ABSTRACT

Fear is one of our most powerful emotions. Giving in to fear can keep us in a quagmire of misery and overcoming it can lead us on to “taking the world by storm.” But why is it so powerful? One reason is that fear causes us to distort, deny, or avoid the truth. Truth is one of our highest ideals and is often very demanding. Knowing the truth may require us to take action that is terrifying. When Dan discovered that his most respected spiritual leader was dishonest, that truth required examining his own spiritual beliefs, exposing the dishonesty, and publicly going in a different direction. For Dan, this became a lonely journey leading him to become a community of one. Denying that truth would have meant Dan was collaborating with the dishonesty. He likely would have felt miserable inside and most certainly would have lost self-respect.