Fearology: Paradox of Mortality

(Originally published at Slashermonster.com)

Fear is a biological mechanism which can either kill or save you. All of us are scared of something, however, some people are either paralyzed by fear or motivated to wrestle the hungry polar bear. If a Mack Truck is blazing a path of hell down the street, and you so happen to be standing in the way—there are only 3 choices: fight, flight or become roadkill.

Fear preserves life or causes it to prematurely deteriorate into perpetual death.

Everyone felt the cold hands of fear wrap around their soul. A hideous phobia has the potential to put someone’s mortality at risk, even though that same fear provides a motivation to preserve life. Muscles lock. Sweat drips into our eyes. Adrenaline wrenches the gut as we breathe shallow sips of air, and that’s if everything goes well.

These sensations may petrify our ability to rationally protect themselves when it matters. A fearful stasis puts our morality at risk, and it can be more lethal than the actual threat. Indecision is like an invisible guillotine.

Sometimes simply moving out the way is enough to keep us out of danger. Sometimes our body seemingly prefers to stand its ground and become splattered into bloody pieces by a runaway train.

Is it possible to be scared of fear? The fight or flight response is a natural instinct that defends us from situations that risk our well-being. If we deny ourselves either of those choices, we’re at the mercy of a hungry polar bear. Fear is the paradox of mortality. We can either be motivated by fear or imprisoned by our own inaction to save our lives.

People tend to ignore things that make their spine shutter—without ever giving their body a chance to feel fear. People who have a morbid fear of cats won’t cultivate the effort needed to confront a hellish feline; they’ll prefer to turn their back whenever they see a cat’s silhouette prowling upon a wall. Ailurophobics (phobia of cats) may initially experience a symptom or two: increased heartbeat or sweaty palms, however, a simple meow will cause them to shit their pants.

The demented menagerie of symptoms can be avoided if we don’t confront the thing which inspires fear to awaken inside us. When the time comes when we can no longer retreat—the lack of experience neutralizes our ability to fight or flight. Fear may convince us to do nothing, and that’s the moment when we become roadkill.