The only things we fear in this life are the unconscious projections of our own consciousness not yet awakened to itself. For instance, a young child is unable to understand that the dark shadow on his bedroom wall isn’t a monster. His feeling is real, but the “why” behind its appearance is a lie. The mounting fear racing through his system is made substantial and validated by an unconscious resistance to what his own mind imagines is real in that same moment. The more he rejects what his mind projects on the screen of itself, the more real it becomes, so that not only is the child terrorized by the dark workings of his own imagination, but this same nature then tells him his choices, which are either to cry out or duck under the covers. Regardless which way he goes, his guide is the very fear he tries to escape! Here’s the key that opens the door to a whole new set of possibilities in the face of any fear:

         Proceed while being afraid.

Forget all that nonsense about trying to appear brave, standing tall, or calling out for some rescuing force to chase away the shadow of what you fear. Such consoling images and ideals are the secret opposite of the very fears they are called on to reconcile. Here’s everything you need to know in your moment of need: what is true never fights with what is false; it has no need to. Truth effortlessly dismisses any form of misunderstanding by the light of its own nature.

The substance and weight of any fearful shadow is only as great as what our imagination lends to it, which means it’s not “this or that” fear we must have the courage to challenge. Rather, we must dare to prove to ourselves that any and all of our fearful conclusions are nothing more than an illusion. This is why the way out of any frightening, unwanted moment must be to go through it. After all, how else can we make the liberating discovery that our fears are just shadows without substance? Only by this action will we know the truth that frees us from fear … because only by its light can we see that we’ve never had anything real to fear.