The Ultimate Remedy for Fear

There it is again — an ominous crisis looms on the horizon, perhaps real, perhaps imaginary, but whatever it is, fear starts to take over my thoughts and peace of mind. 

Today, I’m waiting on important medical scan results. Fear starts to percolate in my stomach, making it hard to reason, then I remember — whatever causes fear can only be remedied by one thing.

The Baha’i teachings say, plain and simple, that our fears can be healed by the remembrance of God. 

One of the most recited and well-known prayers in the Baha’i Faith is: “Thy name is my healing, O my God, and remembrance of Thee is my remedy.” 

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For me, remembering God means recounting all the wisdom and loving counsels He has given us from the sacred writings of His messengers. Baha’u’llah wrote that “Whatever decreaseth fear increaseth courage.” So here are some of the Baha’i texts, poetry, and loving counsels that have helped me to decrease my fears and increase my courage through the most extreme of my difficulties and despair. 

Hold Space for the Fear

Fear has a voice, I’ve learned, and cannot just be dismissed. All of our feelings want to be heard. Lying in bed in the middle of the night, my fear can take on colossal proportions. After four hours of ruminating in the dark, I realized that my fear wasn’t just going to get up and go away. It needed space to be heard and empathized with, so I began to speak to it, as if it were my inner child: “I know you are just trying to protect me. What can I do to comfort and help you to move through this agitation into calm?” I asked. 

“I’m so afraid because I don’t know what’s coming. I feel so alone. Has God forgotten about me?” she responds.

Listening to that inner child and allowing her to experience her feelings, excessive as they were, and validating the fear rather than just trying to bury it, helps to ease the panic. At that point, I am able to start to access all the guidance and wisdom that I know will help me slowly move through this process to a place of relief. I remind my inner child of what has served us so well in the past, as I tell her we must:

 Rely upon God and Trust in Him

Baha’u’llah wrote: “The source of all good is trust in God, submission unto His command, and contentment with His holy will and pleasure.” Abdu’l-Baha also advised us to:

Rely upon God. Trust in Him. Praise Him, and call Him continually to mind. He verily turneth trouble into ease, and sorrow into solace, and toil into utter peace. He verily hath dominion over all things. If thou wouldst hearken to my words, release thyself from the fetters of whatsoever cometh to pass. Nay rather, under all conditions thank thou thy loving Lord, and yield up thine affairs unto His Will that worketh as He pleaseth. This verily is better for thee than all else, in either world. 

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I love this quote because I am asked to remember God. He so lovingly calls me to release the fears of whatever I perceive as a threat and instead advises me to give them up to His will because this is what is best for me. Not only am I to trust that everything will be okay, but He takes it another step and says that I should also be grateful. Why be grateful? Because this test serves to strengthen my spiritual evolution, according to this passage from the writings of the Bab:

I know of a certainty, by virtue of my love for Thee, that Thou wilt never cause tribulations to befall any soul unless Thou desirest to exalt his station in Thy celestial Paradise and to buttress his heart in this earthly life with the bulwark of Thine all-compelling power, that it may not become inclined toward the vanities of this world. 

This teaches us to:

Surrender Control to God

I’ve learned, by applying these principles, that God can transmute any situation which causes me fear. My part involves praying for assistance and then believing in the best possible outcome. When I’m having trouble trusting because life seems particularly bleak, it helps to realize that, whether I submit to God’s will or not does not change the situation. God’s will will be done, so I may as well trust, find consolation, and let go! Abdu’l-Baha said it this way:

O thou who art turning thy face towards God! Close thine eyes to all things else, and open them to the realm of the All-Glorious. Ask whatsoever thou wishest of Him alone; seek whatsoever thou seekest from Him alone. With a look He granteth a hundred thousand hopes, with a glance He healeth a hundred thousand incurable ills, with a nod He layeth balm on every wound, with a glimpse He freeth the hearts from the shackles of grief. He doeth as He doeth, and what recourse have we? He carrieth out His Will, He ordaineth what He pleaseth. Then better for thee to bow down thy head in submission, and put thy trust in the All-Merciful Lord.