Fear It’s three a.m. The weather outside of your frosted over bedroom window is completely still; the cold appears to freeze everything in its path. You regain consciousness from your deep slumber and realize what woke you. Knock. A few seconds pass. Knock... Knock. Sweat drips down the side of your forehead as you consider the worst possible options. Is someone breaking into the garage? There is a loud crashing noise. Time to take action. You stumble around searching for anything that can provide self defense. A shiver runs up your spine, then wraps around your chest making it feel as like you are breathing in an arctic rush of air. The sweaty palm of your hand grips a frying pan as you make your way to the door. The hinges squeak while being
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Fears in the modern today, are not what they were in the past. Even though society has greatly changed as a whole, the same genetics are in place as if the world consisted of nomad hunters, scavenging for food. Most people will rattle off spiders, public speaking, or heights as their top fears, but widely unknown is that there is only five fears that everyone has in common. All other fabricated fears, the ones that the mind generates, will fall into one of the five categories. These five, in order from strongest to weakest, are the fear of extinction, mutilation, loss of autonomy, separation, and lastly, ego-death. The foundation of fear is built within each level of the hierarchy (Albrecht). Ultimately, these fears, that are linked to many other emotions and that every person shares with one another, have the ability to prompt a decision, sometimes irrational, as well as motivate to maintain …show more content…
Snakes, spiders, and blood would make a person that is sensitive to the fear of mutilation need to run, scream, or pass out. Even though bugs and animals are much more afraid of human beings, those creatures have the ability to petrify someone who is deathly afraid of them. How can a person coward around a snake, if they have never even seen one? The brain is wired that “humans might be genetically predisposed to fear certain harmful things like spiders, snakes and rats -- animals that once posed a real danger” (Layton). Even if the living thing has never been personally encountered, it makes sense to be scared of spiders that are known for being poisonous or rats that carry diseases. Any sort of potential bodily harm is sought to be limited by the brain through initiating the emotion of
Fears in the modern today, are not what they were in the past. Even though society has greatly changed as a whole, the same genetics are in place as if the world consisted of nomad hunters, scavenging for food. Most people will rattle off spiders, public speaking, or heights as their top fears, but widely unknown is that there is only five fears that everyone has in common. All other fabricated fears, the ones that the mind generates, will fall into one of the five categories. These five, in order from strongest to weakest, are the fear of extinction, mutilation, loss of autonomy, separation, and lastly, ego-death. The foundation of fear is built within each level of the hierarchy (Albrecht). Ultimately, these fears, that are linked to many other emotions and that every person shares with one another, have the ability to prompt a decision, sometimes irrational, as well as motivate to maintain …show more content…
Snakes, spiders, and blood would make a person that is sensitive to the fear of mutilation need to run, scream, or pass out. Even though bugs and animals are much more afraid of human beings, those creatures have the ability to petrify someone who is deathly afraid of them. How can a person coward around a snake, if they have never even seen one? The brain is wired that “humans might be genetically predisposed to fear certain harmful things like spiders, snakes and rats -- animals that once posed a real danger” (Layton). Even if the living thing has never been personally encountered, it makes sense to be scared of spiders that are known for being poisonous or rats that carry diseases. Any sort of potential bodily harm is sought to be limited by the brain through initiating the emotion of