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Fear factor
The human mind is complex, highly sensitive and capable of remembering any event for life. That is why we can bring words and events to mind in less than one second. This capability can have a rewarding, as well as frightening effect. Negative effects on human psyche play a very important role in a person’s life. Developed countries, therefore, take special care to instil positive thoughts in the child from the early days. An important method is to develop mind, emotions and reactions that, after a time, become a reflex action and come effortlessly.
Phobias affect human behaviour that depends greatly on how the mind has been trained and nurtured. Healthy upbringing produces a healthy, normal, useful citizen, while those growing up in an unhealthy environment behave negatively, thereby reducing the power of inborn capabilities. Negative thoughts and doubts are developed from childhood and can cause tension and later on anxiety in children, a condition that was a trait of adults only until a few years ago.
It is an alarming situation, bad for the community, family, friends and the nations. It should be curbed and remedied with the means at our disposal.
One of them is to provide facilities to youngsters for developing positive thoughts. The sooner parents realise this the better.
If left unchecked these negative influences can develop into phobias. There is an awesome list of these paralysing factors — the worst of which is the social phobia in the anxiety category. There can also be the fear of going to a dentist, abluphobia is the fear of washing clothes and bathing, achluphobia fear of darkness, acrophobia fear of heights, agoraphobia fear of open spaces, agrozophobia fear of wild animals, ailurophobia fear of cats, cartoons, mummies and monsters, algophobia fear of pain; then there is a fear of dust, fear of men, fear of winds, of flowers, society, of spiders, of lightening and thunder, of dirt, of being alone, of plants, of books, jumping from high and low places, of being ridiculed, of crowd, of skins and animals, of horses, of fish, of insects, of mice (normal in ladies), of snakes, of birds, of ghosts, of frogs, and the fear of animals.
There are more but I think these are enough for your knowledge. My primary objective in naming these is to recount factors that can affect the human mind and render him less of a human being in his adulthood.
It is almost impossible to eliminate these phobias completely once they get rooted; they can be, however, cured by psychoanalysis and psychotherapists, but it is a cumbersome, expensive and bothersome process. They can also seriously endanger the relationship between friends, relatives and family.
I still remember my father used to ask me to walk alone with a stick in my hand in total darkness when I was about four. That brought a wonderful change in my personality. I can go about unaided, in total darkness in the forest, in the bush without a flicker of fear. The trend had helped me immensely in my career to look for wild animals to study or trap them for the zoological gardens where I worked all my life.
It is for this reason that I want to build a House of Knowledge in the Safari Park in Karachi (I am the founder) where children can see wild animals, walk amongst them, touch them, without fear, read about them in books watch movies, know their habits their likes and dislikes, to amuse themselves by walking, playing in the open, where they can soil their dress but will not fear their reprimand from the elders or they can jump from a reasonable height, play with live snakes (held by a keeper), touch live frogs, observe colourful beetles placed in their palms and indulge in activities that will restore confidence.
The picture shows a young child playing with a lion cubs. The cub s were brought to celebrate Children’s Day last year in Safari Park, it was disappointing to see that even grown ups were reluctant to touch the cub.
I will urge you to shed the fear of ghosts which does not exist except in one’s imagination. One of the words to describe them in Hindi language is Bhoot which literally means the past. It has no basis of physical existence. It is a superstition built up by legends, myths, and stories.
Normal behaviour is a result of positive thoughts. Once a person convinces himself or herself that the present counts most, he or she will live in the present and will not be bothered by the past that can have a coating of phobias, which are the products of imagination.
I will narrate for you a true story: after visiting Taxila Museum while I was standing in a desolate spot by the side of a neglected road looking for a conveyance to reach Julian, two teenagers stopped in front me and asked incredulously if it was safe for them to travel further. I assured them it was safe and without any danger.
They proceeded with a little hesitation but were back in five minutes and explained that it was so lonely that going ahead was frightening. I encouraged them once more to see the historical ruins. I hoped that they would reach the site, but soon I heard the clip-clop of a tongas, a little farther from where I was standing. I was shocked to see that the bike riders were holding the motorcycle on the foot-platform of the tonga. On finding me again they told me that the motorcycle had a puncture. I was sure they were putting up a lame excuse for not being courageous enough to travel alone to the Buddha relics. Although there was nothing to be afraid of it was the figment of their imagination that made them behave in such an absurd manner.
In order to fight phobias go to the beach, to Kalri lake, stroll in the open, visit the Safari Park, Haleji lake — anywhere you find open space. Talk to strangers and you will find that any qualms or fears that you had earlier will vanish away.
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