Saturday, February 26, 2005
You know what I smell Rabbit? .... Fear sir
Fear is an odd thing. There are moments when I am afraid of nothing and others where I slowly move the shower curtain back when I go to the bathroom to make sure nothing is behind it.
You have the situations where after watching the Exorcist on the big screen and walking home along a dark path in Spokane, you feel a little spooked and then you have phobias. I remember my psychopathology class refered to phobias as unrealistic fear of something, like clowns or the like (no I am not afraid of clowns). I don't know if this is an accurate description really. I can understand being afraid of some things but it isn't always unreasonable... like snakes or spiders, or face-huggers leaping out of their eggsac towards your face. That is dangerous shit and can result in lots of pain or some alien bursting out of your chest. It would only be unreasonable when it is so crippling that you can't react to the situation to help yourself or others.
There are other fears too. Becki felt overheated while visiting me and proceeded to lay down and pass out in a most frightening manner. A few seconds later she got back up like nothing happened. I had practically wet myself because I thought she was dying and she wasn't even phased. In this sense she was fearless while I was terrified. That doesn't mean my fear was unreasonable (not a phobia I know but still).
I think fear is a natural reaction to the situation. A phobia is merely a hightened reaction to the situation. I am not afraid of snakes behind a glass wall, but I would be shakin in my boots if that snake was rattling 2 feet away from me!
Or the fear of getting caught. The feeling when you get pulled over when you were speeding on the highway and you KNOW that highway cops will always give you a ticket. I don't know if that is fear or what but you get that gut-wrenching pain and a serious desire to keep driving as fast as you can... a guess that is my phobia, getting another speeding ticket!
You have the situations where after watching the Exorcist on the big screen and walking home along a dark path in Spokane, you feel a little spooked and then you have phobias. I remember my psychopathology class refered to phobias as unrealistic fear of something, like clowns or the like (no I am not afraid of clowns). I don't know if this is an accurate description really. I can understand being afraid of some things but it isn't always unreasonable... like snakes or spiders, or face-huggers leaping out of their eggsac towards your face. That is dangerous shit and can result in lots of pain or some alien bursting out of your chest. It would only be unreasonable when it is so crippling that you can't react to the situation to help yourself or others.
There are other fears too. Becki felt overheated while visiting me and proceeded to lay down and pass out in a most frightening manner. A few seconds later she got back up like nothing happened. I had practically wet myself because I thought she was dying and she wasn't even phased. In this sense she was fearless while I was terrified. That doesn't mean my fear was unreasonable (not a phobia I know but still).
I think fear is a natural reaction to the situation. A phobia is merely a hightened reaction to the situation. I am not afraid of snakes behind a glass wall, but I would be shakin in my boots if that snake was rattling 2 feet away from me!
Or the fear of getting caught. The feeling when you get pulled over when you were speeding on the highway and you KNOW that highway cops will always give you a ticket. I don't know if that is fear or what but you get that gut-wrenching pain and a serious desire to keep driving as fast as you can... a guess that is my phobia, getting another speeding ticket!
