"Fear no man"? Is this good?

[jks9199]

Advertising hyperbole aside, fear is a double edged sword..........it's usefulness depends on the situation, and a couple exact definitions of exactly what we mean by 'fear'.

Great point.

Fear can be useful, both to spur us on when we're running from a bear or the like, and to warn us that we're about to do something rather unwise...

Being afraid doesn't mean that you don't act -- but at least, if you're afraid of something reasonable (not a phobia, etc.), your body and mind are more primed to deal with the dangers.

 

[arnisador]

Fear losing your cash...

 

[BLACK LION]

"Fear" helped me turn the key off and pick my motorcycle up off myself and stand it on its kickstand after slamming into a stupid driver before being ran over by freeway traffic this past Sunday. I actually used the adrenaline dump to dead lift 400 lbs off of myself and upright.... 3 cheers for fear... and for gear.

 

[mograph]

There's fear and there's respect and understanding. You don't need to fear something to keep you safe, just a respect for it and what it can do. You can run from a threat screaming, or run because it's the right thing to do. If you're calm but aware of the nature of the threat (you respect it), you'll probably run just as fast as if you were scared ... and you might make better decisions if you're calm.

For example, I don't avoid bungee jumping because I feel fear when i think of it, I just think it's stupid. My wife is afraid of driving. I'm not, but I'm alive because i know how to drive and respect the dangers of the road. So I behave responsibly and learned to be quite aware of other drivers and spot dangers before they become accidents. If I were afraid while driving, I'd probably tense up, have tunnel vision, and freeze in a situation.

"Fear no man" is more likely to be an advertising slogan rather than a statement inviting intelligent discourse on the nature of fear.

I think that with training, we can learn to confront our fears and see them as either baseless or not very useful. We might not be able to eradicate all of them, but if we start with the minor ones, we can see how far we go.

 

[sgtmac_46]

It's kind of a difficult argument without defining the terms.......when we say 'Fear'......are we referring to the intellectual acknowledgment of a threat? Or the resulting physiological adrenal response?


As to the adrenal response, that is the great debate in modern self defense........because it divides the fine motor skill technique set from the gross motor skill technique set.


Upon further reflection of the nature of physical 'fear', i.e. the adrenal response.....it seems more applicable the more primal the conflict, i.e. the adrenal response is very important to fighting using your physical weapons, you become stronger, more immune to pain and injury because of the adrenal state.

As we go up the scale of tools and conflict we find that the adrenal state tends to hinder effective actions on some levels......for example a highly adrenal state tends to hinder our ability to fire a weapon accurately.

Pushed even further to the high tech combatant, the adrenal state, beyond a lower optimal level of arousal, would be an impediment to a fighter, pilot, for example, attempting to operate his plane effectively in combat.

So, it seems that the more complex the task involved in the combat situation, the lower the optimal level of adrenal arousal.

 

[Tames D]

I'm a little superstitious. If I start ignoring my fears then that will be the time I get hurt or killed. I try to control my fears.

 

[Tames D]

Hell Bill, you milked that ad for all it's worth...