Litany Against Fear, Thought Crimes and Thought Control – Thought Police Part III

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

I have been using the Litany against fear quite a bit of late, it is an effective tool against some strong emotions. I sound like a Vulcan, but strong emotions aren’t always good.

The litany was first used by Paul Atreides, when he was facing the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, as his hand was in the box of pain and a gom jabbar poison needle was at his throat to test his humanity. This all takes place in the novel Dune by Frank Herbert.

Rage and anger aren’t the best. I find that once a vicious circle of anger starts, it’s hard to get out of it; you know what I mean, you keep thinking about what happened and go over and over it in your head, each time making you more angry.

Meditation is the key. Relaxing yourself and finding a way to no longer be affected by it. It leads to a way to control your thoughts, at least partially.

Dwelling on negative thoughts has never been my forte. But it happens. During those times, I wish myself away with my mind. I find that it helps. Some things make me really angry and thinking about them makes me even angrier. Rage is easy to build up and then loosing your temper is not far away.

Thankfully, I rarely loose my temper. In fact, I can’t remember the last time that it happened truly. I do sometimes loose my temper on purpose to make a specific point. But I am not a saint, far from it. Negative emotions fester and develop sometimes.

Taiwan has a way of setting them off, if you can believe it. As foreigners, we are isolated. We have no support mechanism, there is no way out for us, other than trying to deal with it.

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Relevant Posts

• Thought Police
• Thought Police Part II

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