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6 I The Best Online Education System in the world
GREATEST FEAR
Marian Baltazar
Class of 1980, University of the Philippines College of Manila
AB Political Science
Our mind can be flooded with a lot of thoughts and the thought of being afraid is what really frightens us most,
hence this is the greatest fear that a person can have. There is nothing more than putting us in danger than
what our mind ...has conceived or created. Actually, when that thing that we are frightened of happens, we
realize that it is not as bad as we have imagined though. I don’t really think that there is ever a protection
against fear. We still experience that uncertainty that we still wonder if we can rely on our defenses whenever
we think we have found some safety and this destroys our security.
In case we have not really notice it, we are actually the one that creates our own fear. If this is the case, we can
also uncreate it for it is just like a habit that can be broken too. So next time you feel it and you feel helpless,
you have to confront your worst fear instead. A good remedy against it then is to provoke it. If you are
frightened of losing something, then all you’ve got to do is to give it away. If you are afraid of heights, then
climb to a high place. If you feel terrified of speaking in public, then stand before an audience. This is the
simplest way of mastering fear.
The process of normal fear turning into phobia only means that our minds are strongly exaggerating the
situation, simply because it goes out of control. It is just like turning the height of the chair into a ravine or
maybe our mind turning the spiders into monsters. Fear can be a very uncomfortable feeling. We also need
to identify what kind of fear we are experiencing for us to eliminate and extricate it from our life. So that
means to have a remedy to this phobia means to habituate our minds back to the normal reaction.
There are many types of fear/phobia that can be identified. Some of these common fears are the following:
Acrophobia, which refers to the fear of heights; Aracnophobia, the fear of snakes; Agoraphobia, referring to
the fear of open spaces and also the Claustrophobia, which refers to the fear of confined spaces. There is also
the Belonephobia, referring to the fear of needles; Brontophobia, which refers to the fear of thunder and
lightning; Thalassophobia, the fear of the sea. You also have the Surinophobia, which refers to the fear of mice
and/or rats; Hamartophobia, refers to the fear of sinning and Thalassophobia which refers to the fear of the sea.
Not to mention Pentheraphobia, this refers to the fear of the mother-in-law and Xenophobia, referring to fear
of strangers or foreigners.
There are also some common fears that we can think of like Althazagoraphobia, this refers to the fear of being
forgotten or ignored; Metathesiophobia, which refers to fear of changes and Kakorrhaphiophobia, which is the
fear of failure. Then there is our most basic fear which is the fear of death, called the Necrophobia. When we
feel a sudden rush of blood to our face, making it red or pale, you get to be frightened or afraid and even with
the mere thought of being afraid alone constitutes our greatest fear.
Questions for discussions:
1. What do you consider as your greatest fear? Why?
2. Have you developed more than one kind of fear or phobia? Which among them do you consider as your
greatest fear? Why?
3. In your opinion, do you believe that our mind can conceive our greatest fear? Why or why not?
4. What do you think is the remedy to our greatest fear?
5. What is your reaction when you feel that greatest fear in your life? Explain your answer