Polar Bear Hunting: 4 Little Steps to Confront and Transform Your Fears

Within Inuit culture the polar bear is a powerful threat, as it fights alongside men for its place at the top of the arctic food chain. Interestingly the bears are simultaneously revered within the native community and remain a rich part of the spirituality of the Inuit people. For centuries the people have revered the bears for the gift they bring. 

The gift of fear.  

Ancient rites of initiation in Inuit society included the hunting of the polar bear. While only armed with a spear, those seeking their place in the tribe would embark on a hunt that would end with the fight of their lives. 

Hunting the largest bears on the planet provided them with a clarity and a deep awareness of their lives. Those that lived through the rite were swelled with profound confidence and knowledge of self. It made them fit to be leaders and to take their place in the community. 

These sacred rites of the Inuit allowed them to learn something that sometimes takes years of therapy to achieve: how to distinguish the experience of fear from the object of the fear (in this case, the polar bear).

Now we all experience fear; it is a normal human emotion. When in the presence of a polar bear, it is normal for a person to experience fear. In our own life, our chattering mind experiences fear daily. However, our contemporary society appears to have lost its ability to face and transform fear. 

If we want our fear to grow, all we need to do is start running from it. The running generates a narrative in our heads. Left unchecked, the mental commentary will get bigger and spread to a degree where it actually distorts our knowledge of self. When that happens, we either withdraw and become paranoid, or we become reactive and violent.

The good news is that there is an ancient practice for managing and transforming our fears that doesn't involve harming any wildlife. Spiritual mystics have called this contemplative skill, vigilance.  In Martin Laird's, Into Silent Land, A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation, he lays out the steps to this practice.

Step 1: We give our fear a name. This helps to disconnect from our fear and gain mastery and control over it. It is helpful to remember that we are not our fears. If they remain internalized, we will struggle to face and conquer them, yet we will see them everywhere, and run and hide from them. Worse still, we will start to pick fights with others that remind us of our fears. 

Step 2: We meet the afflicting emotion with the spear of stillness. Stillness is not a technique but a skill that requires dedicated practice to access. We can develop stillness through meditation, mind-training, or centering prayer depending on your orientation or spiritual tradition. Our minds have a terrible time tolerating painful emotions without such training. This is something that few people choose to master with intent. Training our mind is not a hobby, and it requires thought and intentionality.  

To quote sword master Myamoto Musashi, “The various different senses cannot be written down but call for thorough training and practice.”

Step 3: Meet the bear. Allow your fear to be present. Now that you have cultivated stillness you can stand amidst your fear without running. Strip the fear down to it's core. If you desire to know the nature of your fears, or any afflictive thought, stare right into it. Affliction feeds off the mental commentary we create. 

Step 4: Separate the object of the fear from the experience of fear (muscle tension, sweaty palms, abdominal discomfort). Make the decision to let go of the commentary. This is “killing the bear.” 

In constantly remaining aware of the fear and the mental commentary that ensues, our awareness and attention become more intensely focused. With practice the fear itself brings life to the foreground by constantly keeping us engaged and present. It is only in losing our vigilance that we once again become defeated.

As the old Japanese Proverb goes, "After you win the battle, tighten your helmet."