Assuming that All HUMAN BEINGS experience fear at some point in their lives, what could be their enemy number one?
Upon learning about my area of study (i.e. Leadership and fear), my program mentor, a professor in the Education Deaprtment at SIT Graduate institute in Vermont, Alex Silverman wrote me the following: "What an intriguing area of study,... There is both fear of the leader and the fear experienced by the leader, I would think. I will enjoy reading what you come up with" (Silverman, 2010, Nov.16).
This observation and comment left me thinking, supposing that Alex is right and both the leaders and the led do fear, is there at least one common thing that can cause the two groups to fear? In other words, what is it that can be singled out as the number one source of fear among the humans in spite of their social classes?
As as if to attempt to respond to this question, Yi Fu Tuan in his study, Landscapes of Fear postulated that, "So much of human fear is of other people who sustain our world but also threaten it" (1979, 129). Moreover the same author also argued that,
"Our feelings toward our fellow human beings are often ambivalent. We need them and like them but there are times when they threaten us just as beasts, monsters and witches do. We need the company of others but have also secretly wished for their absence" (1979, p. 113).
So it seems for Tuan, human beings do play a major role in instilling fear into the lives of each other but the major problem is that, sometimes people need the company of other people.
I am not really sure if there is anything out there that can bit 'other human beings' as the major source of fear for all people. What do others think?
All human beings are born. Then at some point learn that they will die. The most common human fear is of death.
ReplyDeleteThat is a "view" but a fairly common one with a lot of literature surrounding it. The fact that often this baseline "fear" is not given word or articulated perhaps gives us a clue as to why manifestations of fear are much more complex when considered holistically and in it's unique manifestations in individuals. But that doesn't mean it can't be studied.
Is is possible to examine different "spheres" identified as "fear" and to then see how they are different and then what they have in common?
How do various humans perceive themselves as "fearing"? It's a matter of description I think.
There is no doubt that death is something that instills a lot of fear. So should we think that people are afraid of other people as postulated by Yi-Fu Tuan is as far as they are capable of killing or causing harm or death to their counterparts or what?
ReplyDeleteAlmost everyone experience fear in one way or the other. It is true that most people fear death because of various reasons. Some people may not be afraid of death its self, but the thought of what would then happen to my relatives, for example, husband or child after my death. Some may be afraid of the circumstances of what leads to death like long illness, pains from gun shots or car crush etc.
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