A non-poisonous snake on a trail.

A non-poisonous snake on a trail.

A similar situation happened a few weeks back.

I was hiking when I saw four Asian hikers on the trail.

But two men were already on my side, and two women were standing far away and were not hiking.

I didn’t know why.

But as I kept walking, I realized the situation.

The women were afraid to hike due to this snake on the side of the trail.

They thought the snake would attack them because it was in an attacking position.

They were literally frozen; not moving at all.

I saw the snake and recognized it as a rat snake, a common non-venomous species, not a threat to us.

I just continued to walk as if it didn’t even exist, and immediately the snake turned around and disappeared in the woods.

The snake was in an attacking stance only because it saw fear in the woman’s eyes.

A fearful person can do anything, because fear controls their behavior, not the truth.

In this case, the snake was non-venomous, but the woman was unaware of this and was fearful.

The snake sensed this and immediately prepared itself to defend against an impending attack, as fear leads to violence.

But the fear was unnecessary; it was a product of their minds, just ignorance.

When I walked by comfortably, showing no fear, the snake immediately recognized there was no threat and went on its way.

Fear is controlling the human world, even though we have created a society that is totally immune to wild animals.

But the fear has settled down into our DNA.

We mistrust people from different countries, different religions, different racial backgrounds; we mistrust even each other.

We are in attack mode all the time, and physical or verbal violence erupts in no time.

All fears arise in ignorance.

And ignorance results from the mind-driven life we are all living.