The End of Fear

The End of Fear

Fear rolls in during the dead of night.

Fear of what? Of death? No, that we will have to endure an existence of pain.

When fear arises conceptualization can do nothing about it. We descend into the pit again, the heart freezing and the mind freaking.

Fear suggests we might "get hurt." But we HAVE been hurt, over and over, and mostly by ourselves. Nobody else could inflict so much damage because nobody else has the key to our secret sense of unworthiness.


Of what are we supposedly unworthy? What is this ultimate hurt that myths hint at - the wound that cannot be healed? It is the primal heartbreak . . . the loss of unconditional love.

This loss can only mean we are not worthy of being loved. Unable to bear such pain, self awareness withdraws into an ego that conceptualizes everything and feels nothing.

From this hell no redemption seems possible. Therefore fear is an ever present companion.

Until finally . . . Christmas comes.

The birth of Christ occurs in a cave. Not just any cave, but one used as a stable for animals. Holiness is born in the presence of “dumb beasts” that are patient and accepting, present and unassuming. The child’s bed is a manger, the wooden structure in which the animals feed. Divinity finds rest and peace among simple creatures.


This is not merely a historical tale to celebrate with food and decorations, but a truth for souls to experience. The body is one with those dumb beasts, patient and unassuming. It offers its flesh as stable and manger for the holy one’s birth. In cavernous dark warmth, humbly receptive to God’s infinite love, the body will wait upon the Christ child. It will worship not by display or pretense but through the genuine act of loving attention.


Christ born within changes the ancient dynamic of primal heartbreak. We were born into a conditional world and felt the loss of unconditional love - loss that has been carried and suffered throughout the years. But now unconditional love is born into us.

This is our rebirth into the beginning of authentic humanity – being “born again.” The primal pain finds at last a refuge of healing, a point of balance and integration.

This inner event is both reflected and hidden during Christmas. Beneath the season’s glitzy glitter a sacred mystery lies unseen by the world. God comes in humility – as usual – and one must go the distance, follow the star, take off the “kingly” robes in order to meekly enter the cave in which divinity awaits.

Bringing our poor gifts we receive in return the unspeakable gift . . . the birth of Life Eternal.