The absence of fear makes us feel at peace with ourselves. If we think about it, most of the fears we experience are imaginary and do not help us to live well. Living in fear means living imprisoned inside a small bubble that limits our experience as human beings.
Last update: May 24, 2020
Edoardo Punset is one of the most read and loved thinkers of our time who bequeathed us some very wise thoughts. Today we are dealing with one of the most revealing and interesting statements of him. We refer to a sentence of his in which he states that the absence of fear leads to happiness. To this we can add another sentence: "beauty is the absence of pain".
Punset reflected on many realities that affect the world today. Among these, also on the pursuit of happiness. "Happiness" is a widely used word, the meaning of which is difficult to define. This is perhaps the first difficulty we encounter when we relate to this state of mind. We don't know exactly what it is.
"The soul that thinks of what it can fear begins to fear what it can think."
-Francisco de Quevedo-
Some seek happiness through success and power, others in great loves or loved ones. There are also those who give it up because they are tired of feeling disappointed because they cannot find it. When Edoardo Punset tells us that the absence of fear leads to happiness, he offers us a much more realistic and profound perspective. Let's see why.
Happiness is within us
Surely, we all know someone who is satisfied with their professional achievements and what they have; even if he has lived through some periods that are not exactly idyllic and his life cannot be defined as "successful". It is also possible that you have met a person with power, success, surrounded by people who love her but are not happy.
Many are convinced that happiness must be found within oneself. Often, however, we tend to forget this truth. Indeed, we do just the opposite. We look for something outside thinking that when we get it, we will be happy.
That something external can be a love, a goal to be achieved, an object. And so, we find ourselves tied to things over which we have little or no control. It also happens that once we have what we wanted, we realize that the happiness we were looking for is not as complete as we imagined.
When Punset says that the absence of fear leads to happiness, he also wants to convey two other concepts to us. The first is that happiness is within each of us. The second is that it is not a question of having or obtaining something, but rather of eliminating an emotion that oppresses us.
The absence of fear
Punset speaks of the absence of fear in a relative sense. Being afraid is not only normal, it is also healthy. It is the emotion that allows us to perceive the risks and dangers and prepares us to face them. However, in trying to protect ourselves, we sometimes overdo it a bit.
This happens when we consider something risky or dangerous that does not actually pose a threat to us. Why does this happen? Generally, this attitude is due to the effects of the education received. It can also be the result of an unresolved psychological conflict.
Be that as it may, we carry imaginary fears that oppress us and make us unhappy. This leads us to fear happiness and avoid it. Out of fear, we impose bans on ourselves and reject positive experiences thus hurting ourselves.
How to eradicate fear
Punset is absolutely right when he relates happiness to the absence of fear. Freeing ourselves from imaginary fears allows us to savor life more freely. Furthermore, we can express ourselves in all our fullness by overcoming the rigid limits that we self-impose due to the fear of going beyond.
Edoardo Punset argues that if someone wants to be happy, they must first reflect on their fears. What are we afraid of? Why are we afraid of something? Through these simple questions, we can relate to ourselves and have answers that may even surprise us. Depending on the answers, we may realize that there are fears that we don't intend to face or that we don't really care about.
The absence of fear leads to inner peace. We must stop living life on the basis of imaginary dangers and replace fear with trust. This attitude will allow us to experience a feeling of lightness that will help us face the various situations in which we will find ourselves. How to leave behind the daily fears that do not allow us to live well? This will be the subject of another article.
