Sat Nam, Ji, be happy to do so.
To begin with, there is nothing inherently wrong with fear, per se. It is a survival mechanism; a tool, as it were, geared to enable us to run away very fast from big threats like fires, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, and other such things that could put our lives in danger were we to hang around in the territory for too long while these things are happening. It also gears us to defend ourselves, if need be, if someone or something decides to attack us. Fear gets the adrenaline glands going, gets the blood circulatory system putting blood to where it may be needed, and quickens our reaction time.
So, yes there is a good reason for the fear mechanism to be there. All creatures have it in one way or another. Human beings, however, have a bit more of a complicated brain system than other animals, and due to our large memory banks, we have a lot of storage in the brain, enabling us to remember a great many things and ideally, apply those memories in constructive ways to enhance the everyday lives of ourselves and those around us. However, oftenly this is not the case. Something goes awry in the fear section. What happens?
There is an old saying, first uttered by a Jesuit by the name of Ignatious Loyola. He said, "Give me the child for the first seven years of that child's life, and I will give you the man." This is so true. What it means is that the very first seven years of a child's life shall almost inevitably shape that child's way of percieving things (more on this one in a bit), the way that child associates with other people, how the child goes about solving problems, their sense of humor, food likes and dislikes, color preferences, whether or not the child develops a high capacity for learning, (aka curiosity), the child's attention span, and some observers believe the first seven years will also be highly determining of how long the child's lifespan may be, regardless of genetic history. Obviously, this is going to have a huge bearing on how the child will turn out as an adult, and the consciousness level they attain.
This is known in most religions, including Sikhism, and so this is why you will read and hear stories of how the Sikh Gurus and Jesus and the various other teachers would always be very welcoming of having children around. They know very well how vastly perceptive children are, and respect it highly.
You see, most children are much more intelligent and perceptive than most adults ever give them credit for. If you really wish to see true human nature at its finest look at a happy, healthy, well adjusted and aware child. Chances are that child will have very intelligent parents and a very stable and happy, inspirational home. Rather than being whiny and upset, such children are happy, with a gentle sense of humor and play, and want everyone around them to be happy, too-compassion in action!
Such children will show no fear of anything. They may be cautious to not get to close to the pretty black spider with the red hourglass on its tummy (a poisonous spider called The Black Widow)but that caution is more out of a concern that they do not accidently hurt the spider rather than from any fear for their own well being.
In contrast, let us take a look at most of the children we see today, and what their parents are doing, and what sort of media influences these children - and the adults- are being exposed to.
The children are often obviously dissatisfied, and may not be feeling physically well, which adds to their sense of unease and even angry tendencies. Their parents are oftenly overstressed, from work and the demands of parenthood, and many are divorced.
Most of the items in the news media and in many entertainment industries are based around themes of bad happenings, fearful circumstances, horror, war, and other things that bring up fear.
In many of the religious teachings of the world, the Divine is oftenly portrayed as a vengeful, wrathful being who has to be placated with sacrifices and such. When a child is exposed to this sort of thing, as well as strife within the family, what sort of an adult do you think that child is going to become? Is it any wonder that we see so many sad things involving children, as well as adults?
On the other hand, when you raise a child in the light of Guru's teachings, especially to develop the ability to see God in all, you have an individual who is most likely going to be basing their outlook on life in a framework of compassion, rather than fear.
Most of us carry around various sorts of fears in our subconscious minds, and these fears are those we absorbed as children. Since many of these fears are in the sub-conscious mind, it can be difficult for us to realized we even have them! The brain has done its job well, storing these memories faithfully and we sometimes access them without even realizing what we are doing! This is often why occassionally we will see people engaging in odd, strange or inappropriate behavior in various situations. It also explains sometimes, why we may not like an individual when we first meet them; we do not know why, we just know we don't like them. With a bit of introspection you will often find that individual reminds you of someone you didn't like or someone who hurt you in some way. Once that is realized, then the dislike goes away!
(By being mindful and watchful of our own thoughts, and doing Nam Simran, we can de-program our own minds from fear based thoughts, even if our first seven years were traumatic, difficult, and full of fearful things.)
So imagine huge numbers of people whose lives have been shaped more from fear than from compassion. Since when thrown into fits of fear the mind does act think in a rational fashion, and when in a state of detatched compasson the mind works in a very rational way, which do you think would be easier to control? Those who are not thinking rationally, of course.
This is one reason why we are enjoined to keep Nam Simran. By doing Nam Simran our minds and hearts are turned more towards compassion and rational thinking, and we guard ourselves against allowing our minds to be thrown into a constant round of fear-mode thoughts and the subsequent words and deeds arising from those thoughts. With calmer minds, we are led to have calmer and happier hearts; hearts that have no fear of Truth, and we can act in positive ways to solve difficulties and bear our resonsibilities, rather than fearully waiting around for someone to come save us. People who are fearful often are more willing to abdicate their responsibilities rather than attend to them. In doing so, they also abdicate the use of their rights.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/business-and-lifestyle/22368-work-life-balance.html
This, of course, makes it very easy for those bent on controlling others to exercise that control.
So you can see that it is highly important to work from a frame of reference of unattached compassion in a balanced and fair way, rather than from a framework of fear. Fear is very disempowering, and compassion is very empowering. These dynamics are at work in the home, schools, the workplace and any place human beings are.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=22368
When thoughts and feelings of fear are sufficiently replaced with compassion, people go into burning buildings to perform rescue missions, get others caught in floods out of danger, clear debris from earthquakes to rescue those trapped, and other excellent deeds. All fears can be conquered with Nam Simran! Where there is Love and compassion, there is just no room for fear, and then, truly, our only Sovereign is Guru!
I would welcome more views on these things-Thank you all again, for starting this thread-
Wahe Guru
KulwantK