Fear: False-Evidence-Appearing-Real

The only one who comes to know the lasting contentment of true spiritual fulfillment is that unique person who realizes that the fear of emptiness is itself an empty power.

Life's Secret Lessons About Real Success

Success is not measured by the amount of our possessions. The truth is that real success is determined by how much we are in actual possession of ourselves. We can also see that the person who fears the loss of what he thinks is his success has not truly succeeded. Why is this the truth? The individual who lives with secret self-defining fears is not a self-possessing person but rather a person possessed, often pushed and punished by his fears.

To see the truth of these findings is to realize the need for a whole new way to succeed in life. This new way of life requires us to search out a totally different path through life, a new path we can climb only by calling on a whole new set of higher actions. We can begin our ascent to securing real success with the following new action:

We must begin the inner work of consciously proving to ourselves that there is nothing to fear, instead of allowing our fears to push us into a never-ending series of fearful actions. This suggested new action makes more sense the more we gain insight into our present notion of success; for if we look closely, we can see that contained right within it, although unseen at present, is the fear of failure. The real fear behind this idea of failing is our unconscious fear of losing our familiar, confident sense of self.

As long as what we think of as being our "success" in life harbors the secret fear of our self somehow being diminished by the loss of this same external source, then our sense of self does not belong to us. Under these conditions we are little more than unsuspecting victims subject to every vagrant wind of change that blows through the world of our enterprise.

Strive to do what is in your power while remaining awake to what is not. It is not in your power to control what will occur or how events will transpire. But it is in your power to be awake to the fearful voices that either project some doom or that denounce you for making mistakes. Realize that these fearful states are secretly trying to keep you their captive. The only hold they have is the fear they can get you to buy into about "you." Remember: Do what is in your power, not what is not.