Living in the moment, the fear of fear, and the fear of death

Frederic says he has few prepared questions and now approaches things moment by moment with no plan, which the Wonders endorse.

They then ask what one thing he is most afraid of that would take him out of the moment; he answers 'fear'.

They press: is fear real?

Can it be touched, smelled, tasted, seen or heard?

The body reacts to it and the reactions are visible, but fear itself cannot be perceived by the five senses - so why give in to it, and why be afraid of it?

They then list the many ways a body can die - being shot, hit by a truck, beaten, stabbed - and ask why he fears death when he has never experienced it in this form.

Death can be observed from outside: one sees a person dying, hears the death rattle, feels the body grow cold as circulation stops, and the body is dead.

But what happens to the 'you' - the personality, the ego, the self-identity?

Is it killed, or does it go through what they call integration and reevaluation with the soul essence?

Since the end is integration and reevaluation with one's soul essence, why fear death?

Frederic replies that he does not know whether he is afraid of death.

The Wonders say perhaps he is not, and perhaps he understands the process - but if so, he can see the fear in others, and others reflect something back to him; perhaps a fear of death was once inside him and he now understands it differently, or perhaps not.

They suggest he explore it.

Understanding things from a broader perspective makes it easier to choose the interactions one wants in order to expand; without understanding, one simply waits and reacts to whatever happens and sees oneself as a victim, perpetually victimized by events.

They tie this back to Europe: is Europe a victim, is it victimizing itself, or is his own fear in exploring it creating a sense of victimization between himself and Europe?

Frederic says it is a mystery which way it will go; the Wonders reply that his mind wants to know because his mind loves control and wants to be told what will happen so it can decide whether to participate.

When he reframes it as interesting to see which way it goes, they ask why, if he wants to be an observer, he needs to define it as interesting at all.