Where Does Fear Come From?

"Aren't you afraid of dark rooms?"

Haru asked. After club activities, in the twilight classroom.

"A little," Noa answered honestly. "But it is interesting to think about why."

"Why?"

"Where does fear come from? Physical darkness itself is not harmful."

Haru thought. "Because we cannot see? Because we do not know what is there?"

"Fear of uncertainty," Noa nodded. "Humans fear the unknown."

"Instinctively?"

"From an evolutionary psychology perspective, yes. Predators could lurk in darkness."

Haru understood. "So it is engraved in our genes."

"But," Noa continued, "human fear is not just that."

"What else?"

"Fear from imagination."

Haru tilted her head. "Imagination?"

"Animals only react to threats before them. But humans think 'what if.'"

"Because we imagine the future?"

"Yes. We create dangers that have not yet happened in our minds."

Haru shivered. "That means we are increasing scary things?"

"In a sense. Heidegger called humans 'beings-toward-death.'"

"Death?"

"Only humans know they will die someday. That recognition generates fundamental anxiety."

Haru became quiet. "Fear of death."

"That is not instinct. It is fear brought by intelligence."

"Intelligence creates fear?"

Noa looked at the window. "Sartre said, 'Existence precedes essence.'"

"Difficult..."

"Humans have no fixed essence. So we must create ourselves. That freedom generates anxiety."

Haru began to understand. "Scary because we do not know what we will become?"

"Responsibility of choice. Possibility of failure. That is existential anxiety."

"So fear is unique to humans?"

"Complex fear, yes. Animal fear is simple. Immediate reaction to threats before them."

Haru thought. "Human fear relates to time?"

"Sharp. Memory of the past, prediction of the future. Time consciousness creates fear."

"Trauma too?"

"Yes. Past fearful experiences create present fear. Even without actual danger."

Haru took a deep breath. "So fear is illusion?"

"No, it exists. In the mind," Noa said seriously. "Subjective reality is as real as objective reality."

"If we feel it, it is real?"

"Emotions have no fakes. All are genuine experiences."

Haru smiled. "Somehow, that is reassuring."

"No need to be ashamed of feeling fear."

"But," Haru asked, "is there a way to overcome fear?"

Noa thought. "That is a difficult question."

"None?"

"Cannot completely eliminate it. But understanding makes it lighter."

"Understanding?"

"Why are we afraid? What do we fear? Putting it into words."

Haru opened her notebook. "Should I try writing my current fears?"

"Try it."

Haru started writing. "Anxiety about unclear future. Fear of failure. Fear of being disliked..."

"Those are all imaginary."

"But real."

"That is why verbalizing is important. Give shape to shapeless fear."

Haru kept writing. "...I feel a bit lighter."

"When put into words, distance is created," Noa smiled. "Splits into subject and object."

"Me and my fear."

"Yes. What was identified becomes observable."

Haru looked outside the window. It was getting dark.

"Now darkness seems a bit OK."

"Because you understood darkness."

"Nothing has changed though."

"When perception changes, the world changes," Noa said quietly. "As Kant said."

"Fear is created by the mind?"

"And can be changed by the mind."

Haru stood up. "Let us go home. Dark roads are OK if together."

Noa laughed. "That is also one way to overcome. Being together."

"Fear relates to loneliness?"

"Deep insight. Many fears come from anxiety of being alone."

They left the classroom. The hallway was dark. But someone was beside.

Fear does not disappear. But by understanding and sharing, we can live.

That may be human strength.