[TBP]

Fear, like pain, is a warning. people without fear lack wisdom.

Overcoming fear is one of the most important things we can do. Fear is faith in the negative. It creates negative states of consciousness, which create negative events in our lives.

[LadyDoc]

No, fear is an emotion. Like pain, it is often a warning of danger.

It is overcome by faith that God is in charge.

those who have no fear lack reality. They are fools. But those who overcome fear thru trust are what we call heroes.

The NYFD heroes had fear, but trusted in the Lord (many asked the priests on site for a blessing before mounting the stairs). However, they took responsibility to do their job, and overcame their fear by placing the job--saving lives -- before their fears. Most of these NYFD heroes were catholic christians, who did not meditate and act holy holy, but knew in their guts that their job was serving God by imitating Jesus (not that they would say it that way, of course).

What you are talking about is neurotic fear: distrust of other people, distrust in the future. That can be overcome by faith and by what is preached in this sermon.

But life is complicated, and if one uses this sermon as a basis for religion/personal spirituality, it is lacking in complexity. It is similar to the quietism of Madam Guyren (Spelling?) which said you only needed piety. But you actually need piety, faith, and action.

This sermon is similar to quietism, buddhism, and gnosticism. It says reality is non existant, and that we become good/holy/spiritual by overcoming this non existant reality.

Judism on the contrary puts spirituality into the reality of material life, and Christianity--especially the Catholic christianity--says that material reality is made holy by the fact that God himself became a simple man and "translated" the highfalutin spiritual teaching into a simple reality that even the simplest peasant could understand.

The importance of serving God simply thru daily life is emphasized in Christianity, but is also taught in non western religions. For example, there is an old Hindu story that a guru asked Krishna to show him the holiest man in the world...so Krishna took him to the house of a simple farmer...a loving man with a large happy family...the farmer fed the travelers, and gave them his bed to sleep in...and cheered them with his generousity.

the great religions all have mystical teachings, but the GREAT religions also teach the holiness of the daily life lived with trust in God and that in the end, God will care for the poor. This is the trust that overcomes fear.