Things that Go Bump in the Mind

Several times I’ve been asked why, when the Buddha talks about the roots of unskillful behavior, greed, aversion, delusion, he doesn’t include fear. That’s because there’s skillful fear and unskillful fear. Unskillful fear is fear that’s tied up in greed, aversion, and delusion. Skillful fear is when you realize that your actions have power. The things you do now will have consequences on into the future, so you want to be careful about what you do. You’re afraid of doing unskillful things because that will lead to suffering down the line. This kind of fear is what makes us heedful. And when we’re heedful, then when we’re faced with danger, we can act intelligently.

Someone once said that fear makes people stupid. But that’s not necessarily the case. It makes heedless people stupid. They’ve been drifting along not thinking of anything to be afraid of and suddenly realize there is something to be afraid of, they don’t know what to do. But when you’re heedful, you can plan. And when you have confidence in the Buddha’s teachings, then there’s a sense of well-being that comes when you know that you’re being heedful.

This last weekend someone asked me, “If you think about the consequences of your actions all the time, doesn’t that make you tense?” Of course you should think about the consequences because you’re the one who’s going to be receiving the results of your actions. But you learn how not to be tense because you have some confidence. There are people in the past who’ve seen what leads to happiness, what leads to suffering, and they’ve laid it out clearly. So you can act on that knowledge. When you act out of goodwill, when you act out of compassion, when you act out of discernment, mindfulness, then you’re a lot less likely to cause suffering. Your actions can lead to a sense of confidence that you’re doing the right thing.

So there is skillful fear. It’s not the things that go bump in the night. It’s the things that go bump in your mind. Those are the things to be afraid of. Greed, aversion, and delusion can come and bump you in the wrong direction. Greed makes you run after things, thinking, “I want to amass as much as I can. And then I have to protect it, and then I have to do harm. And it doesn’t matter because this is what I want.” This sort of thinking blinds you to the results of your actions. Anger is the same way. So is delusion. They make you do stupid things, and then you get tied up in trying to protect the things that you’ve gained from your stupidity.

Whereas if you act with heedfulness, then you realize that your true possessions are inside. The goodness that you do, that you say, that you think: That’s yours. You lose that only when you let other people lead you in the wrong direction. So that’s something you really can protect, something you do have power over. Which is why this is a kind of fear that comes not with a sense of powerlessness but comes with a sense of power. You learn how to use that power wisely. Then you don’t have to fear. You stay heedful, but you stay heedful with a sense of confidence that you’re on the right track.