Stress of Insecurity

Being collective beings, any sense of estrangement from the familiar will permit doubts to arise. Sometimes these doubting thoughts are strong enough to leave us feeling in some jeopardy, vulnerable to external forces beyond our ken.

Some people take it to be in their interests to foster insecurity in others because this can create a willingness to submit. For example, in work situations your boss might think that slightly cowed employees will work harder and be more dedicated. The toll that such worry might exact upon the one who bears it is not relevant. The social bully attempts to enhance his or her place by degrading another’s. Many of us are vulnerable to these tactics of alienation.

To do Zen meditation is to study the self. To study the self is to forget about the self that could or should be and to be receptive to the reality of your presence. At this point there is the opportunity to simply drop away any reflexive response that arises out of fear. That would include most varieties of insecurity, regardless of the exact factor in question. Zen meditation will not cure the insecurity, but it will help one grapple with the harmful consequences.