A JOURNEY THROUGH FEAR
BY SCOTT GOODKNIGHT
THE SEARCH FOR THE FEARLESS
In the spring of 2016, I set out on a quest to find the most fearless people on Earth. I wanted to interview them, study them, film them and discover how they maintained mental and emotional control in situations that would overwhelm an ordinary person.
I was searching for a kind of holy grail, a unified theory of fear that could help anyone confront any fear. I wanted to discover whether it was possible for a human being to become truly fearless. That was originally going to be the name of the film, Fearless.
But after years of research, interviews and direct experience, I discovered that fearlessness does not exist. The bravest people in the world still experience fear. Their hearts race, their hands shake, their minds imagine catastrophe, and they feel uncertainty, vulnerability and doubt. What distinguishes them is not the absence of fear, but their refusal to obey it.
There can be no courage without fear. Fear is the condition that makes courage possible. The brave are not people who feel nothing. They are people who decide that something else matters more than what they feel. They put fear in its proper place and move forward.
Interview with 9 time world champion bull rider Ty Murray
at his ranch in Stephenville Texas
MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED REAL WORLD INTERVIEWS
Since beginning this journey, I have interviewed, studied under, trained with, observed and filmed more than one hundred extraordinary people who confront fear in the real world. They include Medal of Honor recipients, Army Special Forces soldiers, Army Rangers, Navy SEALs, Marine Force Recon veterans, law enforcement officers, skydivers, BASE jumpers, wingsuit pilots, highline walkers, freedivers, shark handlers, venomous snake experts, firewalkers, martial artists, suspension performers, alligator wrestlers, bear trainers, big cat keepers, bull riders, bullfighters, high rise steelworkers, window washers, hang glider pilots, experimental aircraft pilots, surfers, spearfishermen, ocean lifeguards, rock climbers, near death survivors and heroes from every walk of life.
No one was paid to perform for the camera, nothing was staged, and there were no theatrical tricks, special effects or carefully controlled studio demonstrations. Everything happened in the real world, under real conditions, with real consequences.
I did not remain safely behind the camera. I participated in many of these experiences because I wanted to understand fear from inside the ordeal rather than describe it from a distance.
I had a venomous cobra strike my camera and leave venom across the lens. Sharks bit at the camera and pushed their noses against my mask while I filmed underwater. I climbed onto buildings in New York City to film roof workers and window washers. I stood near the edges of sheer granite walls one thousand feet above Yosemite Valley. I held a rattlesnake in my bare hands. I sat on the back of a two thousand pound bull. I jumped from a three hundred foot cliff in Moab with a rope attached to my body and cameras strapped to my head and hand. More than once, I wondered whether I had finally pushed the search too far.
But extreme physical fear represented only one part of the investigation. I also interviewed survivors of mass shootings and listened as they described the most terrifying moments of their lives through broken voices and tear filled eyes. I spoke with clergy members and crisis workers who entered the aftermath of mass violence and helped survivors endure the unimaginable.
I interviewed homeless people and spoke with men and women living on the streets of major American cities. I attended political demonstrations and talked with people on opposing sides of the most divisive issues of our time. I consulted historians, philosophers, spiritual teachers, psychologists, veterans, survivors and experts from many disciplines.
I asked them the same essential questions. What are you afraid of? How do you confront fear? What gives you the courage to continue? What have you learned that could help someone else?
Interview with world class rock climber, BASE jumper
and wingsuit pilot Steph Davis in Moab Utah
FROM A FILM TO A LIFETIME OF WORK
What I discovered could not be contained in a single documentary or even a series of films. The subject was too large.
Fear reaches into every dimension of human existence. It shapes the body, the mind, the identity, the relationship between the individual and society, and the individual’s confrontation with suffering, meaning and death. The project would require a series of books.
At first, this realization terrified me. I did not consider myself a writer, and the thought of organizing years of interviews, footage, experiences, historical research and philosophical study into multiple books seemed overwhelming. But I had not come this far only to come this far.
The work had become more than a film project. It had become a responsibility and a life purpose. I owed something to the people who had trusted me with their stories, opened their lives to me and, in some cases, risked their lives to demonstrate that they were not merely talking about courage. They were living it.
Sadly, several of the people I interviewed died before they could see the completed work. One man fell 900 feet off a cliff. Another man died in a BASE jumping accident. A third man died of a drug overdose. He was one of the most well known shark divers and underwater photographers in the industy. In the end, it was not a shark, but the monster within that killed him.
I also lost a good friend with whom I had skydived, and I was given the heartbreaking responsibility of delivering the letter he had written to his wife in the event of his death.
Their deaths gave the work greater urgency. These books are part of the promise that their stories, courage, knowledge and sacrifices will not disappear or be forgotten.
Interview with "Sketchy" Andy Lewis, (1986-2026) world famous highline
walker and BASE jumper in Moab Utah
THE WISDOM OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS
The interviews and personal experiences became one half of the investigation. The other half required traveling backward through history.
I studied more than two hundred books and biographies, searching for humanity’s deepest insights into fear, courage, power, suffering, freedom and self mastery. I returned to the earliest surviving stories of civilization, including The Epic of Gilgamesh. I studied the works of Homer, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Nietzsche and many others who confronted the eternal struggle between fear and human potential.
Across thousands of years, one pattern repeatedly appeared. The story of humanity is the story of individuals who did what everyone else was afraid to do. Every great discovery began when someone entered the unknown, every invention began as an idea that might fail, every movement toward freedom began when an individual refused to obey an accepted injustice, every act of leadership began when someone accepted responsibility while others waited for certainty, and every transformation began when a human being approached the fear that had previously controlled him.
The greatest leaders were not always the most intelligent, educated, wealthy or attractive people of their age. They were the ones who acted. Intelligence without courage remains unused, education without courage becomes sophisticated obedience, talent without courage becomes unrealized potential, and knowledge without courage becomes an excuse for endless preparation. Courage is the quality that activates every other human ability.
What did I learn in this decade long search for the truth about fear?
World famous shark expert Eli Martinez (The Shark Whisperer) engages with a 12
foot long Tiger Shark, the second most dangerous shark in the world
FEAR IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IN THE WORLD
Fear touches every aspect of human life. From the cradle to the grave, no other emotion prevents more people from discovering their strength, developing their abilities, speaking the truth, pursuing their purpose and creating the lives they were capable of living.
Fear stands behind many of the problems we mistakenly treat as separate conditions. Anger is often fear armed for battle, jealousy is the fear of being replaced, resentment is the fear of admitting injury, anxiety is fear projected into the future, and despair often begins when a person has surrendered to fear so many times that he no longer believes himself capable of changing his life. Fear is the problem behind the problem.
But fear is also the greatest opportunity we will ever encounter, because the fear that stands in our way points directly toward the strength we have not yet developed. The purpose of this book series is to show you how to enter that territory, confront the fears that control your life and successfully navigate your own Journey Through Fear.
THE WAR WITH FEAR
Secondly, it is of profound importance to understand that we are living in a war with fear. Every generation of the human race faces a defining crisis. Our crisis is largely imaginary. Fear itself has been made into a weapon of mass destruction and a tool of societal control. We are taught to fear things we shouldn’t and not to fear things we should. We live in an age of boundless deception, manipulation and false information. Governments, political movements, corporations, advertisers, ideological organizations, extremists and mass media outlets have learned that frightened people are easier to influence, divide and control.
Fear narrows attention, weakens independent judgment, creates suspicion, anger and helplessness, and produces a desperate desire for protection. The person or institution that defines the threat and offers the only apparent path to safety can gain enormous power over those who accept its version of reality.
We are continually shown images of catastrophe, conflict, violence, disease, social collapse and environmental destruction over which we have little to no control. Advertisers hold up impossible standards of beauty, wealth, status and acceptance, then offer useless products as temporary relief from the insecurity they helped create in the first place. Political and social organizations divide people into hostile groups, convincing each side that the other represents an existential threat. The result is a society that is increasingly frightened, divided, exhausted and confused.
Yet the real war is not ultimately being fought in the government, the media, the marketplace or the streets. The real war is within. It is fought in the private moment when fear tells you not to speak, not to act, not to leave, not to begin, not to resist, not to risk failure and not to become the person you know you were meant to be.
Fear rarely destroys a life in one dramatic event. It takes that life one concession at a time. It persuades us to exchange freedom for comfort, truth for acceptance, individuality for belonging, responsibility for protection and purpose for temporary security.
It convinces us to fear embarrassment more than self-betrayal, failure more than stagnation, criticism more than dishonesty, discomfort more than weakness and death more than wasting our lives. We spend enormous amounts of time worrying about events we cannot control while neglecting the things we can control, Courage, Choice, Commitment, Communication, Calmness, Character and Compassion.
Instead of developing these qualities, we seek comfort in half-truths, blame others, surrender our decisions to authorities, organizations and groups, compromise, complain, criticize and gather together for the perceived safety of conformity. We mistake sameness for unity and dependence for security.
Most of all, we fail to leave the psychological womb of society, to cut the umbilical cord of dependence and become what we were always capable of becoming, fully activated human beings who can think independently, act courageously and lead themselves in a positive direction.
Albert Killian (The Cobra Commander) prepares to perfom the "kiss of death" wth a
highly venomous King Cobra - Homestead Florida
THE DRAGON YOU FEAR GUARDS THE TREASURE YOU SEEK
The central discovery of this work can be expressed through an ancient image: A terrifying dragon guarding a pricelsss treasure.
The fear of rejection guards intimacy, the fear of failure guards achievement, the fear of ridicule guards originality, the fear of inadequacy guards mastery, the fear of responsibility guards leadership, the fear of loneliness guards independence, and the fear of death guards the full experience of life.
The dragon does not appear randomly. It appears wherever something valuable can be gained or lost. The great mistake is believing that the presence of fear proves the treasure is forbidden. Fear often reveals exactly where the treasure is hidden.
You cannot defeat the dragon from a distance. You must approach it, enter the territory you have avoided, remain present while fear moves through you and discover that fear is not a prophecy of doom but a herald of a new beginning. This discomfort is not destruction but awakening and uncertainty is not defeat but the sign of imminent discovery.
The greatest treasure is not merely the goal waiting beyond the fear. The deepest treasure is the person you become by confronting it. These rewards are more priceless than any physical treasure; peace of mind, self-confidence, self-respect, the respect of others and the satisfaction of a life well lived.
World class highline walker and former "American Ninja" champion "Handsome Ryan" Robinson completes a mind blowing walk across an 880 meter highline hundreds of feet above the valley floor - Moab Utah
THE JOURNEY THROUGH FEAR
These books present fear not as a disease that makes you defective, but as an ordeal that can initiate you into a greater life. It can be viewed as a journey on which you must explore, seek out and confront the five forms of fear that prevent most people from tapping into their true potential: Physical fear, Environmental fear, Psychological fear, Existential fear and Social fear.
Physical fear is the fear of pain, injury and death. Environmental fear is the fear of nature, catastrophe, uncertainty and forces beyond our control. Psychological fear is the fear created by memory, imagination, trauma and the hidden forces that lurk in the invisible regions of the mind. Existential fear is the fear of meaninglessness, purposelessness, aging, isolation, mortality and the unknown world that lies beyond life and death. Social fear is the fear of rejection, judgment, humiliation, exclusion and standing apart from the group by becoming an independent thinker and leader.
The series of books also reveals the seven stages of the Journey Through Fear, beginning in dependence, illusion and comfort, passing through rebellion, failure, compromise and awakening, and ultimately arriving at discipline, ordeal, transformation and return.
This is not a fictional hero’s journey in which the danger exists only on a screen or page. It is a journey undertaken in reality. It requires the individual to confront the five dragons of fear directly, develop real strength through voluntary hardship and return from the ordeal with knowledge that can benefit others.
The objective is not to become fearless. The objective is to become free.
Interview with Vientnam War hero and Medal of Honor recipient Sammy Davis
the "real" Forrest Gump - Dallas Texas
YOU ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN FEAR HAS ALLOWED YOU TO BELIEVE
If another human being has mastered a fear, then the mastery of that fear belongs within the range of human possibility. This does not mean that every person begins from the same place or will achieve the same result. It means that fear cannot honestly claim that transformation is impossible.
The smallest fear contains the same fundamental structure as the greatest fear. There is a trigger, an imagined catastrophe, a physical reaction, an impulse to retreat and a moment of decision.
When you master a small fear, you begin learning the method required to confront a greater one. You approach rather than escape, you remain rather than retreat, you observe reality rather than surrendering to imagination, you endure the discomfort, and you return with evidence. Every victory becomes a memory, every memory becomes proof, and every piece of proof changes your understanding of yourself. Eventually, you no longer say, “I hope I can face fear.” You say, “I have faced fear before.”
That is the foundation of genuine confidence. Confidence is not positive thinking. Confidence is remembered courage.
World famous climber Brad Gobright (1988 - 2019) who teamed up with Yosemite Search and Rescue worker Jim Reynolds (also interviewed) to set a world record speed ascent on El Capitan in Yosemite California
THIS IS AN INVITATION TO BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY
The most profound realization is this: You can become who you want to become, do what you truly want to do and live the life you genuinely want to live. Fear is not something to eliminate. Fear is the gatekeeper to power.
Fear tells you that you are not ready, not strong enough, not worthy enough, not intelligent enough and not capable enough. It tells you to wait for permission, certainty, approval and perfect conditions. But perfect conditions never arrive. The life you desire is being held inside the actions you continually avoid. The person you want to become is being created through the ordeals you are presently afraid to enter.
The world does not need more people who claim to be fearless. It needs individuals who fear the right things, refuse to be ruled by the wrong things and move forward even while fear is speaking.
Fear spreads from person to person, but courage spreads as well. One courageous individual can change a family, a group, an organization, a community and eventually the course of history. The most powerful argument against fear is not a slogan, a diagnosis, an institution or a theory. It is a human being who has faced fear and become stronger, braver and more free.
HOW DOES THE JOURNEY END?
Life can be an exciting adventure or it can be a miserable, punishing ordeal to endure.
In the end our lives will be defined by a story we tell ourselves and a story the world tells about us. The main element which will make this story interesting, inspiring and fulfilling is whether or not we faced our greatest fears.
Every great story in human history is really just a story about someone who did what they were afraid to do or someone who did what others were afraid to do. It is up to you to decide what kind of story you want to tell. The stories in these books will prove to you the most important lesson you can ever learn in life: That you can do far more than you ever imagined. Fear is all that stops you.
Fear may speak, fear may threaten, fear may tremble through your body and fill your imagination with disaster, but you do not have to allow fear to decide how the story ends.
You must decide how your story will unfold.. It doesn’t matter where you are or how far you have strayed off your true path. It matters what direction you choose to go from here. It matters how it you choose to finish it. Life can be an exciting adventure or it can be a miserable, punishing ordeal to endure. The choice is yours. Courage is the key.
We must remember that the best way to conquer our greatest fears is to live for something bigger than ourselves.. The biggest probem of our age is fear. What will yoou do to help solve it? Face the smallest fear, build the evidence, approach the greater fear, enter the place guarded by the dragon, recover command over your own mind, then return and show others what you discovered. These books provide a road map for the journey.
In total, the "Journey Through Fear" book series will be presented in 6 volumes, each book containing 400-500 pages. These books tell the stories of over 100 of the world’s most remarkable human beings, experts who have mastered fear in a specific discipline or profession.
Their examples will reveal to you a hidden path, they will provide a map to show you how you too can live a remarkable life by learning how to master your greatest fears.
Learn the lessons that the masters of fear teach us by their stories and by their example. Take what you learn in the pages of these books and use the information like a map to guide you on your own Journey Through Fear.
Let the journey begin…
With warmest regards,
Scott Goodknight
Scott and Stephanie Goodknight - Monument Valley Utah
