Cultivating Genuine Freedom in a Global Culture of Fear

Seems every other day there’s a mass shooting, an international terror attack, or some other act of terrorism with which our minds must contend.

Depending where you live in the world the issues themselves have varying veracity in terms of threat level.  And although any area or facility could be a target, it’s clear that the risk remains higher in certain regions and situations.

But there’s a new crazy getting around.  It’s that person who’s thrown their caution to the wind.  They’re capable of anything, with access to weapons and the initiative to make a plan.  Crazy can happen anywhere, anytime.  And if that’s today’s thing, what will be tomorrow’s?

We exist in a culture of fear, particularly if you invest your time in the News Press, spend any significant time on social media, or have a life that takes you into the community.  We can’t escape it.

So how do we cultivate freedom
to oppose this culture of fear?

We must learn to switch our conscious thoughts to those in our midst again; to our wives, children, husbands, parents, siblings, and our friends and work colleagues.  We must learn and relearn the value of entering the land of the living, and to resist spending inordinate amounts of time in the fake world of curated crime reports and social media hype.  We must return again and again to the state of living life.  We must learn, too, that all of this life is not yet revealed to us, so we must learn to trust our loving God.

Cultivating the personal and interpersonal freedoms of acceptance in community is the only way to resist the culture of fear sweeping the globe.

The more we refocus on people in real life situations, the less we’ll fear what could or might happen in the worlds of our imaginations.

Resisting the culture of fear in our world is as simple as insisting on cultivating freedom through being present with those around us.

Freedom is a choice of response when fear abounds.
Make it your possession.

© 2016 Steve Wickham.