fear from WWIII by Andrew Blair
Tracklist
| 13. | fear | 7:29 |
Lyrics
Fear is at the root of man's destruction of himself. Without Fear there is no blame. Without blame there is no conflict. Without blame there is no destruction. But there is Fear; Deep within the core of every human being it lurks like a monster, dark and intangible. Its outward effects are unmistakeable. Its sourse hidden.
It can be seen on one level in furtive embarrassment, argumentative protest, social veneer and miserable isolation. It can be seen on another level in the mammoth buildup of war machines in every corner of the world. It can be seen in the fantasy world of escapism known as entertainment. It can be seen in the squalor of ghettos and pretentious elegance of civilized society. It can be seen in the desperate rat race of commerce and industry, the sensational slanderings of the press, the constant backbiting of the political arena, and the lost world of the helpless junkie who has passed beyond the point of no return.
The tight lipped suppression of the rigid moralist reflects it, as does the violent protest of the anarchist. But more starkly and tragically then anywhere else, it manifests in the pale grey shadow of the ordinary person, whose fear clamps down on all his instincts and traps him in the narrow confines of the socially accepted norm. Afraid either to step down into the darkness of his lower self or rise up into the light of his higher self, he hangs suspended in between, stultified into the alien pattern of nothingness.
But to a greater or lesser degree, and manifesting one way or another, all human beings are afraid and some of us are so afraid we dare not show our fear. Sometimes we dare not even know our fear. For fear itself is, a terrifying concept to behold.
We may confess to being afraid of violence and pain and even ghosts; and with such obvious terrors, pigeon-hole our fear to our own satisfaction. But fear of people, fear of ourselves, fear of failure, fear of loss, fear of our closest friends, fear of isolation, fear of contact, fear of loneliness, fear of involvement, fear of rejection, fear of commitment, fear of sickness, fear of deprivation, fear of inadequacy, fear of emotion, fear of God, fear of knowledge, fear of death, fear of responsibility, fear of sin, fear of virtue, fear of guilt, fear of punishment, fear of damnation, fear of the consequences of our actions, and fear of our own fear. How many of us recognize the presence of ourselves in these?
And if some of us recognize some of them, are we prepared to see the full extent of them? Do we know just how afraid we are? And do we know the effect fear has on our lives? Do we know how completely we are governed by fear?
And do we know that the world is governed by the, sum total of every human beings fear, and ours is not excluded?
Do we know the extent to which we are at odds with one other- despite some promising apparencies simply through the fear of one another? Do we know the extent to which we are at war with one another on every level from personal to world wide- because we are afraid?
And do we know that wars and rumours of wars mount up in an ascending spiral of violence and potential violence as the fear in the hearts of men intensifies? Do we know that strife of every kind increases as hatred, resentment, jealousy, and prejudice increase and that all these things stem from one thing only; Fear?
And do we know that only one thing ensures the escalation of the spiral of violence and destruction; our own unwillingness to recognize the full extent of our fear and its effects - our fear of fear?
For each and everyone of us, as long as he is afraid and is unwilling to see with full clarity his fear for what it is, contributes to the crippling conflict that has become the hallmark of this world of ours. And as long as there is fear and together with the unwillingness to see it clearly and completely, as long as human beings are afraid and also fail to recognize the fact in their need to isolate themselves, in their outbursts of anger and irritation in their embarrassment, in their sense of failure, in their feelings of resentment and frustration, in their desire for revenge, in their guilt, in their confusion, in their uncertainty, in their disappointment, in their anxiety about the future, and their wish to forget the past, in their need to blame others and justify themselves, in their sense of helplessness and despair, in their revulsion and disgust, in their need to be vicious and spiteful, in their lack of confidence, in their tendency to boast and protest their superiority, in their futility, in their misery and in their scorn; as long as human beings fail to see THEIR fear reflected in these and hundreds of manifestations of fear, then they will fail to see their part in the relentless tide of hatred and violence, destruction and devastation, that sweeps the earth. And the tide will not end till all is destroyed!
Credits
Quoted from Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain" vinyl cover
