How has FRM worked for you?

[Darwinn]

1. Fear is a core motivator, like other emotions, why would I do things without it?

Fear is a core motivator.  But it is an unnecessary one, and a negative one that does more harm than good.  You would do things without it because there are better ways.

2. Fear is like all other emotions, if i don't need fear, why have any emotion at all? 

Fear is one emotion out of a palette of possible emotional states.  Extending your argument to "if i don't need fear, why have any emotion at all?" is a non-sequitur and is illogical.  By the same logic, we arrive at the following statements:

• If you don't need the Joker card in the deck for playing a game, why have any cards at all?  
  
• If I don't need yellow, why have any color at all?
  
• If I don't eat fish, why have any seafood at all?
  
• If I don't need .22 Long Rifle Ammunition, why have any ammunition at all?
  
• If I don't need volume 23 of the encyclopedia, why have any of the other volumes at all?
  

As you can see, this logic is faulty to the point of ridiculous.  You can still play a game without the joker card if it doesn't require the joker card, but only if you have the other cards.  You can still paint in color without yellow and make paintings that make sense and work.  You can still have snow crab even if you don't have fish.  Your gun may not take .22 LR ammunition; maybe it needs .40 caliber instead.  And you may need the information contained in Volume 18 of the encyclopedia right now, but other volumes will become useful later on.

3. Fear, like my other feelings, are a part of my identity - without fear i may as well just shut down my identity

Once again, an irrational argument.  Fear may be part of your identity, but your identity can and does change over time.  And, the only reason fear is a part of your identity is because it is what you have known in the past.  To say you may as well just shut down your identity is to say that because you have never experienced change in this direction, it cannot be done, now or ever.  The fact is, you can change, your identity can change, and you can exist and have a perfectly valid identity without fear.  This argument is based on a fear of having no fear!

4. being without fear would make the world lose definition and distinction which would leave me without direction. 

This is just ridiculous, and very obviously a fear based cop out.  If ever since you can remember you had a shackle around your left ankle that was connected to a chain with a 50 pound steel ball at the end, would the world lose definition and leave you without direction if that chain were to break, or the shackle was unlocked?  Quite the reverse, in fact.  Fear is not just a liar, it is an imprisonment.  Freedom from prison never made any inmate ever feel like life lost its definition and left them without direction.  So why would that be true for you?  

You are again afraid of not having the limitations fear gives you.  In other words, you have this self imposed prison because you want the limitations, and they make you feel safe.  The reality is, being limited by fear does not make you any safer.  That feeling is an illusion, just as is the danger you fear in almost all cases.  Being without that self imposed prison of fear makes you free.  You can do whatever you want.  But not knowing what to do with that freedom frequently triggers more fear.  

This is why fear is so difficult to kill: it is self referencing.  It is self supporting.  It is self regenerating.  It is irrational, illogical and deceptive in the extreme.  And the parts of you that generate fear cannot comprehend logic.  

You can live without fear.  You can live more safely and happily without fear.  All we need to do is figure out why the current script is not achieving its goals and then make the adjustments.  I'm working on that.  But any argument for your fears and keeping them and why they're good is by nature going to be irrational and illogical, because fear is unnecessary, negative and does more harm than good.

Without fear, how much better would your life be because of your freedom to do whatever achieved the best outcome?

Again, intellectually I haven't any problem with what you're saying. It's not hard to see those limiting beliefs don't stand up to intellectual scrutiny.  I think that yes I can live more happily without fear - safe i'm not so sure. 

Still, I've accepted the premise that fear is counterproductive, and worth losing, in fact I've even said that fears tend to generate exactly what they're supposed to help you avoid which is pretty insane to reflect on.  I can literally see that I have a fear, and the actions driven by that fear create exactly the result to be avoided; some forms of procrastination are a great example of this.

Worth noting as an aside - none of this is a definitive proof of that premise. 

The point is, those beliefs hold in physical sensations and are hard to shake - they go deeper than logic for me as you seem to have know with your reference toward modalities of focus (really interesting by the way, do you have any material on this you could point me toward on this?).

In any case, i'm up for the next iteration of FRM.