WORLD SOCIAL SUMMIT 2008
'WSS: Hillman, fear at the base of men's self-preservation'

"Nothing to fear, except for fear", mentioning a quotation of Franklin Delano Roosevelt of 1933, philosopher James Hillman began his Lection Magistralis "The legitimation of fear". Those were the times of the crashing of the financial system and the world was dealing with the "paralyzing fear of the Great Depression". "This sentence - says Hillman - does not abolish current fears, but is able to give them a name and focuses the attention on the same fear". This way "the anxiety of the American society shifted to the sphere of psyche. Fear as anxiety, worry, terror, panic, shyness". Where is fear generating from? The etymology originates from the "Greek myth of Fobos, where the word "phobia" comes from". Hillman proposes to follow the psychological path initiated by Roosevelt: "which is the value of the soul? Then, as philosopher: which is the role and value of fear in the world, if any?". The "legitimation" from a global point of view, was examined by Darwin. Fear is a "shocking reply". The reply may be double-faceted, as in the case of an attack: you run or fight, says Hillman.

Fear, recalls Hillman, "was considered to be very important among moralists, starting from Plato". As Roosevelt states, "fear is important for living and this is an extremely important excuse". "Without fear - states Hillman as an example - we would stay under the rain without the fear of lightening and we would not fear to touch a dog that shows its teeth. It is the fear that makes us understand what dangers are". Because "self-preservation is the law of nature, even before the idea was used by the followers of Darwin for economic oppression" and it is "the first legitimation of fear". "The most significant idea on which I worked -says Hillman - is the real fear accompanied by a belief". Because "conscience sees the world through fear and is blocked by its own beliefs". For example, "if I fear something or somebody that I think he is hideous - as a kamikaze - this horrible feelings impregnate the object, the heart of the object and becomes and integral part that affects our emotions". And this also occurs with the desire to make something desirable, as well as repulsion renders an object hateful and horrible: "the world turns into the evil that fear conferred to the same object. We all experience this in life". And therefore "we end up living in a world of magic premonitions, of assumptions concerning the future.

"Fear - continues the philosopher - projects the consequences that could occur or be imaginary". By quoting Russell on the analysis of belief, Hillman says: "the content in which we believe leads us to act, we put in practice our beliefs, we act in the way that we believe. The more we are motivated, the more our way to see becomes certain and justified". "If we could move this system of beliefs - says Hillman - fears would not be so rooted.

"There is social cohesion - says Hillman - when there is positive feeling of reciprocal support. But this feeling may also be negative, as Hobbes says, rendering each of us alienated and suspicious". With regards to the role of fear in politics, Hillman says that "the State cannot count on fear to promote social cohesion". "The state is often able to strengthen beliefs by advertising invented objects that could create fear and appears as somebody that can protect citizens against fear". Therefore, we must paraphrase Roosevelt: "nothing to fear, except what you believe in". Because we must not feel "blocked by our expectations of evil and that the world will transform in the evil generated by our fears".

In conclusion, Hillman asks some questions: "which is the importance of fear? Why does it exist? Which cosmic state? Which legitimation?". "Fear is inborn not only in man, but in everything that exists: birds, moon, sun. What Buddhists call as world full of fear and terror".

The society conceived "safety platforms, appeals to moral courage, ability to fight to keep fears under control". "Fear is able to paralyze the slightest movement when we have a nightmare and this moment of paralysis offers the first redemption: we are not bond to anything except to death, therefore to what is unknown".

According to Aristotle, "fear is the expectation of evil. Giving a name to the evil leads us to act in a hostile manner, by putting more effort and losing sight of the goal".

According to Hillman "fear creates human humbleness. Fear is primordial caution and this notion of instinctive fear acts as the guardian angel". The philosopher refers to the legendary angels of terror of the Judaic culture. "This angel helps to understand fear" and it is clever than human beings. "Therefore we can perceive angels as result of the imagination that fly in the mind during moments of fear". And quoting Amos Oz, Hillman says: "The solution against fanaticism consists in the healing of imagination, trying to improve our ability to imagine others at any level".