Darts Are The Dad-Killer

   "I must not fear.
    Fear is the mind-killer.
    Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
    I will face my fear.
    I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
    And when it has gone past me I will turn to see fears path.
    Where the fear has gone there will be nothing......Only I will remain."
--- The Litany Against Fear, Frank Herbert

There is an amazing tumbler page entitled: Calvin and Muad'Dib that takes quotes from the original Dune series by Frank Herbert, and puts them in Calvin and Hobbes Cartoons.

This is my favorite so far:

from Calvin and Muad'Dib

There is actually Calvin and Hobbes version of the Litany Against Fear on there, but this post is not about Calvin and Muad'Dib, I only bring it up because, well, its awesome. Also the Litany Against Fear pertains to actual comic for today as well as the topic it brings up for me, which is fear.

This comic is about fear.

Fear, besides being the mind-killer and the little death is a theme in Calvin and Hobbes. More specifically, there is a theme of facing what one fears. There is in this comic and many of the others a motif (I think motif is right) of the fear to everyone but Calvin and Hobbes to be completely unfounded. Most of our fears are like this too. Even are fear of how we are so fearful all the time doesn't stand up to scrutiny very well.

It is strange to me that in Christianity we are not taught how to deal with fear. We have this weird catchall method of dealing with all problems, material, physical, mental spiritual emotional etc. which is prayer or "Turning it over to God." We are taught to not fear, and that we should not fear, but not how to deal with fear when it actually comes up other than to wish it away through prayer. It is what made the Litany Against Fear so fascinating to me and my friends who read Dune. "You mean there is an actual concrete thing to do when fear arises?" It was immensely empowering and like saying "42" or "Ni" to people to let them know that you have read The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy or loved Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail and seeing whether they get the reference too, reciting The Litany Against Fear is the quick way to find and identify Dune lovers.

Since taking up Buddhist mental practices I have learned a whole tool box worth of tools to deal with emotions. Emotions are not one thing. They are many things, and when all the pieces are teased apart that sense of being carried away by emotions also falls apart. For instance there is the object of fear, the mental chatter about the object, the physical feeling of fear, and the cause of fear. Calvin's dad believes that the object is the cause. Since the object (a monster) doesn't exist, and he shows this to Calvin, he assumes that there is no cause to fear and so Calvin will not fear. Calvin however begins mental chatter about the monster which gives rise to the physical feelings of fear. In the first panel of the last line, Calvin's mental chatter turns from fear to courage. The physical feeling however lag, the energy of fear is still present and so when his Dad comes back in, the fear takes over and transforms his dad into the monster which gives Calvin the energy to attack, because his mind is with the fight of the "fight or flight" response.

When any of these pieces break, the fear dissipates. The easiest place to start is with the feelings in the body. When we learn calming techniques and can calm the body during tense emotional times, we can face the situation from a place of calm, even if the mental chatter is still fearful. The Litany Against Fear is such a technique, and is accompanied in the books by conscious calming breathing. The reason it is the easiest is because it is the most accessible and obvious. We don't always know what or why we fear, and focusing on the mental chatter we get into a argument with ourselves and usually lose. But the actual physical feeling of fear is visceral and identifiable, and actually not fear. It is just a set of body sensations. It takes all the other mental condition to form fear, but without the physical feelings, those other conditions don't add up to fear either. When the body is calm, the mind calms down as well, and investigation into the nature of the object of fear, and the cause of fear can commence. When the cause is found it can be dealt with. If Calvin had been calm, he would have recognized his Dad and not mistaken him for a monster. He could have simply looked for the monsters himself and speculated why in the absence of monsters, he feared them so much. But then Calvin is six, and not even his Dad knows anything about fear, so who would have taught him?

But what really, really, really, gets me about this particular comic is: how did he get those darts to stick?! I could never get them to stick like that on glass much less a person!

Anyways time for bed...