"The problem with fear," Yin went on, "is that it can be very subtle and sneak up on us quickly. You see, a fear image is always about some outcome we don't want. We fear failing, embarrassing ourselves or our families, losing our freedom or someone we love, or our own lives. The difficult part is that when we begin to feel such fear, it often turns into anger, and we use this anger to martial our forces and fight back against whoever we feel is the threat.
"Whether we are feeling fear or anger, we have to realize that these emotions come from one source: those aspects of our lives we want to hold on to.
"[Since] fear and anger come from being concerned that we are going to lose something, the way to avoid these emotions is to be detached from all outcomes."
* * *
"I did not say not to care," he continued. "I said not to be attached to any particular outcome. What we get in life is always slightly different from what we want anyway. To be detached is to realize that there is always a higher purpose that can be found in any event, in any outcome. We can always find a silver lining, a positive meaning, that we can build on."
The Secret of Shambhala, by James Redfield, published in 1999.
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