childhood has the strongest influence on our development and on how we deal with fear. At this point I would like to talk about experiences. Experiences cannot be conveyed through words, because you have to experience them. However, you can lay a kind of foundation for a positive experience or even a negative experience. This foundation is something we can create through knowledge. The more we know about the world that surrounds us, the better we can deal with new situations.’

‘A person who knows nothing about snakes will probably be very cautious in dealing with them. He does not know how to judge them. If a person is taught a lot about snakes, he can use this knowledge in an encounter to better assess situations. This enables him to have a positive experience. This experience will accompany him throughout his life and he will be able to use what he has learned in other situations and not be afraid of new and unknown things. Now imagine that I would only tell you the scary stories of snakes. I tell you how the venom of a snake can kill you within minutes. I teach you that snakes are very scary and I only use stories where there is no good ending. So I create a very bad foundation for your first encounter with snakes. You will probably be so afraid before your first experience that you will not be able to approach the matter neutrally. However, this point of view is not a neutral position, but a distorted truth. Looking at something from only one point of view is very one-sided and creates a false picture of the world around us. It is better if I tell you the wonderful things about snakes, but also make it clear that snakes are wild animals that do not like to be touched. I can also tell you about the poison of the snake in a positive way. How sophisticated the composition is and how the snake helps to maintain the balance of the jungle. If nothing dies, then no new life can arise. Nature depends on the balance between life and death, otherwise we would eventually suffocate in living organisms. How are we to live if we cannot feed on other living things? Plants live to the same extent as animals and both need each other to exist.’

‘So my first message is, that it is our knowledge, that enables us to assess a situation in advance.’

‘However, knowledge that is only conveyed through stories or books, can create a false picture. We rely too much on the experiences of others and miss the opportunity to verify this knowledge. A human being is born into this world, to gain experience. By educating myself and gathering a lot of information, I can more easily have experiences and learn from them. This is possible, because experiences allow us to verify what we have learned before and to experience it with our senses.

Every person perceives the world in a different way. Therefore, it is indispensable to have experiences in order to recognise life for what it is. A person who spends his life in a single room, reading books, may know a lot about the world and life. However, this knowledge is limited to theory. In practice, this person has no experience and cannot report on how it really is. Try talking about love, with a person who has never loved. This person probably has an opinion about love, but you will realise that he has no idea what he is talking about. You are too young to have felt the touch of a woman. I could tell you now how wonderful it is and how unique the feeling is, to be so close to someone. However, you will not be able to feel it until you have experienced it yourself. However, at this point I can move on to my next message, because the second message is this:’

‘Our experiences allow us to validate what we have learned before and to look at our knowledge on a second, deeper level.’

‘This closes the circle, because we have now experienced for ourselves what we have learned before. When we interact with our world in this way, we are in a constant learning process, because every situation is made to test our knowledge and to learn more. I have learned through the milksops that the world outside this jungle is governed by fear. The white man has access to a seemingly never-ending source of information. They call it the internet and I have been told, that it is easy to get lost in it. Many people live their lives mainly in this sea of information and withdraw from the world. It seems to me to be a double-edged sword. Anyone can read up on anything in an instant and add it to their knowledge. However, this knowledge is of no use if you don’t experience it yourself.’

‘Now I have talked a lot and you are probably wondering, what all this has to do with our fears? This already brings me to my third message:’

‘Fears can reside in places where our gaze does not look at the whole.’

‘Looking at the whole is a skill that enables us, to see a situation from different angles. I am only afraid of snakes, when I focus on the negative aspects of these animals. If I get to know them and recognise their beauty, I also learn to look at snakes in their entirety. If a person has no or only bad experiences or opinions about snakes, the only thing that will help, is to broaden this spectrum. Gaining new experiences is helpful to be able to look at what is causing the fear from a different angle and thus face the fear. Suddenly one is able to judge the situation not solely on the basis of one experience. You can now use a whole series of experiences, as well as the knowledge you have gathered, to get a picture that is very close to the truth.’

‘I already said at the beginning of my story, that I would make a transition to our home, the jungle. At a first glance, the jungle is very confusing. If you look at it from the outside, you will see, that you can form an opinion about the size of the jungle, but you have no basic understanding of what the jungle actually is. Seen from the outside, it is a seemingly endless sea of leaves. Just as you cannot explore the ocean by looking at its surface. You have to dive in a bit to get a better overview. But to understand exactly what the ocean really is, it is eventually necessary to explore its deepest depths. It is the same with the jungle. If I only look at the outside, I will not learn anything about the jungle. However, if I stand at the gate of the jungle and want to enter, I notice that it probably takes me a little or even a lot of effort, to take the first step. Why is this so? When you are outside the jungle, you have a pretty good overview. You can see the trees and you can roughly estimate, how far it seems to stretch out. Once you enter the jungle, you quickly realise, how easy it is to lose track and get lost. You become aware of your vulnerability. In the jungle, there is also an interplay of light and shadow. Some places are so overgrown, that you can hardly see your hand in front of your eyes, even in broad daylight. Behind every tree there could be something unexpected or unknown. Each step could be the last. For us, who have already spent our whole lives in the jungle, this is not particularly frightening. Of course, we can still have experiences that push us to our own limits. But on the whole, little can surprise us, because we have learned to find our way through the tangle of vines, trees and shadows. We have gained experience in the jungle, that allows us to see it from many different angles. It is much the same with ourselves and our fears.’