Unexpected Freedom

Who Says it’s Wrong to Feel Afraid?Seeing the false as the falseand the real as the real,one lives in the perfectly real.Dhammapada verse 12As our retreat draws to a close and we start talking again,several people have mentioned how during the retreatthey’ve had to encounter a lot of fear. Although on theoutside there was nothing to be afraid of, and we couldn’thave been with a nicer and safer group of people, this didn’tstop fear arising. Amongst all of us here, I wonder if there’sanybody who hasn’t experienced fear at some time on thisretreat? I wonder what our reaction to that fear was? Wasthere anyone amongst us who didn’t ascribe a negative valueto that fear; who didn’t say to themselves that it was wrong tofeel afraid?So who is it that says that it’s wrong to feel afraid? Whenwe experience fear, and we hear a voice within us saying weshouldn’t be afraid, who is saying that? This is an importantquestion and I would like this evening to look into it.Listening CarefullyWhen we first hear this question, we might hear theemphasis as, ‘Who says it’s wrong to feel afraid?’ as if we83