echurch

written by Stephan Joubert

You probably know the song from the Ghostbusters movies – “I’m afraid of no ghosts.” Well, apart from the fact that we’ll see a remake in the not too distant future, we bump into ghosts all the time. We are constantly haunted by our own fears.

A shocking piece of research that I read recently states that the older we grow, the more our brains form synaptic links that are related to fear. Why does this happen? Is it perhaps because life is so dangerous? Or just because people are so toxic? Or perhaps we continue to live on the fringes of our own lives… those fringes where fear reigns unchallenged. No, I don’t suggest that fear will instantly disappear when I come into contact with my true self. But at least I’ll begin to encounter my own ghosts face to face…

Freedom starts when I encounter my inner fears. How? There’s no quick or easy answer. But one way is to find out what my inner self-talk is all about (the self-talk and daydreaming that go on in my head for more than five hours every day of my life). A new awareness of my inner discussions will bring me into contact with my fears. Then I’ll begin to see them for what they really are – pale ghosts!

God’s kind of freedom is an inner freedom. His kind of freedom moves me away from the fringes of my life to my inner self. His freedom lets me discover the true me. Only then will I grasp his kind of freedom that sets people free. That’s when I slowly but surely begin to sing a new song: “I’m afraid of no ghosts.”