Fear is like a diamond cutter

It splits human nature along its fault lines

Nothing so focuses the mind as the prospect of being hanged. — Mark Twain

We all have a talent for fear (except for some psychopaths). It’s a Stimulus-Response thing: Danger ➡️ Fear. Simple. Good for survival.

What is less simple is what we each DO with the fear we’re feeling. Fear reveals something important about who we are. It’s like a personality test. Let’s run a thought experiment together.

IMAGINE

A house is burning in flames at night. There are people living/sleeping inside and eventually the neighbors gather outside. Let’s observe and record what they do.

Insiders will

• Run out of the building as fast as they can

• Help others get out of the building

• Freeze with fear/Pull the blankets over their head

Outsiders will

• Stand by and watch in horror

• Stand by and watch with excitement

• Stand by indifferent to what is happening

• Call 911

• Run into the burning building to help

Questions: Which kind of Insider and Outsider are you? What do you think about your “type”? Do you want to change anything?

IMAGINE, Part II

Now replace the burning house with some other dangerous conflagration raging in various rooms in our shared planetary home:

• Russia’s unfolding genocide in Ukraine

• Attacks on U.S. democracy, rule of law and the constitutional order

• Heating of the planet’s air and water with severe weather events and massive death of life forms

• Hamas’ attack on Israel and Israel’s counter-attack

• Attacks on women’s bodies, their reproductive freedom and dignity

• China’s denial of its citizens’ human rights and eradication of ethnic minorities

Questions: Which of these dangers are you most afraid of right now? How are you responding to each of these dangerous situations as either an Insider or Outsider (pick from the behavioral options in the burning house experiment above)? What do you think about your “type”? Do you want to change anything?

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