In our youth, life is the movement toward goals and away from fears. With aging comes the winding down of this movement. The losses and failures that accrue through oneās life, in conjunction with the ever-increasing physical decline, awaken a natural āappreciationā of death. There is less ability to pursue goals, and even if there is, knowing that death draws near can make such efforts feel somewhat pointless.
And yet, we must continue to live out our days. Facing fear allows this transition to proceed with fewer problems. Indeed, facing fear is the most effective way to travel down the road toward death. Note: while this essay is about managing the later stages of life more effectively, a deeper understanding of the following applies to all facets of life, both in youth and old age! However, this probably requires decades of life experience to take seriously enough to apply personally. Yet, even then it is a daily challenge because applying principle to practice is not an innate ability.
Facing Fear
Facing fear is no once-and-done trick. Indeed, facing fear requires a constant ongoing vigilance. But, vigilance of what exactly? Because fear (a.k.a. the biological manifestation of entropy) governs every step we take in life, both literally and figuratively, the answer to that is subtle and murky. In our youth, fear brings about need, desire, and the drive to achieve something. As the years roll on, entropy manifests itself more as an increasing fear of pain, discomfort, loss, and dysfunction. The challenge for us lies in identifying how fearsāor more precisely entropyāinfluences our every action and overall approach to life. Success here improves our ability to deal with life more effectively.
Fear as a Manifestation of Entropy
Energy is necessary to maintain the order, structure and function of everything in the universe. Entropy is the natural and inexorable dissipation of energy (heat) over time. And so, with a dissipation of energy comes an increase in disorder, disorganization, and dysfunction. The unique thing about living things, from simple life forms to complex mammals, is their ability to reverse entropy for a time, i.e., bring about negentropy. Living things strive to accrue enough energy to counteract entropy, which they then āburnā in biological work to create and then maintain the order, structure and function essential for their survival. Survival requires continually working against entropy (disorder, disorganization, dysfunction) that is always increasing over time. Fear is the innate sense in all living things of entropyās threat to survival. When perceived, fear triggers a biological reactionāa āfight or flightā needāto counteract entropyās threat to survival. Note, entropyās threat is often felt as loss, failure, weakness, stagnation, boredom, and so on. (See The Connection Between Fear And Need at the end of this essay.)
For some background on entropy, see https://www.sciencenews.org/article/disorder-thermodynamics-second-law. Note: I assume that recognizing fear as a biological manifestation of entropy may be a leap too far into biology for physicists, and perhaps a leap too far into physics for a biologist. Is it really though, I wonder?
Entropy pulls all the biological strings behind the scenes of life, from the most mundane to the most engaging. Identifying why, how, and when is useful at anytime in life, but especially as we age. Acknowledging all this as theoretically probable, and then having the curiosity to observe and verify it happening to us personally, is the key to better management of the entropic aging process. It is either that or just letting nature run its course.
āAll Roads begin from fearā
Many of my posts single out fear to be the deep driving force behind life. Observed broadly, we can see how fear originates in the innate sense of entropy that exists in every living thing.
They say, āall roads lead to Romeā. Likewise, I say, āall roads begin from fearā. This primal fear is omni-present, and omni-potent. It manifests as fear of predation, of discomfort, of great effort, of pain, of loss, of hunger, of heat or cold, of isolation, of embarrassment, of the unknownā¦ the list is endless. Accordingly, in whatever way any of these fears manifest themselves will invariably engender a corresponding needā¦ and itās off we go on our āroad to Romeā, so to speak.
Indeed, every need we feel is an emotional reaction to some underlying fearāthe biological reaction to entropy. For example, need to be stronger due to weakness; need to know due to an unknown; need to eat due to hunger pangs; need to hide due to shame; need friends due to isolation; need to cool down due to feeling hotā¦ the list is likewise endless. Note, besides the deep intuitive need felt by all living things, humans intensify this through desire and worry, i.e., desire = need + thought and worry = fear + thought. For background, see Fear & Need Born in Nothing, p.486.
It seems fitting that I finish this book with a useful examination of how reflexively succumbing to fear adversely affects life. While we canāt avoid experiencing fear, understanding how it operates should help us manage it more effectively. In other words, knowing natureās rules for the game of life ought to improve our game play. Happily, by facing whatever fears you can, you strengthen self-honesty, which then helps you face even deeper-fears.
Now at 81, Iāve come to realize fully how not facing fear gradually and imperceptibly reduces our mental and physical quality of life. Such decline happens naturally to all living things, but because of our unique set of civilized circumstances, it can happen much more acutely than for animals in the wild. See The Tradeoff (p.549) for a brief account of how these unique circumstances came about.
The way of nature decreases surplus yet benefits the insufficient.
The first four lines of the Tao Te Ching, chapter 77, give us primary insight into the workings of Nature. My commentary on these lines attempts to show how facing oneās fear of exertion and discomfort is essential for improving oneās quality of life.
The way of nature is like a stretching bow.
The high restrains, the lower lifts.
The surplus decreases, the insufficient benefits.
The way of nature decreases surplus yet benefits the insufficient.
These four lines convey a balanced, albeit subtle, picture of nature. As the fourth line concludes, The way of nature decreases surplus yet benefits the insufficient. This is the fundamental nature of entropyātaking from a surplus to give to the insufficient. Essentially, this is the essence of death for both organic and inorganic things. As chapter 40 put it, Loss through death, of the way uses.
Fear and Sarcopenia
We can apply this aspect of natureādecreases surplus yet benefits the insufficientāto deal with any practical matter. An especially useful and straightforward example that eventually applies to everyone who lives long enough is sarcopenia, a natural age-related progressive loss of muscle mass and strength. Overall, sarcopenia is associated with a significantly higher risk of mortality, so a deep dive into this entropic way of nature is relevant for anyone wishing to improve their quality of life as they age, and as a bonus, may provide insight on applying the way of nature to other aspects of life.
First, your body must biologically know you are serious before it will begin to decrease surplus of protein to benefit the insufficiency of muscle. This also applies to bone density and joint flexibility, but the muscle side of this is most clear-cut.
Second, youthful energy (fear, need) is earnest enough to drive muscle growth and its maintenance. A major aspect of this is spontaneous physical activity, technically know as NEAT ā Ā Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. This daily energy expenditure results from physical activity that is not specifically the result of voluntary activity. As people age, NEAT declines, which then lowers oneās metabolism and level of physical activity. During this stage of life, you mostly want to maintain your lifeās mellower routine, which sounds comfortable at first glance.
However, the progressive mellowing down as you age initiates gradual muscle loss. The body senses you no longer seriously need as much muscle as you did in youth, and so begins decreasing surplus, and uses the recycled proteins in other ways. This can happen so gradually over years that it is comparatively unnoticeableā¦ until it feels too late. Once we experience a serious decline in health span, most of us would probably wish to reverse course.
Here lies the hitch: We canāt relay on NEAT here, so our wish must be backed up with raw survival willāas chapter 33 puts it, a striving to be current is will. Voluntary resistance exercise and braving the elements is the only way to reverse or at least slow down this process. However, as we age we become more mellow and more sensitive to discomfort (heat, cold), which together make it difficult to be serious enough to offset the fear of making the necessary effort, or enduring the necessary discomfort.
The body (i.e., your biology) must feel you are deadly serious and not just indulging in wishful thinking. True recovery is driven by a genuine sense of survival necessity, not desire (i.e., desire = need + thought). Moreover, this way of nature pertains to all aspects of life, not just muscle. (See Fear & Need Born in Nothing and Necessity, the Mother.)
Finally, one may wonder why natural evolution selected for this age-induced decline. Well it actually didnāt, at least to the extent humanity experiences it. All animals evolved to live in balance with natureās demands, and so for our distant ancestors, many of humanityās current problems were less severe, rare, or non-existent. We humans actively, though naively, sidestepped natureās unpredictable and uncomfortable wild side (See The Tradeoff (p.549). This unavoidably brought about the deep-seated imbalances and resulting problems we see throughout civilization. Clearly then, the journey to rebalance can only begin by welcoming more effort and discomfort into life. As my lifelong motto goes, āShort-term pain paves the way to long-term pleasureā.
Comprehension leads to Resolution; Resolution leads to Action
Honestly acknowledging what is happening to us personally is necessary for actually improving our quality of life. Only this level of comprehension can foster sufficient resolution to make oneās actions reflect oneās intention. Not surprisingly, these crucial steps mirror the initial steps on Buddhaās Eight Fold Path: āRight Comprehensionā, āRight Resolutionā, āRight Actionā. (See Buddhaās Four Noble Truths, p.604) It all begins with Right Comprehension. When comprehension is deep enough, resolution and corrective action become trulyāand happilyāunavoidable. I call this pseudo free will. See Free Will: Fact or Wishful Thinking? (p.587) and A Final Word on Free Will (p.642).
Facing fear is exposure therapy
Exposure therapy is a type of therapy in which you are gradually exposed to the things, situations and activities you fear. For example, if you fear spiders, you find non-threatening ways to be exposed to spiders, e.g., photos, at a distance, learning about them, etc. Exposure therapy can also help you train through injuries such as doing something that is like the movement that causes pain, but that doesnāt cause as much pain. In the same way, facing a fear decreases fearās ability to trigger an overreaction. This āfacing up toā effect is true in psychology, in weight lifting, pain managementāin life. Facing fear essentially opens the door to a deeper intuitive knowing, i.e., Right Comprehension.
Naturally, the facing of fear that Iām suggesting here is more subtle. Indeed, it is less about any fears that you can already identify and experience, but rather the seeds of fear that trigger your lifeās conflicting needs. You gradually probe deeper to uncover the invisible fears that drive your life. The progression goes like this:
Fear begets need, need begets conflicting needs, conflicting needs beget change and stress. We innately respond to this by striving to satisfy the need or to reconcile the conflicting needs in order to reduce the stress. Alas, this only works briefly; it is like rearranging the furniture in the room. The room is still essentially the same, so you quickly return to ārearranging the furnitureā when new fears and needs arise.
The only way to slow down this cyclic swirling process is by perceiving the deepest fears that are creating the needs. However, this is not to say you can actually identify and label the fears specifically. This deepest form of comprehension is more a matter of feeling, and then embracing the fear sensation itself. Sincerely embracing the fear sensation lessens fearās ability to trigger overreactions of needā¦ if not actually nipping potential needs in the bud.
On the other hand, some fears are easy to identify. In such cases, this becomes more a matter of taking them more seriously. Take āFOMOā for example. The āFear of missing outā is actually a primary survival fear. Here you simply fear missing out on something that feels beneficial to you or your group. Now the challenge is to take life more seriously, and see how innocuous fears like this add up to detrimental effects over a lifetime. Sincerely facing the fear lowers its ability to generate needā¦ or at least trigger overreactions.
The Two Faces of Fear
It is helpful to note the beneficial side of fear. Certainly, fear of any impending danger is crucial to survival. Less obvious is how the fear of pain (i.e., a fear of discomfort and of making an effort) is naturally present to put the brakes on idealistic ambitions. This, the origin of ālazinessā, is generally good, for otherwise weād soon burn ourselves out in an unbridled rush to accomplish whatever our ambitions hunger afterāpleasure, success, fame or fortune.
Fear is a universally beneficial instinct in the wild. Inevitably, the fear of discomfort gradually induced us to adopt civilization as a way to shield us from natureās wild sideā¦ as chapter 5 observes, The universe is not benevolent, and all things serve as grass dogs. Being able to unwittingly avoid the healthful aspect of fear that comes naturally by living in the wild puts us on an unbalancing downward spiral.
Valid vs. invalid fear
Clearly, avoiding this downward spiral begins with facing reality, which really means facing fear. Therefore, āFace Fearā will be my motto going forward, which is just a pithy way to say, āFacing short-term pain favors the odds for various forms of long-term pleasure, where as giving into short-term pleasure favors the odds for various forms of long-term pain.
Now, all I need do is to exercise the wisdom to distinguish between the valid fears to heed and the invalid fears to face up to. This is where experience, perseverance, and self-honesty help open the door to reclaiming natural balance.
When you know in your heart of hearts that something is essential, putting it into practice becomes truly unavoidable. This is not a matter of self-discipline, but rather of self-awareness, self-honestyāself-truth. As Buddha put it in his 4th Noble Truth, āThere is salvation for him whose self disappears before truth, whose will is bent on what he ought to do, whose sole desire is the performance of his dutyā.
The Battle
Obviously, no living thing wins this battle against entropy. Yet all living things struggle in a life-long battle against entropyāthe mother of fear. Our āfork in the roadā is whether to bravely wage this battle, or prematurely surrender. For us, that boils down to a life-long battle between our fear of effort and discomfort versus our need to avoid letting that fear get the better of us. While we canāt win this battle against entropy, we can achieve longevity. As chapter 33 observesā¦
Finally, there is perhaps the best benefit of all that comes from facing fear. When you viscerally know that fear, and fear alone drives your life, you canāt help but project that understanding out into the world around you. Deeply knowing that fear drives everyone makes it quite impossible to judge people for their ābadā behaviorā¦ or their āgoodā behavior for that matter. Such impartiality brings about a peaceful mind that would be otherwise unattainable. As chapter 16 concludesā¦
ā¦ āāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāā ā¦
The Connection between Fear and Need (and in humans, Worry and Desire)
Need in all living things serves as a motivational response to the different types of fear that the environment provokes. In complex animals, specifically the major vertebrate groups, the amygdala is the part of the brain involved in processing pain and fear. When activated, stress hormones (cortisol, adrenaline (epinephrine), and noradrenaline (norepinephrine) motivate behaviors needed to mitigate that pain or fear. In simple life forms such as single-celled protists, the āfear / needā response is much more subtle.
In humans, fear and need also generate worry and desire, i.e., fear + thought = worry and need + thought = desire. As a result, human imagination (thought) easily complicates actuality. Here are a few issues that we easily go overboard onā¦ a worry over or desire for security; a worry over or desire for social bonding; a worry over or desire for self-worth and life meaning. It shouldnāt take much scrutiny to see how āthe worry over or desire forā all sorts of issues can adversely affect our lives. Thus, chapter 71ās advice is the best ever given, bar none ā¦ Realizing I donātā know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease. Alas, due to the tight grip thoughtās ārealityā has upon us, this advice is also the most difficult of all to implement.