Origin of Fear by Eckhart Tolle

The psychological condition of fear is divorced from from any concrete and true immediate danger. It comes in many forms: unease, worry, anxiety, nervousness, tension, dread, phobia, and son on. This kind of psychological fear is always of something that might happen, not of something that is happening now.

You are in the here and now, while your mind is in the future. This creates an anxiety gap. And if you are identified with your mind and have lost touch with the power and simplicity of the Now, that anxiety gap will be your constant companion.

You can always cope with the present moment, but you cannot cope with something that is only a mind projection - you cannot cope with the future....As long as you are identified with your mind, the ego runs your life...

Because of its phantom nature, and despite elaborate defence mechanisms, the ego is very vulnerable and insecure, and sees itself as constantly under threat.

Now remember that an emotion is the body's reaction to your mind. What message is the body receiving continuously from the ego, the false, mind made self?

"Danger, I am under threat."

And what is the emotion generated by this continuous message?

Fear, of course.

Fear seems to have many causes. Fear of loss, fear of failure, fear of being hurt, and so on; but ultimately all fear is is the ego's fear of death, of annihilation.

To the ego, death is always just around the corner.