I recently read about an initiation ceremony that was used anciently in Egypt to help people reduce/eliminate fear. These Egyptians understood that Fear was a barrier that prevented people from ascending into a higher consciousness. So they spent many years training their students until finally they came to one particular challenge to assess where there students were at. This is what they did:
There was a small hole, just large enough to fit one person. Within that hole was water and it was pitch black. The student was instructed to swim down into the hole that was filled with water and find another way out. That was all they were told. As the student swam straight down, there were ledges that jutted into the column of water, so the student had to carefully navigate himself/herself downwards. At about 20 feet, the wall on one side opened up and the student was able to swim underneath it to a section that was lighted. So, as the student enters this area, he/she starts to swim upward and that is when it becomes apparent that there are many alligators within the pool of water. However, because the student is about to run out of air at this point, he/she has to go up in between the alligators in order to get air. What the student doesn't know is that all of the alligators were already fed, so it is unlikely that the alligators would attack the student. Regardless, it would be quite the "Fear Factor" adventure. Then to top it off, the student is told that he/she failed because there was a different exit point than the one they used. So, after more training, the student enters the dark abyss again (knowing that there are alligators) and find the opening at the bottom of the wall on the other side, which is also pitch black and go up through that.
Although I doubt I'll ever go through that kind of "overcoming fear" adventure, I think the topic of overcoming fear is interesting and important in our spiritual development. There are so many fears that we have that can stifle our growth. They say the #1 fear of all people is speaking in public, followed by death. But there are so many other fears, such as fear of germs/diseases, fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of opening yourself up to someone and communicating your true feelings, etc.
But rather than list all of the various kinds of fear, I would like to point out an example that I like to think about. Remember when Christ walked on the water? He wasn't the only one who did. Peter also walked on the water (at least for a little while) and then he sunk in the water. And then Jesus asked Peter the question, "Why do you fear?".... So, it is apparent that it was the fear within Peter that caused an abrupt halt to Peter's miraculous feat. Although we would expect Jesus, to be able to perform a miracles such as that, the fact that Peter was able to do it is amazing because it helps me to understand that I, too, have the capacity to perform miracles and fear is the number one enemy that gets in the way of our spiritual advancement. The Egyptians understood this and that is why I believe they were so focused on helping people face their fears and then overcome them. Christ was not fearful, even in the face of death... and if we can even come a little closer to overcoming more of our own fears, we will become more like Christ and only accelerate our spiritual growth. In the next blog post, I'm going to share an experience I had that deal with facing my own fears.
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