Warrior Scholar Ideal Blog: Managing Fear 005

In a previous Blog post by Ed Carver, we discussed that there are monsters in this world. We also discuss in Blog post 004 on Crime, Self-Protection, Self-Empowerment, the rising lawlessness in our world. The point is we call them monsters because from a moral sense that is what they are, and warriors must have the metal to slay them. The human monsters are not gods, invincible, nor are they without fear, they are just evil but just because they have the capacity to be evil, doesn’t make them brave.

In order to slay dragons, we need to be able to steel our nerves and to do so means we must understand how we respond to danger. In this blog post we will delve into the how our bodies respond to fear. This information is taken from our subsequent book on fear.

To reiterate as we described in the Warrior Scholar Ideal Revisited there are two types of fear:

• Irrational Fear which is fear for fear’s sake. This is where many of our anxieties and phobias reside.

• Rational Fear or as we like to refer to it as “Recognizing Danger,” and often referred to as the good kind of fear or U-stress (i.e., useful stress) in which its recognition that keeps us alive or helps us focus under duress.

The Process of Fear

We have all felt fearful at one time or another and while many are familiar with the panic reflex there is a certain lack of understanding of the why we feel the way we feel in the first place. We generally when are startled feel as if a bolt of lightning goes through our body, and we experience a rush of changes overcome our bodies and depending on the context of the experience determine whether we throw it in the category of a negative experience.

The only exceptions to this are going to a scary movie or getting on an amusement park ride, sky diving or some type of activity where the fear arousal causes the adrenal rush which is the feeling we’re looking for.

We’ve discussed the physiological aspects of fear and now we’ll speak about the brain and again we’ll try to keep it as simple as possible but also so that we don’t hurt our own heads on this. I also want to thank the good Dr. Joseph Riggio for his input on this.

In order to learn how to manage fear we need to understand how our brain works on a basic level that causes us to respond in a certain way when under duress. In everything we think and feel they are generally learned behaviors, which is important because many of the fears we harbor in life are learned based on our experiences and how we perceive them.

The number one function of your brain is to sensorily processes information in order to navigate you through the world. Also, a little clarification, this business about the mind-body connection is wrong. Understand, your body is a part of your mind and your mind a part of your body, you cannot separate the two for they function as one, in other words it’s just you. Develop your body develop your brain, it really is that fundamental.

So, when we discuss the brain or the body as if separate at times what we are really doing is differentiating how distinct parts of our body perform a specific function and how it impacts the greater organism as a whole.

Three Minds

As discussed before, the three levels of mind Conscious Mind, Analytical Mind, and the Subconscious Mind all work with each other. Filtering out what it perceives as noise. The thing we have to get is that 95% of our thoughts are subconscious or at the subconscious level and we are only consciously aware of about 5% of our thoughts (i.e., what we are actually thinking when we are thinking).

Our emotions, our feelings reside in the body. This is why when we have an emotional response, we feel it in the body.

Also, because we need to ensure this is clear, you cannot “not think,” everything you do is a form of thinking, and we think on a subconscious level. Walking is thinking, talking is thinking, chewing gum is thinking. Even the idea of trying not to think is a form of well… thinking.

We say this because there is a school of thought that persists in telling people when they are performing an action, especially under duress “not to think.” Or they tell people there is no time to think under certain circumstances.

No… there is no time to consciously think of all of the actions you need to perform because you cannot process all that your body needs to accomplish in the microsecond you need to take action. However, because it is presented as an absolute people never learn to handle danger by training themselves to the subconscious competence level to do so. If what the nay sayers say is true, then how do people avoid car accidents when they are making split second decisions? Step out of the way of falling objects? Slip a punch?

This is a perfect example of poor framing of information without proper context. It is like the school of thought that believes you cannot train people to kill or take it there if necessary. This belief is utterly false.

If it were true, then how in the hell does the military train large groups of people to do it and do it successfully?

With tens of millions of people over the centuries?

What the hell do they think the Roman Legion was all about?

Arguably one of the most well-trained militaries in all of human history. You know your empire was badass when even the History Channel doesn’t attribute your greatness to Ancient Aliens.

The entirety of human history is all about one group of people imposing their will through force and death on another group. Or rising to the occasion to annihilate their aggressors.

Such a mindset bellies the truth and speaks to a lack of understanding of how such things can be and are done. Now does it mean everyone can get there. No, we’re not saying that but to say it cannot be done doesn’t comport with reality.

We need to hammer on this point because to say that one cannot train to function at a certain level assumes that no one has ever overcome fear or made a brilliant decision under extreme duress. However, if one is able to train their neurology to function during the adrenaline rush, they can and will function and perfume well.

We will build on this point as we go along in subsequent blog posts but just understand that you can train to think under duress, but you need to develop it up front in-the-body where information is processed at much greater speed and rate than via conscious thought processing. For it is in the subconscious where decisions are really made.

When we speak in subsequent posts to what is called “flow” or as the ancient samurai warriors referred to it as Mushin.  You will realize it is not only possible but realize you have probably experienced it many times you just never appreciated the experience.

Fear and Danger

“At least once every human should have to run for his life, to teach him that milk does not come from supermarkets, that safety does not come from policemen, that 'news' is not something that happens to other people. He might learn how his ancestors lived and that he himself is no different--in the crunch his life depends on his agility, alertness, and personal resourcefulness.”

― Robert A. Heinlein

As usual, Heinlein nails it. It is one of the reasons why his writings required reading in the Marine Corps for junior Officers. One of the worst things we do as a culture is make people feel shameful for either expressing a fear or being fearful in an obviously dangerous situation. When we should be spending more time focused on how to respond and overcome. As Caeser said, “No one is so brave that they are not startled by the unexpected.”

We’re sorry but there aren’t too many people that are going to convince us that they are braver than Caeser was. Unless you can convince us that you would have marched on Rome there is nothing you can say and if Caeser acknowledged fear and danger then then the rest of us need to get on board with that understanding.

No study on how to overcome or manage fear (because we don’t believe a normal functioning brain can completely overcome it), would be complete without understanding how we arrive in a position of fear in the first place.

When we perceive a situation to be dangerous whether real or imagined it stimulates our brains. Fear is not just some emotional state we experience but a real physiological phenomenon that starts in the amygdala of the brain that triggers real changes in our bodies.

It is a defense mechanism that protects us in times of high, moderate, or low stress by triggering arousal in the body heightening our awareness. In other words, it’s our body’s way of telling us to pay attention either to move or get ready to move. In any event, no matter what we do, while we don’t have much of a choice in whether we feel fear or danger, but we have a choice in our response and that is the point of training.

The Amygdala

The amygdala is a found deep within the temporal lobe and comes from Latin and translates to "almond," because of its almond-like shape. Although we often refer to it in the singular, there are two amygdalae—one in each cerebral hemisphere. The amygdala is a component of the limbic system and plays a major role in emotion, behavior, and memory, and is best known for its role in the processing of fear or anger. However, keep in mind this is a very oversimplified perspective on amygdala function. But for our purposes what is important to understand is its role in processing information that triggers our fight/flight or freeze response.

In other words, when triggered by perceived danger the amygdala causes the brain to produce neural transmitters (Norepinephrine, epinephrine aka adrenaline) as well as cortisol, which creates a physiological response and heightens arousal through the body to include muscles, increase blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, etc. this increase also produces heightened awareness.

Signals are also sent to the motor cortex which then tells us when to fight/run or freeze. So, once again fear is neither good nor bad, just an intense experience or response to stimuli or perceived stimuli.

This is important toward training people to overcome fear since stimulation of the amygdala also affects memory retention since it triggers powerful emotions. So, as we experience things in context as our amygdala’s are stimulated, we store these memories and experiences so that when we run into similar situations good bad or indifferent¾it triggers a similar physiological response in the body.

This is why the military goes out of its way to expose people to danger or high stress in order to train them to function in this state of heightened arousal. Gradually increasing the level of difficulty and danger so that people can learn to focus and even think in that state. In other words, the military deliberately triggers this response and then trains people to muscle through it so to speak.

In Rayan Holiday’s excellent book, The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph. This theme of overcoming challenges and seeing obstacles as opportunities to build strength and character is as timeless as the stoics and the virtues they espoused. The point is in order to overcome or manage in a state of heightened arousal or anxiety we need to find ways to push through. With our fears, it is the only way. As the Latins would say echoing Hannibal, “Aut viam inveniam aut faciam,” I’ll either find a way or make one.

In our view this is something that is sorely missing in a lot of self-defense training and that is to develop people and their ability to function under duress when the amygdala is stimulated.

Some call this pressure testing however, one issue we have with pressure testing is that too many times people focus on validating whether a technique works which is fine if that is what you are trying to do, but if there is no attempt to develop a person’s ability to manage under a heightened state of arousal it is a wasted opportunity. People need to not only experience this but learn how to function in this state.

For example, if pressure testing whether or not a technique for getting out of a choke hold works is one thing. A better use would be to allow a person to feel what it is like to get choked so they learn,

• To not let it get to that point in the first place.

• If it happens, the understanding that you have seconds to find a way out and whatever technique you employ better happen fast.

In doing so it gives the person a better appreciation of the techniques you’re going to teach them and a healthy sense of fear to avoid being choked to death along with the mindset they need to develop to pull them off.  

In the military, how do we give people an appreciation of what their weapons can do and why it’s important to develop proper cover techniques?

We go out and shoot things and show how effective the weapons are to shooting through objects or what objects can stop machine gun fire. The point is if you cannot distinguish between cover versus concealment, you’ll be the first to know when rounds start impacting.

In the same way you can learn how to manage in a state of heightened arousal if you train to it. This is key because if you do not train to it when your amygdala becomes active even under adrenaline whatever you have learned in the past in order to give you the skill to deal with a certain situation. You will default to your level of training whatever that is. All this business about rising to the occasion and being a better combatant under adrenaline or when you are angry is pure nonsense. All you will do is perform in the same poor manner with more anger and intentions, that’s all.

 “You can only fight the way you practice” ― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings

We’re going to wrap this up here and leave you with this thought. Remember much of our fear of the unknown is not understanding the true nature of something and knowing what to do about it.

The key to overcoming or managing danger is by changing our perceptions or our understanding of what we experience under duress when our amygdala is triggered. And then building in the necessary skills and experience to manage effectively in that state.

The key is to develop the ability to focus our attention and awareness during arousal on the skills we want and get into the body as quickly as possible. Therefore, the context of the experience in training must be properly framed since it is context that allows us to make sense of it and gives it meaning.

We will build upon this theme in subsequent Blog posts, however, in our upcoming book, OVERCOMING FEAR THE METHOD, we delve deeply into practical methods of how to develop this ability.

Thanks.

Jack Kerwick, Ph.D.

LtCol Al Ridenhour USMC (ret)

Authors, The Warrior Scholar Ideal Revisited