Fear is blinding. Fear causes irrationality. Fear freezes society in its tracks. Though, fear- an intrinsic, subconscious reaction, evolved from thousands of years of human trial and error- has the power to motivate. Many arguments debating the fear of life against the fear of death have plagued the minds of scholars as long as humans could rely on and discuss the significance of their preservational instincts, Twain being one of them. Commenting on the necessity to live life uninhibited, Mark Twain quantifies the value of life itself, suggesting that human mindfulness is one of the greatest enemies to progression and a meaningful existence. By highlighting the irrational fears of both life and death, Twain reveals that the secret to a morally
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While humans are distinctly intellectual beings, the evolution from savage animal to academic and analytical thinkers has not discounted the power of the human psyche and emotions. Some of the strongest emotions are useful, containing the ability to manipulate the body physically. For example, fear quite literally causes the heart to race, adrenaline to pump, and the senses to become more aware- a “flight or fight” response that helps prepare the body to either flee or attack. Yet, this response overwhelms the individual at sometimes inconvenient or irrational times. One should not fear living. Twain warns that a fear of living life without inhibitions will certainly prevent individual from being adventurous, thus keeping them from openly seeking out learning opportunities for fear of failure. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World relates to this concept. The World State feared imperfection. As a result, it feared life as past and present humans know it. Though the World State attempted to condition the imperfection out of its society, it also conditioned the intrinsic qualities of humanity out of its society. Without this imperfection, out of fear of failure, humanity had nowhere to progress. Perfection ultimately spells the end of progression. Without this fear of imperfection, Huxley’s society could’ve potentially thrived. This fear is not necessarily 100% irrational, however. Advanced creatures tend to seek solutions to unanswerable questions. Alexander the Great, though curious about the world around him, conquered a large portion of his world as a form of glorified cultural purification. The imperfection of the less civilized, the different, the unique all intrigued Alexander the Great, however, like many other conquerors, their “unlikeness” prompted an irrational fear and instinctual
While humans are distinctly intellectual beings, the evolution from savage animal to academic and analytical thinkers has not discounted the power of the human psyche and emotions. Some of the strongest emotions are useful, containing the ability to manipulate the body physically. For example, fear quite literally causes the heart to race, adrenaline to pump, and the senses to become more aware- a “flight or fight” response that helps prepare the body to either flee or attack. Yet, this response overwhelms the individual at sometimes inconvenient or irrational times. One should not fear living. Twain warns that a fear of living life without inhibitions will certainly prevent individual from being adventurous, thus keeping them from openly seeking out learning opportunities for fear of failure. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World relates to this concept. The World State feared imperfection. As a result, it feared life as past and present humans know it. Though the World State attempted to condition the imperfection out of its society, it also conditioned the intrinsic qualities of humanity out of its society. Without this imperfection, out of fear of failure, humanity had nowhere to progress. Perfection ultimately spells the end of progression. Without this fear of imperfection, Huxley’s society could’ve potentially thrived. This fear is not necessarily 100% irrational, however. Advanced creatures tend to seek solutions to unanswerable questions. Alexander the Great, though curious about the world around him, conquered a large portion of his world as a form of glorified cultural purification. The imperfection of the less civilized, the different, the unique all intrigued Alexander the Great, however, like many other conquerors, their “unlikeness” prompted an irrational fear and instinctual