I got inspired by this amazing website called Deep Dark Fears. I thought I should make a list of fears, and try to categorize them.. And then I looked online, it's a messy subject, I couldn't find 2 sources that would write something kind of similar. But I did get a few more ideas.. Anyway, let's GO!
First of all, I'm talking about fears of the healthy mind. I will not go to the dark dark dark side.. and presume to understand what's there. I guess.. even more irrational fears than in the average, let's call it.. healthy-ish mind? I mean no one's healthy, we're all messed up, that's for sure. : P
Step 1. I think there are RATIONAL, IRRATIONAL, and IMAGINARY fears.
The RATIONAL is the usual stuff, motivated by something external, like fear of pain, of rejection, of the unknown..
The IRRATIONAL is motivated by bullshit. Well, unmotivated. Fear of rejection can be irrational too, as in.. there's no harm done [although that's subjective], or there wasn't even a real risk. But if rejection is a real risk, the fear itself is real and motivated. Fear of spiders is largely irrational.. but you could call it rational, after all, they can be poisonous.. just probably not the little guys we have here in Europe. Fear of supernatural creatures though, that's irrational all the way.
OK, and then there's the IMAGINARY. Rational things that are not possible YET. But might be possible in the future, so we can imagine being afraid of them. Like fear of duplication or teleportation. Fear of duplication can be irrational too, like if a mirror steals your image and makes a clone of you on the other side. But it can be rational, scientific, yet not a real threat just yet. So for now we just imagine how scary it might be to discover, one day, that you are a clone.
There are other ways to categorize fears, there is conditioned fear [learned] vs genetic fear [inherited]. Or conscious vs subconscious. Or.. external vs internal. As in: externally vs internally motivated. Fear is manifested internally, mostly [although it can affect external behavior and subtle body changes], but can the motivations/reasons be internal too? Maybe rational fears have external motivations, irrational fears have internal motivations.. I fear that might be simplifying things. Dunno.
Step 2. All fears, rational, irrational, imaginary, seem to be deriving from a small number of main sources. I'll give you 7, although Psychology Today counts 5. I will rename them a bit, just cuz I can.. and for clarity. And I'll go from what I think would be the most primal, immediate, and scary.. to the least primal.
Main Categories:
1. Fear of DEATH.
Or of extinction, ceasing to exist.
2. Fear of MUTILATION.
Of dismemberment, disembowelment, loss of physical body parts..
3. Fear of PAIN.
Of injury, illness, accident, torture, anything that can lead to pain.
4. Fear of IMMOBILIZATION.
Or loss of freedom, paralysis, imprisonment, entrapment..
5. Fear of SOCIAL SEPARATION.
Or social rejection. Loneliness, social failures and embarrassment, all social hell goes here.
6. Fear of IRRELEVANCE.
Of living a meaningless life, being irrelevant to others, not being known or remembered.. Ego-death, loss of integrity of self.. Social Separation can lead to fear of Irrelevance, but Irrelevance is its own thing.
7. Fear of THE UNKNOWN.
The religious, the supernatural, the inexplicable.. maybe even fear of losing one's mind, although that probably should be category 8. Tbh I'm not entirely sure this fear 7 doesn't actually rely on other fears, like 1 2 3.. But there could be fears that transcend the usual pain and death, like the irrational fear for your soul.. Is that a real fear and how does it manifest itself? Dunno.
One fear can belong to one or more of the above categories. Death, Mutilation, and Pain can work together.. if you're cleaved in half for ex. But they are 3 major and separate categories because they are irreducible and can work independently. You can lose a leg, suffer no pain, and continue to live. You can die with no pain and no dismemberment. Or you can suffer pain and not lose anything.
Step 3. My long list of fears.. a bit of chaos here, but I tried to merge several related fears together. Feel free to imagine what main categories they might be based on.
Fear..
of death, maybe in your sleep, coma, untimely death, and death aftermath
of water, drowning, suffocation
of injury, accidents, pain, torture, dismemberment, disembowelment, melting away
of accidentally injuring someone else
of doctors, dentists.. illness, brain damage, losing your teeth or other organs or body parts
of giving birth.. maybe to a monster.. especially as a male
of the dark, dark things, shadows
of mirrors, reflections, parallel realities
of sliding into alternate universes
of the unknown, not understood
of not knowing not understanding the meaning of something.. not having access to info
of the invisible
of sudden appearances or disappearances
of the irrational, unmotivated, surreal, supernatural, voodoo
of loneliness
of losing people you love or care about
of switching, being someone/something else, of different sex, race, species.. a robot
of machines, mechanical devices.. that could lead to injury. like elevators, industrial stuff, robots
of someone watching you sleep
of the unseen, what you cannot see, like under the sea.. or what others can see and you can't
of what you catch with the corner of your eye [you look again and it's gone]
of what's behind you
of being followed, stalked, or watched, maybe while doing something shameful
of the mundane turning supernatural
of being caught.. doing something shameful or illegal
of what happens when you're asleep or unconscious
of being invaded in your most intimate moments and places, like while u poop
of what's in your bed.. or under it [invasion of intimate space]
of body invasion, things entering you, living inside you
of mind invasion, people or things reading your mind, entering your dreams, knowing your most intimate thoughts
of monsters, vampires, ghosts, the undead, gnomes, little people, clowns
of ugly, bad, evil, weird men.. women.. old people
of animals
of clones, of duplication
of being locked, closed, unable to be free
of not having space, or not having your own space
of losing something
of locations, empty spaces, outdoors, indoors, closed claustrophobic spaces, unfamiliar spaces, outer space..
of time misbehaving..
of dreaming, nightmares
of unexpectedly being somewhere else
of heights, falling, flying, maybe uncontrolled..
of appearances and disappearances
of masks, of the anonymous face
of teleportation [dismemberment, death, duplication, imaginary]
of being mad, or being considered mad
of social embarrassment/public humiliation, being uncovered.. maybe unknowingly misbehaving
of being judged, misjudged, wrong, not fitting in, being unprepared, in the wrong place, late..
of being unable to speak.. or to explain
of being irrelevant to others, dying unremembered, living pointlessly
of objects that could be more than they appear.. like chairs that move
of weather.. wind, clouds, storm, lightning, rain
of god, religion.. being used or abused by it
of scary afterlife scenarios, like eternal loneliness, eternal torture..
of having unrealistic or fictional goals
of unexpected future
of missing out on something important
of growing old, maybe very fast
of an object that maybe represents something, an idea, a person, a torment
of stupidity.. loosing wits, maybe due to an accident
of insanity.. going insane, loosing contact with reality
of poverty, misery
of manipulation, being manipulated
of self?
Feel free to use these beautiful fears.. maybe to write stories, if you want. Mix them up, come up with your own inventions, or find your inner monsters.. Oh shit, I gotta go to the dentist btw.. o___O