FEAR
In the final chapter of this journey, we explore the implications and nuances of fear. This often stifling emotion is elicited by the threat of danger — manifesting in the brain’s amygdala region, where emotional response is detected through the perception of stimuli. Across many disciplines of thought, fear tends to form more than just a feeling, rather it is a weighted energy that accumulates within our being, giving rise to instinctual discomfort and patterning. While fear is thought to be a negative response, it is also one of our most intrinsic and ancient compasses, having been with us as an energetic motivator that has refined humankind’s development on this earth. In this regard, we wonder about the transmutative possibilities of fear, as a companion on our path in this life — to be utilised, shed or healed in order for us to attain our higher potential?
‘’I think fear for me is very prevalent in my life. I am fearful of dying, failing and of not seeing through my whole life and accomplishments. Sometimes I feel like it holds me back, but I also feel like it keeps me going? The fear of failing of motivates to work hard and do my best. I want to feel that urgency and need to push forward.” — Jabu Newman recognizes this very act of acknowledging fear as a force that can move us forward.
Siwa Mgoboza states, “I have overcome my fear of life, love and simply existing. Particularly as a black person and a queer person — there was always something I feared, especially in relation to expressing my femineity. I think there was a time in my life where I suppressed so much of my fluid side, and scared of the reaction of the people around me in response to when I should allow myself to be me.”
“I have really been thinking about fear lately. I have been in a very reflective space in the last week before this recording, and going through recordings from the last few years — and moments that I felt were very powerful in my life. I look through these moments, and there is this common thread at every stage — there is this accompanied fear.” Yonela Makoba contemplates fear as the companion that is always near — and the subtleties of its expression.
