On Anxiety and Courage (Tangaza)

Group 1

Meeting in our group today, a member shared an event which he feared. This was an attack by men of the underworld who tied him with ropes and left him lying on the floor with guns on his head. The men promised to kill him if he dare make a single move or noise. For him, there was a tremendous fear awaken in him because he has never had such an experience before. All he was left with was to submit since he could not help himself.

This experience since then brings a certain anxiety in him each time he hears a gunshot especially when thoughts of this incident come to his mind. This anxiety is brought about by the thought of the possible outcome of that gunshot because it causes him to transcend each time as he is not bound only to listen to the gunshot as sound but as something which can take away one’s life. This moment for him brought him to a state of confusion because he could not really think “straight,” either to scream, pray or just be silent, however, that was the highest day he has ever prayed, he confessed, though he could not really concentrate in prayer for every thing happened in a very spontaneous and dramatic way.

Group 2

The group members shared their experiences in their own lives about fear and anxiety as follows;

Ø  One of the members shared about her experience when she was in high school when she was passing the bushy road where she met with three men but was later rescued. For her she was imagining what those men could have done to her.

Ø  The fear to meet a mad man who was reported to have killed his wife and children where they feared to pass there but they were to gain courage and pass.

Ø  The fear to sleep in the house that one of his uncles died. He even feared to use anything used by the dead person because of the fear to die like the dead person.

Ø  Shared the fear of unknown concerning his decision to join religious life. This fear has been calmed by the trust in God.

Ø  Fear of responsibility and decision making.

Ø  Fear of any soldier because of the experience of taken to the police station.

Comments

Anxiety depicts the human being idea of limitedness. This threat forces a human person to move beyond the realm of nature to yearn for Creator. Human tendencies of anxiety and courage lead to depend on higher being who is considered to be the source of everything. Fear sometimes demands a drastic decision in order to overcome it. Example of those who went beyond the natural human fear and anxiety are the Martyrs who were able consciously to offer their lives because of their faith and trust in God.

Group 3

It came out from our discussion that fears and Anxiety are part of our lives. During the discussion it came out clearly that we have different fears such as: fear of the blind, fear of exams, fear of the devil, fear of embarrassment, fear of darkness, fear of corpses etc. These are fears we had or have because of our past experience(s), but we acknowledged that some of these fears have been overcome with time.

For Anxiety it is there always in us but we could not really identify the course of it, especially the anxiety of expectation, lack of respect for time during appointment with someone, anxiety of exams and so on.
From the text Anxiety and Courage we  came to know that anxiety and fear are part of human beings and it is not just simple to get over them, but with courage they can be overcome especially fear; and Anxiety on the other hand also make us aware of our possible non-being (cf. class note by Fr. Kocholickal, p.18). "Nevertheless Anxiety and Fear have the same ontological root but they are not the same in actuality." (Class note by Fr. Kocholickal p.19)

By Benjamin Juana from group 3

NAMES OF MEMBERS

1.Respicius Kweyamba,  2.Akagwu Ojomojima John,  3.Rainu,  4.John Michael Alibu, 5.Cipriano Sapalo, and 6.Benjamin Juana

Group 4

Fear and anxiety.

                These are two different emotions, but they are related. If we ask the people about the fears or anxieties they experience, we could discovered that some fears and anxieties are very common. Some of the examples we shared in our team were:

·         Fears

o    after the experience of having an encounter with a stranger that entered into the house to steal, Gaspard shared, he is afraid of being robbed again,

o   Walking  in the night causes fear to Andrew because there is a lot of insecurity and he does not know what to expect,

o   “I was attacked by a dog” said Isaac, since then he cannot get close to dogs,  he is afraid of them,

o   to be close to snakes, shared Joseph, one of his friend was killed  by a snake when they were little kids.

o   to be in contact with blood, for Josphat he cannot be close to anyone bleeding,

o   Maralf is afraid of the car accidents, especially if he is not in control of the car.

·         Anxieties

o   not knowing if we are going to succeed with all our courses at school,

o   not being able to learn new languages,

o   arriving to a new environment, new place, knowing new people,

o   when we are going to travel, especially long trips.

o   about the challenges of celibacy,

o   Time management, having a lot of activities in a short period of time.

o   Being among a lot of people, getting along with all of them.

After sharing our fears and anxieties and having read the notes, we comment some points.

Fear and anxieties are interconnected; fear can prepare you for a better action or to overcome a situation. Fear is caused by an object in most of the cases. Anxiety is causes when we are aware of the possibility of ending our existence. Our body can use the mind to overcome the fears and anxieties. When we are afraid of something, we can enter to the unexpected and rely on God to take over.

We have shared that all our fears cause anxieties, we do not know what can happen if we face again the situations mentioned as examples, but in all the cases there is certain possibility of dealing with our own death. Anxieties are part of our existence.  We cannot eliminate them because they do not have a specific object that causes them. We become anxious when we do not have control on the situations, or when we experience the unexpected, or when there are risks of not being. In the other hand, fears can be overcome because we can identify the object that produces fear, and we can deal with it

Joseph Owori, Josphat Okemwa, Gaspard Machai, Andrew Nyongesa, Isaac Amponsah-Boateng, Maralf Jimenez

Group 5

After sharing and reading the indicated text from our notes, we have discovered that Fear and anxiety are related one to another. Then, their connection doesn’t mean that they are the same. First and foremost, the two elements are ontologically rooted in human nature. The difference is that fear has a definite object; whereas anxiety is not know. By definition, fear is a human or animal feeling of being afraid of something or someone or a specific event in life. However, anxiety is a feeling of worry in which human being experience his finitude. The latter reveals to him his limitedness. According to the experience, fear can be located in the present or in the existential period. However, anxiety is a matter of what will happen after death. Then, anxiety can be figured in the future whereas fear in the present-time.

Secondly, in face of fear, human being can overcome it by receiving from himself or someone else what we call ‘’courage’’. Through courage, he can participate into his struggle or endurance against that. But, anxiety doesn’t offer a possibility to participate in it, because its object is nothingness. The aspect of finitude reveals to the human being is limitedness compare to the aspect of non-finitude. Therefore, the connection between fear and anxiety is that anxiety is visible bodily speaking in fear. Anxious man expresses his anxiety and makes it visible. For instance, a driver gets confused and starts confusion thing in his car after being told by his doctor that he is affected by HIV. He feels both fear of his present situation which is the disease itself and anxiety because he imagines his soon death. He can fight against his feeling of fear and get courage from himself or friends to overcome it; but not way to overcome his anxiety. Anxiety becomes his non-being companion which frightens him every time he faces it. Thus, connection between anxiety and fear is always there. However, the difference is also a real fact.

To conclude, fear and anxiety are co-existential to the human nature. They are ontologically rooted into the nature of human being. Through his daily experiences, human being faces his weakness and limitedness. The latter helps him to compare with someone who is unlimited. The one who is unlimited brings fear into his life. He cannot touch him and experiences him materially. Therefore, he creates an idea of disappearing one day. He desire is to be unlimited. His finitude plunges him into the huge mystery of ‘’death’’. Anxiety makes him helpless and unable to probe death mystery. In fearful situation, security can be found but in anxiety not ways of resolving the situation. Fear has a definite object, but anxiety has not.  

Group 6

No Report!

Members: Judge Michira; Christopher Nkole; Anthony Musonda; Pawel Gabrys; Joseph Mmasi; Bartholomew Senewo

1. Share with the members of your group 1. Share with the members of your group something/ someone/some event that you ‘fear’ and an ‘anxiety’ you are having.

FEAR OF DEATH BY CHRISTOPHER

It was about the helplessness of his younger sister’s condition that was pregnant but unable to deliver, she was told by the doctors that the only way she can give birth is through Caesarean. For Christopher this was a horrible state anyone could think, so he was afraid that his younger sister might die if nothing is been done to remedy the situation. He was anxious to see that the sister is being rescued from this horrible predicament. But after some prays and dialogue with the doctors, she was able to give birth without caesarean operation. It was at this point that Christopher was able to calm his fear and picked-up courage to look beyond his younger sister’s situation.

FEAR OF FAILURE BY ANTHONY

He was scared that he might fail himself and the people since he had no experience of given reflection on Sunday during the celebration of the Liturgy. He did not know what to do, because he was not prepared for it. He was also afraid because he did not have the right terminology required to explain the readings on that particular Sunday. But having listened to one of the lay-readers who read that day, he was able to gain courage again to share the word of God with the faithful.

Having looked at these experiences, we shall comment on them based on the material we were given to analyse. From the stand-point of existentialism, there is a distinction between fear and anxiety: fear is what we experience temporary, something that we can overcome as soon as the object is made known to us. While anxiety is something that remains inevitable in human beings, anxiety in itself is not solely a negative concept so to speak, rather it is something that enables us to be aware of the presence of the unknown. When we talk of fear, we are speaking based on natural and psychological level, which has to do with created things that we can see and overcome.

There are two basic types of anxiety: psychological anxiety and spiritual anxiety. Psychological anxiety could be dealt with by the help of a psychologist, while spiritual anxiety could be helped in some sense by a spiritual director, although there are some spiritual anxieties that remain incurable.

        Secretary: Bartholomew Senewo

Group 7

This is group no 7 discussion based on our experience of fear/anxiety. During the sharing we realized that each person has different fears that prevent us from seeing beyond, some of the fears are as follows;

Fear of the unknown; leaving our country to another country often create fear in us because of the people we will meet in our mission place , culture , food and moment of adjustment.

Fear of violence which often bring insecurity, tension and enslave us from expressing our feelings because we do not know what others are thinking.

Fear of death, this triggers our emotion, leaving us with many questions about the mystery life especially the death of a close relative or friend.

Fear of demonic power (witchcraft, deity) of some culture that often frightens us including stranger.

Fears of letting go especially the bond of love that unite us with our families these often create loneliness within and we find it difficult to trust others.

At the end of the sharing we read the text given, we concluded that our fears / anxiety are all illusion and mere object that come to disorganize our life, when engross with fear we need to t trust in God’s presence within and courage is the object to conquer fear.