Nothing Good Can Come From Fear (The Religious Content Free Edition!)

Author's note: It is kind of neat knowing that human moderators will be reading all this. I feel like I have a new family. Hello, moderators. My new Moderator family. Hope your moderating is going at least moderately well today. Guess I need to let you know that the first time I submitted this you rejected it for having "religious content" Sorry about that. Guess I should have read the rules when I plopped down my $99. No worries. Happy to oblige and have prepared this brand new, just as impactful and interesting, religious content free edition.

I had the opportunity to attend the wedding of a close friend of my wife’s this past weekend. The wedding took place in a room and it was the first time I had ever step foot in one. In my various travels I have visited a large variety of places and houses of liking things representing a wide range of traditions, however, until this wedding that had never included a room like this. Overall the experience was very positive. The room leader was friendly, warm, and inviting. He treated the small group of non room people which included myself and my wife and just a few others with great respect, patiently explaining the customs, behaviors etc. that were required of us. He translated all of the Arabic parts of the ceremony into English and gave his speech in English. The message and delivery were both excellent in almost all respects. He stuck to the practical and doled out what I thought was some very solid advice for a young, newly married couple. However, near the end of his terrific talk he dropped the f-bomb (fear) and proceeded to remind me why I find so many organized room people's dogma counter productive, unhelpful, and even actively destructive. “We must always remember to fear things” he said, “lest we fall to bad things. Never forget that thing is always watching and he will reward for the good things we do, but punish us as well for the bad.” What exactly this punishment would be was not addressed however I am going to guess it involves something bad.

Why do so many organized room people believe that the only way we can motivate ourselves to goodness is through fear? Why do they not believe man is capable of being good, simply for good’s sake, simply because it is the right thing to do? Of course it is easier to be a good person if you expect reward or fear punishment, but just because a thing is easier, does not make it right. And, in this case, it is so wrong on so many levels. First, it tells every single person, member and non member of the room alike that they are inherently defective, inherently immoral, not capable of telling right from wrong, or if they are, not capable of making the right decisions, doing the right things, without a wrathful thing looking over their shoulder prepared to call them bad names if they don’t. Second it tells them that thing is basically bad. You may object, but what good thing, person, animal, alien, or big thing, uses fear intentionally to motivate behavior. Fear is one of evolutions most useful traits for protecting living things from threats to their mortal lives here on earth. It is necessary for that reason, but it is a necessary bad and should have no place in a good persons life beyond that single, evolutionarily driven, application. Fear is the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind but beyond its biological usefulness for the preservation of life, it is bad, and only bad things spring from it. Think about how you feel when you are afraid? Really, truly afraid, not like horror movie watching afraid, but actually honest to goodness in fear. Is there anything good about it? Does it make you feel positive in any way about anything? No, it make you tremble and shake or cry and moan or lose control of your bowels, or any number of horrible effects. Actions motivated by fear (with the exception of those required by evolutionary forces to protect one’s own life and limb) always, always turn out badly in the end. It may not be apparent in the short or even in the medium term, but in the long term it always holds true, fear begets bad and badness, not good. Just like with suffering, which we have come to accept as necessary and required (it is not), we must reject fear. We must always act in ways which seek to reduce it or eliminate it. This includes denouncing any person or organization (including rooms) which use it to motivate behaviors and actions. Fear and suffering have no place in the modern world, or they should not. Only we can stop them and we must not waiver or fail in our commitment to do so. I strive to be a good person, but I do so because it is the right thing to do not because I fear some post mortem punishment by some big thing.