Fear is a word that can mean about as many things as the word "love." And for that reason, I think it's important to start this with some discussion about the meaning of "fear."
To start, fear can be a very important aspect of our survival. We ought to fear (or perhaps it could be better said to "respect the danger of") some things in life because, well, they can very quickly injure or kill you; or in the case of authority, they can quickly take away your privileges, opportunities, etc.
Children are either taught at a young age or learn from direct experience that certain things are to be feared because they can cause harm, such as bees, hot things, and so on. As children grow, they learn about less obvious things to "fear," (or respect) like electricity, deep water, etc. And, of course, as we age, we learn that the fear of (respect for) those things can be managed by learning about them and putting guardrails in place to maximize our safety.
Great, now that we've covered that, let's get to the point.
While fear can be a useful tool to prevent harm or untimely death, it can also be a prison that prevents us from living life. There are two sides to the fear coin.
And the tricky thing is that, because it's the same coin, people who stay trapped in their fear & anxiety will argue that their fears are perfectly rationale and good because we can't just live like a bunch of maniacs, right!? That would be "dangerous."
Well, that's sort of right. But mostly wrong.
Failure to appreciate the nuances of fear and what should and should not be feared can dramatically impact the quality and length of a person's life; and I'm not sure about you, but I'd like to increase my odds of having a long, good life.
And if you noticed the title, it mentions "small-minded" fear. That's a bit insulting I suppose, but it's meant to illicit a response. People can be afraid of things that they didn't need to be afraid of, and the extent to which that affects someone is often related to their willingness to learn and grow beyond the confines of their own mind.
In other words, our ignorance enables and feeds our irrational fears.
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| Image generated by ChatGPT on 02 Oct 2024 |
And we all have irrational fear, right? Every single person has it!
The question is, what will you do with it?
Irrational Fear: Illustration
The Bible (ref. Matthew 25:14-30) contains an apt illustration of the consequences of irrational (small-minded) fear.
To summarize the illustration, a wealthy, powerful person (referred to as the "master") entrusts some of his wealth to three of his servants (partners) while he goes away on a long journey. (Keep in mind the context is ancient mid-eastern culture with no cell phones, internet, or airplanes.) The implication is that the master will be away for at least several months, if not several years; so, that is certainly long enough for the partners to do something productive with the assets they are entrusted with.
But, the master does not give the same amount of money ("talents") to each partner. Instead, he gives one partner one talent, the second partner two talents, and the third partner five talents. There is no explanation as to why each one received a different amount--it's just a fact. (One might speculate that it was based on past performance, but let's not get too caught up on that.)
Today, we don't really know how much a "talent" would be in our economy. But some scholars speculate it was worth the wages that would be earned over multiple years in that ancient economy. And the amount does matter, because the amount determines the level of pressure and fear that you might experience if you were one of the partners.
For sake of this discussion, let's say each talent is worth $50,000 (USD).
That's not nothing, right!?
Let's piece this together now:
- Partner 1 receives $50,000.
- Partner 2 receives $100,000.
- Partner 3 receives $250,000.
Imagine the pressure, then let it sink in.
If you worked at a company, and your manager entrusted you to manage and invest this amount of money, how would you respond?
Would your fear be rational or irrational?
The story goes on to say that the wealthy person returns from the long journey and calls his partners to give an account of their work.
*GULP*
Here's a summary of the outcomes:
- Partner 3 received $250,000; and he happily shares that he has doubled that money! He brings $500,000 to the master. He receives praise and more responsibility.
- Partner 2 received $100,000; and he happily shares that he has doubled that money! He brings $200,000 to the master. He receives praise and more responsibility.
- Partner 1 received $50,000; and he apprehensively shares that he has done nothing with the money because he was afraid that bad things might happen. He informs the master that he buried the money in a safe place, and so he brings $50,000 to him.
How do you suppose the master responds to Partner 1?
"Oh, I understand. Investing is scary. Things could have gone wrong. Don't worry. It's fine."
Yeah, no.
Partner 1 illustrates small-minded, irrational fear that paralyzed him to the point of complete failure.
Let is suffice to say that the master was not happy. No, actually, he was furious! He takes the $50k away and gives it to Partner 3 to invest & manage; and then he explains to the small-minded partner that he could have at least put the money in the bank to earn interest! Why did he bury it in the ground!?
I often think about the self-talk he must have had at the beginning of the story, convincing himself how rational and smart it would be to hide away the money and keep it safe. "What if I fail? What if I lose everything? What if my ideas flop? It's so risky! What if...? What if...? What if...?"
"Surely it will fail. Everything fails. I always fail. Nothing goes my way."
"After all, avoiding all risk is the best approach, right?"
"If I can just lock the money up where nobody could steal it, the master would be happy with me. Yes, avoid all risks. Be smart."
I also wonder if the small-minded partner discussed this plan at all with the other partners who clearly knew what they were doing. I don't know for sure, but I guess he didn't. Why? Because the thought of discussing his strategy with successful people would have only caused more fear and insecurity. My guess is that he found one or more small-minded friends or family members to talk with that would reaffirm his terrible idea.
And if there was a conversation between him and the successful partners, I can almost guarantee the small-minded partner would have been angry at them for their incredibly risky ideas and behavior. He might have even felt smug at the time about how happy the master would be with him because he would bring back all the money, and the others would certainly lose it in their crazy investment ideas.
Sadly, all of that self-talk was small-minded fear, and the field of behavioral finance refers to this as loss aversion. It's quite powerful in the human brain unless you do something about it. Irrational Fear: What to Do About It
Interestingly, there's no way to rid our minds of irrational fear. It will always be there.
Using the illustration above, I would argue that all three partners had the same innate irrational fears in their mind.
So, what was the difference?
Partners 2 and 3 had learned to calculate actual risks and move forward with the fear of failure.
What do we call persevering in the face of fear? Well, courage, I think. It's courage.
They developed courage to face their fears.
But isn't uninformed courage also called recklessness? I think so, yes.
So, courage isn't enough by itself then? No, I don't think so.
Being informed reduces the irrational fears, and courage allows us to press forward in spite of the remaining fear.
Becoming informed is so crucial! I cannot overstate it.
You should never launch an endeavor or investment idea that you don't understand. And the better you understand it, the better you're able to accurately calculate the real, actual risk. So, there is a use for math after all!
But if you let fear control you, you'll never start learning. You'll stay in a safe place with safe money locked in a literal safe. You'll get to the end of your life with exactly what you started with (or less), and nobody will be happy with that.
Outro
I can't help but feel sadness and empathy toward the fear-filled partner in the illustration, because I know he could have accomplished more. Perhaps he was raised in an environment that used fear as the only motivator, and that's all he knew. I'm not judging him, nor am I judging anyone else.
I've used a harsh tone in some parts of this article to emphasize the importance of this topic, though. It's not just money I'm talking about--we have many other things to invest. And I believe that's the point of the story in Matthew 25.
We have many things to invest--our time, our abilities, our love, our attention, and our assets.
This principle extends far beyond money, so don't miss that. There are many wealthy people in the world that are (sadly) enslaved to their fears (e.g. Howard Hughes near the end of his life).
If you'd like to discuss this more, let's connect online (see 'Connect' section on left sidebar).
