Fear

Much like my study on what people thought the purpose of life was, I conducted one based on what people feared. Luckily I got a much better response this time (27 responses compared to my earlier 14) and a better looking graph.



Know that the categories the answers are broken down into were done by myself, so if I misinterpreted your answer... well, you'll never know. But anyway, there were far more detailed categories which I generalized to get the shiny ones you see now.

Being Alone - 20.4%

Not surprisingly the top answer with 5.5 out of 28 responses (I had to cut yours in two Tiggy).

As people we all need companionship. We all need validation in our own mental process. See, if someone loves us, then we're not alone. If we don't have anybody, it could be for two reasons. Either 1) We've just got bad luck or 2) There's something wrong with us. Therefore, the two are tied together in our subconscious process. In addition, having someone just feels good. It's nice to have someone who cares.

Expectations - 14.8%

This result tied with that of death. However, many of the other categories could be lumped together with this one as well. So as far as this study is concerned, a lot of us fear being held up to the expectations of others. We fear what other people think about us. We care what they think.

I know I myself, like many others, have said "I don't care what people think about me," but I really do. I REALLY do. Once I find out what they think, and if I think they're full of BS, I won't care. But it's the possibility of what they might think that scares me. Like if someone says "Matt Lund thinks he's better than everyone" I won't care. Because I don't think I'm better than anyone else. Or I think I'm a lot better than everyone else. It depends on the type of day you catch me in.

I think it's a shame that we have to fear dissapointing others, or not being good enough for them. It's a shame, because everybody deserves to be loved and cared for. No matter how sappy that sounds, you can't deny it's validity.

Death - 14.8%

In the words of someone who spoke it already, and very well at that (which he has now posted on his own blog):

Honestly, I believe that in some shape or form, everyone is scared of death. They might not realize it, it might be purely subconscious, it might even be stared right in the face, but no human being can share a dance with death and not feel even the smallest tinge of fear. Humans do everything in their myriad [of] powers to evade and even stall death. The Philosopher's Stone, the Fountain of Youth... they're even thinking they can prolong the life of our cells with the Human Genome Project.

If you're life is about to be ended, especially prematurely, you will be afraid. At the very least, afraid that you might not have been virtuous enough to escape eternal damnation.

~Will

In short, death is terrifying because nobody knows what's on the other side. Now, a strongly religious person will disagree with me because they "know" that God is waiting for them on the other side of life. But let's be honest here, NOBODY knows. NOBODY. Now, I believe in God and the bible and that Jesus died for my sins, but I think when people get so adamant about their faith they tend to miss out on other points of view that might actually end up strengthening their faith.

Being Forgotten - 11.1%

The people who answered this made it very clear to me that they had no desire to be famous, so that's not really what this category is about. It's more about a fear of passing and not leaving any impact on the world. Like if you never inspired anyone to do anything or left your mark in any way, to the point where your life would just be another meaningless drop in a raging ocean... (yeah, I know, the ocean is made out of billions of those tiny drops. Stop trying to ruin my metaphors)

Being Trapped - 9.3%

This was an odd category... the feeling conveyed was a sort of paralysis. Like there was nowhere to go. One answer was actually the fear of the void -- no sound or sight. But with a little prodding I got the person to agree it was a type of fear of being incapacitated. Trapped. Whether that's metaphorical or physical, as people we don't like to be contained. We don't like to be caged. Look at us, look at America. We're all about freedom. In that respect it's a very valid fear which reminds me of 1984, Equillibrium, or V for Vendetta. And it is really scary, when you have to become subject to the will of conditions outside of your control, whether that be a government, a group of individuals, or a metaphorical barrier inside your own mind.

The Future - 7.4%

So things must be pretty good in order to answer this... I mean, to fear what the future holds is to fear change, isn't it? If I were you I wouldn't worry about the future. I think we've got enough to worry about right here.

Nothing -7.4%

I don't believe you. Straight up don't believe you.

Trauma -3.7%

Trauma is something that you witness or experience that alters your mind forever. You hear about people going to war and coming back completely altered, not really themselves any more. That's scary. To be affected to the point where you're no longer yourself? That's frightening.

Loss - 3.7%

In hindsight, this probably should have been grouped with the future... but it wasn't. So yeah...

Nothingness - 3.7%

Nothingness. The fear that at the end of all things there will be nothing but consciousness, our own consciousness of nothing. Mind-numbing monotony... it's enought to drive anyone insane.

That This Is All Just A Dream - 3.7%

I don't find this to be very scary, unless the world we woke up in was a terrible place to live... but honestly I wouldn't mourn over the loss of the dream, I'd try to never forget what I've learned from it and how much fun it was, despite the bad times. And I think that's a good way to live life, too.