What is Fear? An abscence of trust

This is a question that I found from the LinkedIn Group 'The Philosophy Network'

What is Fear? What causes fear and how do we overcome it?

Fear is an abscence of trust.

That is, if trust is our ability to rely on a person (or people), an organisation, or a product or service to deliver a specific outcome (my definition of trust), and that specific outcome for all of us is that we want our Expectations met or managed, our Needs met and the Promises made to us kept (what I call ENPs in my books and work), then fear is an INABILITY to rely on the same.

Where there is fear, there is a sense that my Expectations will not be met (or I don't know what to Expect), my Needs will not be met, and the Promises made to me will not be kept.

Because our trust is fragile, and I represent it as an egg (it can break that easily), we fear placing our fragile trust in something that may, or is likely, to cause it to break.

It is actually a very good warning sign that either the person, organisation or product/service is not right for you to trust, or that you have negative Expectations or are seeking to have too many Needs satisfied from one source.