My former career in the legal system brought me into contact with people who were hopelessly buried beneath layers of fear. Fear is often the consequence of a negative experience. A traumatic event is an extreme negative experience. For people who have experienced trauma, the phrase "negative experience" does not begin to describe the intense emotional pain that comes with such an event. Some unfortunate souls develop what psychologists call post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This medical condition is incapacitating. It can produce panic attacks, which are experienced by the traumatized person as symptoms similar to a heart attack. Needlessly to say, PTSD is debilitating and can lead personal dysfunction.
Fear, by its nature, is a difficult emotion for anyone to emotionally process. There will be times when we encounter people whose expression of fear may seem unreasonable to us. Please understand that these terrified people are unable to cope with the object of their fear. Many serious phobias arise out of fear. Someone once told me about a person who has or had a fear of turtles. This unknown person's phobia amused me. I said to myself, "How can anyone be afraid of a turtle." I jokingly thought "Maybe they are teenage mutant ninja turtles. Those turtles can be scary." Apparently turtles bother some people, just like snakes and spiders. Anything at all can produce fear in the mind of a human. All phobias and fears are valid. Take a look at the top ten most common phobias:
- Arachnophobia -The fear of spiders.
- Ophidiophobia - The fear of snakes.
- Acrophobia - The fear of heights.
- Agoraphobia - The fear of situations in which escape is difficult
which escape is difficult.
- Cynophobia - The fear of dogs.
- Astraphobia - The fear of thunder and
lightning.
- Trypanophobia - The fear of injections.
- Social Phobias - The fear of social
situations.
- Pteromerhanophobia - The fear of flying.
- Mysophobia - The fear of germs or dirt.
As you can see there are many kinds of phobias and trauma that have their roots in fear. Fear is difficult to remove without professional help. It is my personal opinion that traditional talk therapy is of little use in helping a person escape the clutches of fear. No matter what kind of trauma a person has experienced, allowing a mental health counselor to validate your feelings is extremely ineffective. It may feel good, but it does nothing to help a person regain control of his or her life.
I know several anxiety-ridden people who have paid substantial amounts of money, to hopefully well-intentioned psychotherapists, to listen to them express their fears for over a decade, without making any progress toward their recovery. To be fair, there are excellent therapists who know how to successfully work with people's fear-based anxieties. If you like the feeling of talk-based therapy, then please disregard what I said. In most situations, there's more than one path to a successful outcome.
Fear is a part of the human condition. Fear serves a purpose for humans. It can keep people from getting into trouble. It's supposed to make humans think twice before engaging in an activity that might be detrimental to their well-being. This is why civilized societies have judicial systems. Criminal Statutes have consequences and punishments incorporated into their language to deter crime. Unfortunately there are many hardened offenders who have no remorse. Some people display no outward fear. They choose to hide it from themselves.
People with phobias and trauma, and other fear-based issues create an altered reality to deal with their emotional pain. This is especially true of trauma victims. Childhood trauma can permanently damage a person to the point that he or she may never recover from their experience(s). It is regrettable that these unfortunate abuse victims cannot cope with the painful reality of their situation.
If you are a person living in fear or have recurring dreams and memories of a traumatic event, please understand that you are creating an altered reality that allows this to situation occur. You alone are responsible for your fear. You may or may not be partially responsible for the original event that triggered that fear-based reaction. Fear rarely manifests externally. If you are being held captive by a crazed lunatic, then this article will not help you. I am not being sarcastic in saying that.
Most of our fear is created by our powerful imagination. The term imagination is misleading in the way that society uses it. The strange characters that interact with us in our dreams and imagination are very real. This is a metaphysical explanation. No one with trauma wants to consciously acknowledge this principle. And for a very good reason. It makes their fear that much more real. However, it actually makes no difference. Fear is fear.
Fear itself is a conscious entity. It feeds off your emotions. It is attracted to your emotions. You are making a home for it. It will not leave until you make it go. The fear entity takes on whatever dreadful form is necessary to produce the emotional reaction in you it desires.
This concept is related to teachings of the law of attraction theorists. I'm referring to the widely accepted principle that thoughts manifest into reality. The notion that thought forms are endowed with a vital essence is also nothing new to metaphysical literature. Past-life regression therapists, future regression therapists, and age regression therapists, use hypnosis to help their clients resolve personal conflict. They treat "imaginary" characters as real in order to make the therapy session effective for the client. I'm not sure how many hypnotherapists focus on the reality of the client's tormenter(s). This is the metaphysical aspect of this type of therapy, which is why I focus on it. Hypnotherapists are concerned with the practical side of this phenomenon and the positive results that it produces in their clients.
I feel that it is far better to confront your fears, than run from it. Overcoming our fear leads to personal growth. It is good for us to face our nightmares. Again, I recommend doing this with the support of an experienced hypnotherapist. Not everyone will benefit from confrontational therapy. There are also a number of excellent psychotherapists in this country and abroad who are experienced in helping their clients engage in an introspective examination of their thoughts and emotions to unearth the cause of their fear. This milder therapeutic approach requires a substantial investment in time, money, and a successful outcome is dependent on the willingness of the client to actively participate in his or her recovery.
You have the power to stop your fear in its tracks. If you are experiencing recurring visions of being attacked by a known or unknown assailant, then you will need to do the following. Realize that you have the ability to make this person, creature, dream character, apparition, phantom, or other entity stop their harassment. You have the ability to control your nightmare. Do not let your fears over-take you. Rather than running from the object of your fear, face it with both feet planted in the ground. Remember that you are in control of the situation. Nothing bad can happen to you. Do not play the victim role. You are only allowing the situation to continue by calling yourself a victim. Fight back. I guarantee you the fear entities will run from you. They are bullies. Once you stand up to them, they will go away. Bullies only pick on people who consent to their cruelty. Say the following to your fear-based characters. NO! I said stop! Go away!
Many years ago, my wife and I lived in an old house which was host to the most bizarre paranormal manifestations. This residential dwelling could be likened to a classic haunted house. We were witness to a number of supernatural events while living there. There is one experience that I feel would reinforce what I am trying to say.
At night we would hear scratching noises. We determined to our satisfaction that these sounds were not coming from our dogs. My wife and I both believed this noise to be coming from an unseen being. We came to this conclusion because of the other bizarre experiences we had in this worn out dwelling. The sound of claws scratching wood went on for quite some time and affected our sleep. One night, my wife who was particularly irritated and tired, said to the entity in a firm and sharp tone "I said stop." I could never describe or imitate exactly what her voice sounded like. She wasn't yelling. The tone of her voice was the kind a mother uses on her disorderly child to let him or her know that she means what she is saying. This technique worked perfectly, we never heard the scratching sounds again. My wife is a good witness for supernatural encounters for the simple reason that she does not have a passion for it.
I want to point out that this annoying entity was probably a human spirit as opposed to an evil spirit. Dark entities are more persistent than common spirits. They all have inflated egos however, which is why they are bullies.
In my case, I have been pursued by dark spirits for many years. These days, psychic (I am not fond of this word) practitioners refer to them as negative energies. In any case, they are malicious, malevolent entities. My sense is that they are a remnant from my past life as Arthur Edward Waite. That information is not especially important to this article. What I want my readers to know is that I too was stricken with anxiety I first became aware of them. This was several years ago. They have followed me through a number of moves since then. I have become accustomed to their occasional presence.
On one occasion (about a year ago), I sensed the presence of evil in my new home a few days after I moved in. Evil has a distinct quality. I cannot describe the sense that alerts me to their presence. I became concerned about their presence, so I asked my Spiritualist pastor for advice on removing them. She said I should burn sage. Sage is supposed to drive out negative energy. I wrote a banishing script like kind used by occult practitioners centuries ago. I proceeded to burn the sage, and with a white candle I walked through the house reading the script. I was a bit brazen in the way that I spoke to the dark spirits. I forcefully told them that I am the boss and I insisted that they leave immediately. Unfortunately the sage had no effect on the dark spirits.
A week later I was meditating in the dark on the edge of my bed. Suddenly I felt something moving underneath my left eye. I have never felt anything like it before. I could only describe it as a bug crawling on my face. I said "Cut it out!", and I pushed my arms out at the space in front of me. I went to the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and observed that I had a red scratch under my left eye. It was a superficial mark. I asked my wife if she saw the scratch. She did and confirmed that it was not there prior to my meditation.
What this means for the subject of this article is that these evil spirits are bullies. They were trying to send me a message that I am subordinate to them. They see me as a lesser being. I disregarded their warning. The worst thing that a person can do with these foul creatures is show fear. I instead ignored them and went about my business.
The evil spirits did not make another move until about two months ago at my new residence (by now I realized that moving does not rid one of spirits). Bullies will often come back to retest their targets. One night I lying on my bed meditating with my eyes closed. Through my eye lids I observed an apparition floating on the ceiling. The vision was unclear, but could I see ribs and loose garments. It seemed to be floating on waves. I jumped up and waved my fists at it. That event effectively ended my meditation.
A few days later I was thinking about these beings and how I feel they have no power. A thought came to me from what I felt was outside of myself. It said "Do you remember when you were eighteen and you awoke from a sound sleep unable to breath? We were responsible for that." This is a true experience I had when I was a teenager. Mother and brother came into my bedroom alarmed by what they saw. I fell unconscious on the floor for a few seconds. I consulted with a physician, but he was unable to determine the cause. I have not had a similar experience since then.
These dark spirits have physically assaulted me and threatened my life. I continue to defy them in spite of their intimidation. I am aware that it will do them little good to kill me, as I am a spirit myself, and I cannot die. So their threats are in vain. I'm sure they know this.
I may as well continue my discussion about the dark spirits since I am on the subject. There are some myths about demonic possession and spirit possession in general. Possessions by evil spirits are relatively uncommon. At least in most industrialized nations. In some cultures, people are open to possession. Who really wants an evil spirit taking possession of their body? A person must submit to the will of the spirit in order for the supernatural possession to occur. This means that the dark spirits or other entities must have the consent and cooperation of the host, or the possession will not take place. Evil spirits know who the suitable candidates are. They are opportunistic and in search of easy prey. Spirits also require a kind of technical expertise to make a classic possession work. Most malevolent spirits lack the metaphysical knowledge required to pull off the kind of dramatic possessions seen on television.
My point in relating my experiences with dark entities is that I want my readers to understand that backing down from a bully will only make your situation worse. In fact, showing weakness only encourages the dream characters, spirits, phantoms, and demons to continue their harassment. It's important to stand up to these nonphysical beings and show them you are not going to take it.
Self-defense instructors teach women to yell, scream, kick, bite and get the attention of others when they are attacked by a stranger. An attacker will usually run away rather than risk getting caught. Victims are people who submit to the aggression of bullies. Similarly a burglar will avoid breaking into a house with dogs. Chances are good that there are a lot other houses in the same neighborhood without pets. Criminal offenders sometimes use a part of their brain that requires rational thinking. They just need to put it to better use.
