To avoid misunderstanding, the above should be supplemented. Often, fear - and quite rightly - is described as a state "necessarily associated with closeness, cut off" 17, ie, in fact, with a feeling of loneliness. From my words, it follows that the transformation of fear on the basis of inner concentration just requires going into loneliness. In addition, many emphasize a certain aspect of the symptomatology of fear - numbness, coldness, isolation and “feeling threatened in a state of constriction” 18. From this, the authors draw a conclusion - again quite rightly - about such a tendency of fear as contraction, and therefore hardening; I talked about “liquefaction”, about “dissolution” in the external world, by the way, in accordance with the description of Rudolf Steiner, which refers to the “mental outflow” 19, that is, the mental process,corresponding to the processes of bodily "outflow" (urge to urinate, sweating, diarrhea).
But one can just as well refer to Steiner, emphasizing the other side, the "sharp retreat" of the "I"; outwardly, this manifests itself in pallor, that is, in the centralization of blood, as described in Occult Physiology (as opposed to the paint of shame) 20. This is also indicated by the root of the word "fear" [lat. angustiae = tightness; Middle High German predecessor of Angst: die angest]. So is this a contradiction? Or are we talking about different forms or gradations of fear? The apparent contradiction is removed if, firstly, we take into account that between latent fear and panic there is a whole scale of various states of fear21 and the immediate shock reaction (numbness), of course, differs from nervous anxiety before the exam, when a person is thrown into sweat. Second, a closer look at the process of fear revealsthat there is a direct interaction of both aspects - dissolution and thickening, expansion and contraction. Symptoms of fear include both hot flashes and sensations of cold, as an exacerbation of attention and (self) perception, and feelings of numbness and powerlessness, accompanied by a dullness of perception. Fear, as Rudolf Steiner also confirms, leads to an intensified experience of the “I”, on the one hand, and to the so-called phenomena of depersonalization, to a feeling of “absence”, on the other. With regard to fear, Karl Koenig's words about “relaxation of the soul” (the tendency to dissolve) and the expression “to clamp in a vice” (Hessenbruch) are equally valid.and feelings of numbness and powerlessness, accompanied by dullness of perception. Fear, as Rudolf Steiner also confirms, leads to an intensified experience of the “I”, on the one hand, and to the so-called phenomena of depersonalization, to a feeling of “absence”, on the other. With regard to fear, Karl König's words about “relaxation of the soul” (the tendency to dissolve) and the expression “to grip” (Hessenbruch) are equally valid.and feelings of numbness and powerlessness, accompanied by dullness of perception. Fear, as Rudolf Steiner also confirms, leads to an intensified experience of the “I”, on the one hand, and to the so-called phenomena of depersonalization, to a feeling of “absence”, on the other. With regard to fear, Karl Koenig's words about “relaxation of the soul” (the tendency to dissolve) and the expression “to clamp in a vice” (Hessenbruch) are equally valid.
The interaction consists in the fact that in status nascendi, at the moment of emergence, fear, as it were, turns the “I” upside down, blurs the border between it and the world. And here we feel with deep horror the danger of disappearing, dissolving, losing ourselves in the “space of dis-magare, powerlessness” (Khiklin), and ultimately dying. Strictly speaking, this is the state in which fear itself begins to frighten. First, an impression appears - it can also come from a representation, from an internal image - about which, as Rudolf Steiner points out in his lectures on "psychosophy", we are not able to judge spontaneously, proceeding from sensation, for "the impression made on our mental life [it is]”that“we … are not able to immediately assess the situation”22. What does it mean to “assess the situation”? This means that we are able, as it were, to hold back, to push aside a specific impression,before it breaks through with all its might into the emotional experience, and then seize the initiative and go to meet it. This kind of initiative in meeting with strong impressions, with impressions in general, is the activity of "I" par excellence! Thanks to her, we develop self-awareness, self-awareness. This constant interaction of impression, restraint and initiative throughout life forms a kind of elastic border between the "I" and the world - the border of the soul associated with the border of the body, or skin, since the senses as the entrance doors of the external world are located on the periphery of the body. From the point of view of intrapsychic processes, impressions of unconscious origin are rejected at the border of the soul. Rudolf Steiner calls the diaphragm its physiological correspondence (in relation to the external world).and then seize the initiative and go to meet him. This kind of initiative in meeting with strong impressions, with impressions in general, is the activity of "I" par excellence! Thanks to her, we develop self-awareness, self-awareness. This constant interaction of impression, restraint and initiative throughout life forms a kind of elastic border between the "I" and the world - the border of the soul associated with the border of the body, or skin, since the senses as the entrance doors of the external world are located on the periphery of the body. From the point of view of intrapsychic processes, impressions of unconscious origin are rejected at the border of the soul. Rudolf Steiner calls the diaphragm its physiological correspondence (in relation to the external world).and then seize the initiative and go to meet him. This kind of initiative in meeting with strong impressions, with impressions in general, is the activity of "I" par excellence! Thanks to her, we develop self-awareness, self-awareness. This constant interaction of impression, restraint and initiative throughout life forms a kind of elastic border between the "I" and the world - the border of the soul associated with the border of the body, or skin, since the senses as the entrance doors of the external world are located on the periphery of the body. From the point of view of intrapsychic processes, impressions of unconscious origin are rejected at the border of the soul. Rudolf Steiner calls the diaphragm its physiological correspondence (in relation to the external world).with impressions in general, and there is the activity of the "I" par excellence! Thanks to her, we develop self-awareness, self-awareness. This constant interaction of impression, restraint and initiative throughout life forms a kind of elastic border between the "I" and the world - the border of the soul associated with the border of the body, or skin, since the senses as the entrance doors of the external world are located on the periphery of the body. From the point of view of intrapsychic processes, impressions of unconscious origin are rejected at the border of the soul. Rudolf Steiner calls the diaphragm its physiological correspondence (in relation to the external world).with impressions in general, and there is the activity of the "I" par excellence! Thanks to her, we develop self-awareness, self-awareness. This constant interaction of impression, restraint and initiative throughout life forms a kind of elastic border between the "I" and the world - the border of the soul associated with the border of the body, or skin, since the senses as the entrance doors of the external world are located on the periphery of the body. From the point of view of intrapsychic processes, impressions of unconscious origin are rejected at the border of the soul. Rudolf Steiner calls the diaphragm its physiological correspondence (in relation to the external world).of restraint and initiative throughout life forms a kind of elastic border between the "I" and the world - the border of the soul, associated with the border of the body, or skin, since the sense organs as the entrance doors of the external world are located on the periphery of the body. From the point of view of intrapsychic processes, impressions of unconscious origin are rejected at the border of the soul. Rudolf Steiner calls the diaphragm its physiological correspondence (in relation to the external world).of restraint and initiative throughout life forms a kind of elastic border between the "I" and the world - the border of the soul, associated with the border of the body, or skin, since the sense organs as the entrance doors of the external world are located on the periphery of the body. From the point of view of intrapsychic processes, impressions of unconscious origin are rejected at the border of the soul. Rudolf Steiner calls the diaphragm its physiological correspondence (in relation to the external world). Rudolf Steiner calls the diaphragm its physiological correspondence (in relation to the external world). Rudolf Steiner calls the diaphragm its physiological correspondence (in relation to the external world).
Everyone knows for himself that from certain impressions (whether external or internal origin) the border between the "I" and the external world, or - this is another aspect - the border with the incomprehensible for the "I" unconscious loses its stability. It is not possible to push back this impression and seize the initiative. We get scared because "we are not able to immediately assess the situation." We are taken by surprise. Fear arises at the moment of the immediate sensation of the impossibility of protecting oneself. The impression "makes its way" through the designated protective layer, literally tears it apart, our "I" risks losing support, splashing out through this "gap" (of course, figuratively speaking) outward, dissolving in the world around us. The common expression "let yourself be carried away" well captures the essence of what is happening. A person "allows himself to be carried away" by anger, desire,fear - and in each of these cases we are dealing with an exacerbation of an emotional-affective reaction under the influence of strong impressions. And even if this is an outburst of anger or the inability to restrain against desire, that is, initially not fear, it is still involved here. The state of inner instability is never complete without fear. This is due to the fact that in all these cases the above-described process of forming an assessment - pushing aside and intentional oncoming movement - misfires: the boundaries blur; we are defenseless.that in all these cases, the above process of forming an assessment - pushing back and intentional oncoming movement - misfires: the boundaries blur; we are defenseless.that in all these cases, the above process of forming an assessment - pushing back and intentional oncoming movement - misfires: the boundaries blur; we are defenseless.
It makes no difference whether we are talking in this case about the fact that the external world freely penetrates into us, or that our “I” runs the risk of being lost outside. Both are happening. The sense of the boundary as a fundamental experience of self-awareness, thanks to which we feel ourselves as an integral, closed being (curiously, in one of the recent publications the concept of “skin“I”24 is proposed), disappears. This fundamental experience of touch25, transformed - in terms of feelings - into the spiritual sphere, akin, in the words of Karl König, “the harbor where the ship of our soul is anchored.” And now “the ship drifts away, and the fog of fear rises all around.” This is the aspect of the “expansion” or dissolution of the form at the moment of fright The process described here figuratively can be both sharp and rapid - a sudden break occurs,and we are irresistibly carried away - and much more refined, manifested in the form of a constant, painful feeling of the threat to dissolve, that is, to lose ourselves. But in both cases, there is initially an impression - or an obsession - that cannot be controlled and that directly causes fear. This is the stage of the appearance, or sensation, of fear. Then we notice a change in our inner state. We are scared because we feel what fear is doing to us. Here we can talk about the stage of expansion of fear, or fear of fear. To put it slightly exaggerated: the feeling of fear is replaced (of course, as a rule, only latent) fear of death (loss of identity). Which means when the state of fear of fear becomes chronic, and therefore, no special reasons for its occurrence are required,it's too early to speak. Let's restrict ourselves to the fact that this is possible.
Up to this point, we are passive contemplators of what is happening (but what is happening inside us), and, in fact, only now follows what we call the reaction of fear and that when describing states of fear most often (as already noted, quite rightly) is brought to the fore … Only now do we come to the question of the possibilities to defend against fear or to cope with it; in a state of expansion of fear, we either resort to them consciously, or we are again attracted to them unconsciously. After all, what is the natural reaction of a person when he is in danger of dissolving? He gathers, withdraws into himself - either in a panic-reflexive manner, or in a deliberate act of internal concentration.
If the latter, for one reason or another, does not succeed in time, then the fear reaction, let it go, turns into a destructive, even auto-aggressive process. The soul, and behind it the body, convulsively shrinks, the blood begins to move centripetally, that is, it is carried away from the periphery to the center, the person turns pale, grows cold. All heat and volitional forces seem to be mobilized at once in order to surround the most cherished with a protective ring, which in no case should be hurt or lost. In relation to the surrounding world, a person is now entirely - a gesture of antipathy, he is really isolated, cornered, constrained.
The person is trapped, and this also causes fear! Lack of air, choking, chilliness, numbness of the limbs, pain in the heart, etc. - all these are symptoms of convulsive clamping caused by fear, which, although in real life all this takes a fraction of a second, must be distinguished from the previous stages: the appearance and expansion of fear (fear of fear). Now someone seemed to take the heart in a fist and slowly squeeze it. An unsuccessful attempt to gather inner strength against fear, which at the very beginning was the fear of dissolving - at the beginning any fear is such! - generates "threatening crowding, blockade, isolation" (Hessenbruch). Greater loneliness, greater isolation cannot be imagined. But it must be borne in mind that this ultimate isolation is a consequence of no less extreme openness, insecurity (and therefore vulnerability), i.e.excess participation. Rudolf Steiner called a "mental wound" a condition that makes us vulnerable to fear26. The reason for this is too much participation in processes that require a certain distance. Isolation and loss of connection is a consequence. And the drama of fear reaches its climax when we notice this loss. On the other hand, it goes without saying that the danger of a painfully heightened participation in general exists only because once we had to leave the womb, and then say goodbye to the security (I hope that it really was) of the first childhood years, i.e. That is, a sphere of unlimited trust, subsequently accessible to us only in a dream. After all, the loss of this connection with the past makes us "go forward" and establish connections with objects and beings of this world, it is in it that fear is rooted as a human,too human a complication of this establishment, and if not dealt with, it can result in the loss of connections.
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So, it is true that the problem of a person in a state of fear is loneliness, "being in isolation," in the words of Michaela Glöckler. A small child, “when he first becomes acquainted with elementary physical dangers, pain arising both from the unknown inside him and from objects or living beings,” 27 feels vulnerable. The fundamental experience of alienation - only something alien, not involved with me, can hurt me - this is what periodically comes up with fear. The feeling of separateness has two sides. This is the source of all mental pain, all life doubts and at the same time an urgent need, because the movement to establish contact with the world presupposes the experience of loneliness.
Experiencing fear not only in this or that situation, but also feeling that fear gradually becomes the main state and increasingly determines his attitude to the world and to his own “unknown inside”, a person really experiences the tragedy of loneliness. Perhaps the most common word in the diaries and oral stories of our fearful patients about everyday events is “I hate”, a slightly softer “I don't like” or “I can't stand”. They do not love, do not tolerate, do not tolerate thousands of things and in turn are convinced that they themselves make an equally unbearable, repulsive impression on others. Their inner world is completely attuned to antipathy. Disgust plays a defining role. "Grind with the millstones of fear" (Ernie), these people do not find a way out of the vicious circle of fear-riddled ideas or expectations,fears of dissolving and returning to a solitary cell within themselves, where they are watched over by the same frightening performances. After all, as Khiklin writes, "fear and horror, which initially lived outside, irresistibly seep through the thickest walls, as it always happens when they habitually seek to avoid them."
It is also true, however, that the only way to cope with fear - and this is the guiding thread in parenting, self-education and therapy - is to take on a different, voluntary form of loneliness and work on it. “It is extremely important to understand,” writes Helmut Hessenbruch, “that the fetters of fear … are necessary, since unconstrained identity is impossible (that is, the formation of the“I”). Therefore, it is not surprising that, barely awakening, the human "I" immediately itself seeks tightness, isolation as an opportunity to concentrate. " Voluntary, "higher" loneliness, finding inner support - but not prison! - and there is a genuine alternative to the escape into loneliness dictated by fear.