What is fear? can any one understand that fear is not only produced by

wolram

What is fear? can any one understand that fear is not only produced by physical violence, fear is some times irrational.

tribdog

I'm afraid not.

BobG

I'm impressed. You're so brave you don't even know the meaning of fear.

Jimmy Snyder

Fear is a safety mechanism. For instance, when I've been out late drinking and carousing and I open the door and see a rolling pin arcing down toward my head, fear takes over and I duck. Or at least I should have.

edward

In a case like that my safety mechanism would tell me to sleep in my car

BobG

Hopefully not while driving it?

I remember when I used to try and drive straight through on 24, maybe even 26 hour trips. I figured I could pull over for a short nap if I got too sleepy, but the idea of falling asleep behind the wheel was always a scary thought.

On one of the trips, the parking lot in the rest area where I took a nap was set up more like the grocery store parking lot where cars could park nose to nose. Nothing like having the car in front of you turn on their headlights and waking behind the wheel of your car to the sight of headlights about 4 feet in front you.

Surprisingly, I was very awake for the rest of my trip. That worked better than coffee.

wolram

The thing that makes me scared is hights, i have no problem in aeroplanes but i could not stand on a flat roof of a tall building.

Art

And yet you have no problem with standing on sloping roofs on tall buildings? That's weird. I'd pick the flat roof every time

Art

When I was young I disliked heights intensely but then I went on an outward bound course where they had you abseiling down cliffs and off bridges into gorges as well as rock climbing and sea traversing. After a couple of weeks of that you become inured to it to the point where you would happily have worked as a scaffolder on the empire state building

wolram

True but most tall buildings have flat roofs.

Art

True but only just; - 9 of the 16 tallest buildings in London have flat roofs. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...London.svg.png

Another useless piece of trivia gained today.

wolram

Bollocks, being just right is just not good enough.

berkeman

One of the best things I've realized in life (fortunately I figured this out way back in high school), is that there are only two "good" or valid kinds of fear:

Caution and Alarm.

They are good and natural. Caution helps to keep us safe when encountering potentially dangerous situations. And Alarm is a natural reaction that helps us to deal quickly with dangerous things that pop up. So being cautious about heights is natural, since a fall could be bad. But if you work with heights (like in the construction industry), you take safety precautions and get used to the feeling. And it's okay to be alarmed when something dangerous happens all of a sudden -- learn to use the alarm instinct to help you deal quickly with whatever happend.

All other kinds of fear (apprehension, nervousness, etc.) are not valid, and are "bad" fears that you should learn to recognize as such, and reject. If you are nervous before an interview, you should ask youself, "Is this caution or alarm? Neither. Reject the nervousness and focus on the postitive aspects of the interview. I will do very well." Same thing before giving a big speech or presentation.

This philosophy has served me SO well over the years. It's helped me to understand my reaction to truly dangerous situations, and to reject invalid fears when they come up. I'm still cautious with heights, but reasonably rational in that caution...

wolram

Hmmm this may sound daft, but i had a guy hold a knife against my throat, because i said a certain lady looks sexy, it turned out she was his wife, but i just laughted ,crashing a motorbike seems fun, seeing the sparks fly, okay i may be sore after wards but it was cool, but then i turn to jelly when up a high building for sure this is not righ.

Art

You'll be pleased to know it's a common enough phobia to even have it's own name; Acrophobia. Recommended treatment is much as I said earlier; ever increasing daily challenges to inure oneself. Before you know it you'll be jumping out of aeroplanes (with a parachute that is )

tribdog

I'm afraid of heights so I make myself go to the edge of tall buildings, or cliffs. I won't let my brain tell me what to do. I'm the boss not it.