What Is The Opposite Of Fear?

[Arcaninesy]

My cousin asked an interesting question today:

 

So today I was posed an interesting question through a book study: What is the opposite of fear?

 

The obvious answer is courage' date=' but I would pose the thought that courage is not a feeling or state of being at all, but instead simply a word we attribute to actions that are taken in a fearful situation.

 

So, what is the opposite of fear? The question stumped me.[/quote']

 

Here is my response:

 

In the beginning you said "The obvious answer is courage, but I would pose the thought that courage is not a feeling or state of being at all, but instead simply a word we attribute to actions that are taken in a fearful situation. "

While I do agree that it is a descriptive term and not a tangible thing, I do not believe it is the term for actions taken out of fear. Rather, it is a term for our defense against fear. The difference is great--fear doesn't... Shall I say "instill"? courage in people, and yet courage is often the result of fear.

 

Our defense against fear is made up of many emotions, which together we call courage. When we say someone is courageous, what do we mean? We mean that person has acted, or seems to have acted logically and without fear in response to a sitiuation. "Without fear" is folly, and can be interpreted to mean "acted without letting his or her fear control his or her response to the situation." This situation usually includes something that induces fear in people--otherwise it would be no accomplishment to remain calm and logical in that situation, and thus no one would deem a person going through it courageous.

 

I believe that there is no true opposite of fear. That's not to say there isn't anything that counters it entirely, which stupidity, ignorance, and insanity all do, but to say that there isn't some magical emotion or feeling that fights one-on-one battles against "fear" in our daily lives. Instead, we work to either hide our fear, deal with it (get over it), or ignore it. When we deal with our fear, it usually involves facing it head-on, attempting to understand it, and then logically building our own defense against it. The fear of death is something that many people either ignore until late in life, or deal with through religion.

 

The things that make up our bulwarks against fear include love, joy, trust, friendship, kindness, happiness, amusement, patience, caution, pride, relaxation, respect, hope, and probably many others. In certain situations even negative emotions like anger and hate serve to protect us against fear. I submit that logic is as good a defence--or a support for our defensive barricade as any of the above, although many individually should take prevalence depending on the situation.

 

Whether or not I'm correct is not for me to say. These are my opinions on the subject, and worth what you paid for them.

 

 

 

What do you think?

[BukLau]

i think

 

tl;dr

[Goat]

Calmness

[Puffy420blazeit]

Write a book and sell millions.

[Dolan]

masturbation

[StyleeZy]

Bravery yo.

[MyMindIsBlank]

an anime I can refer to you about this topic is Soul Eater.