The Cross-Examination of Fear

There is something deeply theatrical about the human mind when it is afraid. It stages its own courtroom drama, constructing arguments of limitation, calling witnesses from past failures, and presenting evidence that, upon closer inspection, would never withstand proper cross-examination. Fear is persuasive because it sounds factual. It uses the language of logic but is built on the scaffolding of emotion. The trouble is that most of us accept its testimony without question. We let fear make its case uncontested, and in doing so, we mistake its story for truth.