Fear and its offsprings, like insecurity and anxiety, often get a bum rap. The Taoist view rejects nothing - not even nothing. (sorry, I couldn't resist ). We know the benefits of fear by its other offsprings, like care and concern. A healthy degree of concern is what drives us to be watchful in each moment. Lazy unmindfulness only occurs when we don't care. And, we don't care when we feel no sense of awe (the source of 'fear').

If we ponder these two sides of fear, insecurity on one hand and concern on the other, we can see how important balance is. Too much and we become neurotic 'cowards' or, believe it or not, 'bullies' (fear drives the bully). Too little and we become lazy hedonistic bums where only the pleasures of the senses wake us up.

Balance is key. How do we maintain balance? I suspect we first need to realize our imbalance. That in such and such a way, or time, we are out of balance. Then comes the even trickier part, we have to 'care' enough to lean the other way, but not 'care' too much and go to the other extreme.

Now, if there is any such thing as free will, this is where it should show up. But then I would say, "No this is not free will, but rather just realizing deeply down what I really want in life, i.e., what I really care about". But remember, I must 'care' not to 'care' too much, eh? Tricky! Geez, it always comes back to this. Like it or not, one way or the other, our lives are driven by fear.

Oh, speaking of fear, I've noticed two other things: Focused fear and need blind side me. Peripheral fear and need awaken me. Staying focused on the periphery helps balance life. Is this one way to describe mindfulness?