Fear, Guilt, and Anger

Word Definitions and Meaning

What is the meaning of:
fear (and its word-field: alarm, dread, qualm, worry, panic, horror, phobia, paranoia, and terror)
guilt, anger?

Home > Spiritual Word Meanings > Fear and Guilt

What Is Fear?

fear [ < Old English færan (to terrify, ambush, surprise)] Definition: A strong emotion due to foreseeing or becoming aware of danger; the reason or cause of such strong emotion.

At its best, fear helps you protect yourself, and helps to remind you that you don't have control over everything in your life (and never will). At its worst, fear can turn us into murderous bigots or quivering cowards. A person can create fear in someone else, for vengeance or control. Demagogues tell a story of perilous fear. Great leaders get us to reach beyond fear, even beyond hope, to a future built on a love that is beyond just us and far greater than all fear. Fear can shrink the soul more than anything else except powerlust. There are many kinds of fear:

• sudden fear (alarm),
• strong desire not to do something (dread),
• fear of doing something against one's conscience or better judgment (qualm),
• fear of unfavorable results (worry),
• brief but strong loss of composure (panic),
• fear that causes immediate physical reaction (horror),
• fear of one specific thing beyond reason (phobia),
• irrational fear that people are out to do you harm (paranoia)
• the surrender to extreme fear (terror).

Jesus is several times recorded as saying, "". It's also one of the traditional messages of the angels. Psalm 23 says "I shall fear no evil, for Thou art with me". Fears that are turned over to God will be muted or harnessed, or will go away. Instead of fearing the darkness, seek the light. Go against God, and there is no reason not to be in terror, except perhaps for God's unfathomable mercy.

When you stop trying to be in control and let God be in control, there is no cause for fear, for the One in Control loves you and seeks the best for you. Trust in God's love casts out fear. When you stop fearing your neighbor, it opens you up to the possibility of loving them - but it's not the same thing as actually loving them.

"Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed."
Michael Pritchard

"Courage is fear that has said its prayers."
Dorothy Bernard

"Fear God, yes, but don't be afraid of Him."
J.A. Spender, *The Comments of Bagshot*

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear."
Ambrose Redmoon

No need to dread checking the dictionary for a definition of .

What Is Guilt?

guilt [ Old English gylt (crime, criminality) ] Definition: When you realize you've done something wrong, in the past or present.

There are at least two forms of guilt that affect us:

1. forensic guilt, like that found in criminal courts. This is based squarely on factual matters: "So-and-so has been shown to be the one who did a certain thing." This is often followed by some form of penalty or censure. This kind of guilt has been shown, in scientific studies, to sometimes create powerful changes in a person's behavior.
2. psychological guilt, which is the effect of some action of yours on how you think about yourself. Other related words are blame, shame, fault, and onus. The churches, over the years, have created this kind of guilt inside of many believers, by treating those who did wrong as if they were without value.

On the one hand, there is no way to turn away from wrongs or to reconcile without realizing that it was wrong, that the wrong matters in some way, and feeling the wrongness of it enough to want to turn away from it. On the other hand:

• Having psychological guilt doesn't always lead to a turning away from our wrongs. Sometimes it leads to defensiveness, excuses, and evasions in order to escape the consequences of our wrongs. This happens when a person either greatly fears the consequences, or values themself so greatly that they should be able to operate above having any consequences from it.
• Psychological guilt can turn into shame, which in turn weigh you down, get you depressed, and cause you to hold yourself back from life's challenges. The difference is that guilt is about one's actions, while shame is about one's value. Guilt is about the deed; shame is about the doer. The two run on a continuum: the more often someone does things which produce unaddressed guilty feelings, the less that person will think they're worth to anyone. (That is, the idea that someone who does a lot of bad things must really be bad.)
• Whenever there are strong feelings that affect behavior, there is the likelihood of being manipulated by others.
• Guilt is often an excuse for not allowing yourself to be forgiven, an excuse for punishing yourself instead of fixing yourself, or for staying apart instead of reconciling.

That's where what Jesus did can give such release: "neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more." Since God does not condemn you, you're free to enjoy what God has given you. You're free from having to let guilt or shame nag you or weigh you down. You were created good, and you are treasured by God so you have much value.

Guilt, hopefully, would lead you to repentance, which needs to be expressed. One way of doing this is by the practice of confession.

"Mothers, food, love, and career: the four major guilt groups."
Cathy Guisewite, cartoonist of "Cathy"

You're allowed to feel guilty enough to check the dictionary on ''.

Anger

anger [ < Old Norse angr (bitterness, sorrow) ] Definition: strong negative emotion.

What Is Anger?

Anger may be directed at someone or something or some circumstance, or just a generalized grrrrr at everything. Many things cause anger and the conniptions that come from it : loss, injustice, jealousy, loss of control, lack of hope, sleeplessness, chemical imbalances, or physical pain. Anger can sometimes be a good thing that shows you something's not going right. Though we will be angry at times, Jesus said not to let the sun go down on our anger. You can:

• turn it over to God, so that by the Spirit's power the anger can relax its grip on you;
• seek reconciliation and/or forgiveness with those you've been angry at; and
• seek out why you're getting angry, so you can heal it within yourself.

That way, anger doesn't feed on itself to steal our joy and that of those around us. You can do something about anger when you find yourself going into a rage. You can:

• immediately halt whatever angry action you may already be doing;
• concentrate on your breathing, by taking deep, deliberate breaths, focusing on the in and out motions of breathing.

If you have depression or are in a especially stressful time, you may find it helpful to take depression medication, do some form of yoga or controlled body movement, and (most important) establish a regular pattern of exercise. If anger is a common part of your life, you need to address it for your own good and for those around you.

Related words include blow up, huff, ire, miff, rage, wrath, mad, fury, resentment, dander (up), acrimony, and indignation. Its root is related to anxiety, angst, angina, and perhaps even hangnail.

Don't get mad. There's more on in the dictionary.