The Roots Of Fear

Question: What is the root of human fear (Pachad)?

Answer: Fear is the main egoistic property that comes from a desire for pleasure that is terrified of remaining empty; this is the basis of all fears.

Question: In our world, there are hundreds of kinds of fears. It appears in my egoism, which responds to any external influences. What is man afraid of, what does he fear?

Answer: A person is afraid of the defeat of his “self,” and of suffering.

Question: How does fear influence a person?

Answer: Fear influences the desire for pleasure and depresses him so much that it awakens a sensation of fear, anxiety, and thoughts like, “I will not be able to enjoy anything, but will just suffer all the time. I will only feel the emptiness, darkness.”

At the root of fear there is the lack of feeling the Creator, feeling the Light that would fill my desire, but for some reason still has not been fulfilled. My empty desire feels fear. This means that fear is a feeling that I lack the fulfillment I deserve.

Question: Is a Kabbalist who discovers the Creator not afraid of anything?

Answer: Of course! On the contrary, he is absolutely confident in all being completely filled.

Question: Is fear synonymous with a sensation of “awe” (Yirah)?

Answer: Awe is something different. It is a state in which I want to attract the characteristic of fear to myself, and summon it by myself in order to rise to the next level.

Question: How can one struggle with fear? Suppose that the Creator sends me all kinds of fears, what must I do? Take an antidepressant?

Answer: An antidepressant is suppression. When fear takes over a person, first and foremost, one needs to imagine that “There is none else beside Him” (Deuteronomy 4:35). There is an excellent article on this subject in the book Shamati ,#138, “About Fear that Sometimes Comes Upon a Person.” In the article, it is written that a person should imagine that there are no forces of Tuma’a (impurity) in our world and he must only demand that the Creator reveal this to him.

Question: Will this not lead him to inaction?

Answer: This is the action. We have no need for any other actions other than the action of discovering the Creator.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 5/1/16