Fear (OOC)
What is fear? I'm not talking about the biological responses to the act of being frightened, though I will touch on that eventually. I mean, what is the reason why people become afraid, and what is the allure of doing so? What is it which makes us, albeit with nailbiting and leg twitching, to curl up with a good horror book or watch a scary movie or go to a haunted house? What is in the human condition to make us nearly crave to be frightened again and again?
There's no question that when the fight or flight syndrome is triggered, our bodies are set to be at their top physical condition. Our stamina is never higher, our physical power exceeds that of our normal capacity, and our brains work faster and harder in order to achieve a higher clarity of thought. We intake more oxygen and our heart rates go up to get our bloodstreams going. In essence, fear can be like a drug. Of course, that is on small dosages. But what about for longer limits?
I have a theory on this.
It is often said of the animal kingdom that the female of the species is usually the more deadly. I think that needs a revision. It is normally the Mother that is more deadly. Is this out of anger? No. This is out of FEAR. Mothers invariably have more to fear than any other life on the planet. Mothers live in fear, day to day, that something will happen to their children. There is no greater capacity than in a mother's heart for fear. Sure, a father can fear as well, but if you have ever spent enough time watching people and analyzing them, you will notice that a man has a far more rational outlook on familial life. His job is to think logically and to deal with the problems that can be solved. A mother dwells on the things that *might* be in an effort to ready herself. Ask any mother and you will find that she "worries". This is only an expression of fear.
But let's define fear, shall we? Fear is really an extension of Love. How many times have we heard someone say something close to the effect of "I love you, so I worry"? How many of us have worried about things completely out of the scope of logical progression just because someone that we loved was involved? To bastardize a quote from Spiderman : "With great love, comes a great penchant for fear." Why is that? Is it that we fear that the object of our affection will be taken away from us? Is it a higher ideal than that? That because we love that person or object we wouldn't want to see them in any pain? Is it a mixture of selfishness and selflessness? How many of us can really say that we would put ourselves in harm's way just to save the ones that we love?
With Mothers, there are very few of them that wouldn't be able to say that they would die for their children. I think this also has something to do with the way that women in general are "wired". If you look at the studies, men only think in the same way as women when they are on "alert"; when their bodies say that they are in danger. In a way, you can say that a man will only know what it is like to be a mother when he is scared. Only then do they have the capability of understanding the day to day worries that goes through a mother's mind.
And here is another thought. You don't usually hear about many men lifting cars off of their children, only women. Is that saying that a woman's body has the capacity for more than a man's for short periods of time? Does the biological responses differ for women that have children as opposed to women who do not? But then again, having children is also not necissarily a factor. It is the "imprint", the maternal instinct that doesn't necissarily have to be on their own biological offspring. I think that women who are in love for long periods of time tend to get that maternal instinct on their significant others as well. It isn't a bad thing, though men have a really hard time understanding it. It is as if women have a need to create these maternal bonds in order to feel secure in the fact that they can, in fact, protect them. A man may fulfill the role of hunter/gatherer, but a woman ultimately fulfills the role as protector.
In a way, I see these biological responses as being the reasons for a lot of crimes against women. Overlly dominant male personalities try to subvert overlly dominant female personalities through tactics that confuse the maternal instincts. A woman may refuse to leave an abusive husband because she feels that she is needed to protect him. In some ways, a dominant male can twist the maternal instincts of a woman so that they make him the main priority. When he appears to be the emotionally weakest in a household, she can often find herself incapable of leaving even if she wanted to because her maternal instinct demands to be fulfilled. Women that do leave are often drawn to the same emotionally unstable men to fulfill that instinct. That also feeds into the addiction to things that cause us fear, the euphoria that happens when those instincts are being given their due.
Horror movies, thrillers, mysteries, etc. are popular because they embody those things that the female mind knows to be familiar territory and the male mind can "upgrade" to. If you take the time to really look at a horror movie, you will find that they are ultimately written for women. Scary movies all have a few things in common. Loss and Love. Forget the monster in the closet, forget the scary puppet, forget the alien landscape and what you have is Loss and Love. There is nothing more frightening to the human mind than more emails on the changeling-ooc list...oh...sorry. There is nothing more frightening to the human mind than loving something and losing it somehow, especially through no fault of our own. It is the loss of those that we love through a means that we cannot control and, we fear, cannot win against. These movies or books or whatnot seek to endear us to a character or characters so that we feel that loss along with them so that even our bodies react. If you have ever been watching a scary movie and have heard something that frightened you, this is a time when your body has reacted to the movie you are watching. Sounds that you would normally hear and dismiss because they are either above or below your hearing range become clearer because your body has put you into a heightened state of awareness. For men, I am sad to say, you are only now entering into a range that is normal for mothers. I can't tell you how many times I have heard or smelled something long before Mike has, and I have scar tissue on my ear drums and bad sinuses. I shudder to think that as often as I catch things before Mike, any other mother would catch before me.
But Selena, you ask, what about pregnant women? Well, that's important. For those that have been pregnant, or are pregnant, there comes a point shortly after the 4th month when the woman is plagued with extremely vivid and potent nightmares. This is normal for a pregnancy. I think it is also necissary. This is the body ultimately changing and preparing itself for the heightened awareness that will remain even after menopause. The woman will notice that her senses are heightened all the time, and (thankfully) her pain threshold becomes higher. Hopefully, most women haven't had a very potent fright to compare these feelings to in order to understand the corrolation, but it is still there.
Ultimately, if anyone ever wanted to know what it was like to be scared all the time and not go insane, try being a mom.
But let's talk about being scared to insanity. The easiest way to do that is through making someone go through the body changes that fear brings and then make them understand that they are completely alone, with no one to feel maternal for. When someone only has themselves, they do not usually have the self preservation instinct needed to go through the same biological changes that comes when fighting for someone else. Soldiers who are captured are fighting for their country, which trigger those changes. They think of their country as something greater than themselves. Give a man nothing, while his awareness is heightened and ready to fight, and he will break.
Introduce the maternal bond, and you will find rage like no other. Kill the bond, and you strengthen and rage the person as if they were in a frenzy. With love, comes the capacity to hate all those that would tamper it with something akin to a blood-lust.
So why am I writing this? A writer ultimately needs to know these things when dealing with the elements of fear. A writer needs to know more about the human psyche than any other person. Ultimately, we have to take the mind and lead it around so that they not only sympathize with what is going on, but can place themselves in the heart of the story. A successful writer has to be able to trigger the biological responses in the reader even as he is doing so for the character. This separates the "good" writer from the truly great.
So, thoughts? For those that have dealt with me as a writer/storyteller, have you ever seen me fully use this to my advantage? Would you like me to? I ask because....I have plans......
There's no question that when the fight or flight syndrome is triggered, our bodies are set to be at their top physical condition. Our stamina is never higher, our physical power exceeds that of our normal capacity, and our brains work faster and harder in order to achieve a higher clarity of thought. We intake more oxygen and our heart rates go up to get our bloodstreams going. In essence, fear can be like a drug. Of course, that is on small dosages. But what about for longer limits?
I have a theory on this.
It is often said of the animal kingdom that the female of the species is usually the more deadly. I think that needs a revision. It is normally the Mother that is more deadly. Is this out of anger? No. This is out of FEAR. Mothers invariably have more to fear than any other life on the planet. Mothers live in fear, day to day, that something will happen to their children. There is no greater capacity than in a mother's heart for fear. Sure, a father can fear as well, but if you have ever spent enough time watching people and analyzing them, you will notice that a man has a far more rational outlook on familial life. His job is to think logically and to deal with the problems that can be solved. A mother dwells on the things that *might* be in an effort to ready herself. Ask any mother and you will find that she "worries". This is only an expression of fear.
But let's define fear, shall we? Fear is really an extension of Love. How many times have we heard someone say something close to the effect of "I love you, so I worry"? How many of us have worried about things completely out of the scope of logical progression just because someone that we loved was involved? To bastardize a quote from Spiderman : "With great love, comes a great penchant for fear." Why is that? Is it that we fear that the object of our affection will be taken away from us? Is it a higher ideal than that? That because we love that person or object we wouldn't want to see them in any pain? Is it a mixture of selfishness and selflessness? How many of us can really say that we would put ourselves in harm's way just to save the ones that we love?
With Mothers, there are very few of them that wouldn't be able to say that they would die for their children. I think this also has something to do with the way that women in general are "wired". If you look at the studies, men only think in the same way as women when they are on "alert"; when their bodies say that they are in danger. In a way, you can say that a man will only know what it is like to be a mother when he is scared. Only then do they have the capability of understanding the day to day worries that goes through a mother's mind.
And here is another thought. You don't usually hear about many men lifting cars off of their children, only women. Is that saying that a woman's body has the capacity for more than a man's for short periods of time? Does the biological responses differ for women that have children as opposed to women who do not? But then again, having children is also not necissarily a factor. It is the "imprint", the maternal instinct that doesn't necissarily have to be on their own biological offspring. I think that women who are in love for long periods of time tend to get that maternal instinct on their significant others as well. It isn't a bad thing, though men have a really hard time understanding it. It is as if women have a need to create these maternal bonds in order to feel secure in the fact that they can, in fact, protect them. A man may fulfill the role of hunter/gatherer, but a woman ultimately fulfills the role as protector.
In a way, I see these biological responses as being the reasons for a lot of crimes against women. Overlly dominant male personalities try to subvert overlly dominant female personalities through tactics that confuse the maternal instincts. A woman may refuse to leave an abusive husband because she feels that she is needed to protect him. In some ways, a dominant male can twist the maternal instincts of a woman so that they make him the main priority. When he appears to be the emotionally weakest in a household, she can often find herself incapable of leaving even if she wanted to because her maternal instinct demands to be fulfilled. Women that do leave are often drawn to the same emotionally unstable men to fulfill that instinct. That also feeds into the addiction to things that cause us fear, the euphoria that happens when those instincts are being given their due.
Horror movies, thrillers, mysteries, etc. are popular because they embody those things that the female mind knows to be familiar territory and the male mind can "upgrade" to. If you take the time to really look at a horror movie, you will find that they are ultimately written for women. Scary movies all have a few things in common. Loss and Love. Forget the monster in the closet, forget the scary puppet, forget the alien landscape and what you have is Loss and Love. There is nothing more frightening to the human mind than more emails on the changeling-ooc list...oh...sorry. There is nothing more frightening to the human mind than loving something and losing it somehow, especially through no fault of our own. It is the loss of those that we love through a means that we cannot control and, we fear, cannot win against. These movies or books or whatnot seek to endear us to a character or characters so that we feel that loss along with them so that even our bodies react. If you have ever been watching a scary movie and have heard something that frightened you, this is a time when your body has reacted to the movie you are watching. Sounds that you would normally hear and dismiss because they are either above or below your hearing range become clearer because your body has put you into a heightened state of awareness. For men, I am sad to say, you are only now entering into a range that is normal for mothers. I can't tell you how many times I have heard or smelled something long before Mike has, and I have scar tissue on my ear drums and bad sinuses. I shudder to think that as often as I catch things before Mike, any other mother would catch before me.
But Selena, you ask, what about pregnant women? Well, that's important. For those that have been pregnant, or are pregnant, there comes a point shortly after the 4th month when the woman is plagued with extremely vivid and potent nightmares. This is normal for a pregnancy. I think it is also necissary. This is the body ultimately changing and preparing itself for the heightened awareness that will remain even after menopause. The woman will notice that her senses are heightened all the time, and (thankfully) her pain threshold becomes higher. Hopefully, most women haven't had a very potent fright to compare these feelings to in order to understand the corrolation, but it is still there.
Ultimately, if anyone ever wanted to know what it was like to be scared all the time and not go insane, try being a mom.
But let's talk about being scared to insanity. The easiest way to do that is through making someone go through the body changes that fear brings and then make them understand that they are completely alone, with no one to feel maternal for. When someone only has themselves, they do not usually have the self preservation instinct needed to go through the same biological changes that comes when fighting for someone else. Soldiers who are captured are fighting for their country, which trigger those changes. They think of their country as something greater than themselves. Give a man nothing, while his awareness is heightened and ready to fight, and he will break.
Introduce the maternal bond, and you will find rage like no other. Kill the bond, and you strengthen and rage the person as if they were in a frenzy. With love, comes the capacity to hate all those that would tamper it with something akin to a blood-lust.
So why am I writing this? A writer ultimately needs to know these things when dealing with the elements of fear. A writer needs to know more about the human psyche than any other person. Ultimately, we have to take the mind and lead it around so that they not only sympathize with what is going on, but can place themselves in the heart of the story. A successful writer has to be able to trigger the biological responses in the reader even as he is doing so for the character. This separates the "good" writer from the truly great.
So, thoughts? For those that have dealt with me as a writer/storyteller, have you ever seen me fully use this to my advantage? Would you like me to? I ask because....I have plans......