Hmm. You're referring to a different type of fear than what I was referring to, Mrzzy.

You are referring to the fear of an imminent physical danger or some other form of rationally-perceived potential danger (such as the risk of losing one's money in a stock market crash, for example).

There's nothing dysfunctional about such fears, because they're based on a practical assessment of the situation. In other words, a bear charges out of the woods at me, and I feel fear. That's rational. It's not dysfunctional.

I was referring more to chronic psychological states of underlying fear which are not necessarily rational at all, and which cause emotional armouring and various unnecessarily defensive or hostile or selfish behaviours in people. Or they can cause avoidance and withdrawal. Or coldness. Or lack of empathy. Etc.

Yes, you could call it lack of trust. Certainly. Lack of trust does indicate that there is a level of fear.

For instance, it's easy to notice how positive people are to approaching puppies. Why? Well, the puppies are cute, and people aren't the least bit afraid of them. The complete lack of fear allows free expression of love and affection toward the puppy, but a lot of people will be quite hesitant about approaching an adult dog, specially a large one, because there's some level of fear that they feel in the presence of a large dog....unless he's very obviously a friendly one. Some people will fear any large dog, regardless. They don't trust dogs, on principle.

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You said something striking at the end of your post: "In the complete absence of fear one usually experiences death, and rather quickly too. Otherwise why would you step out your front door instead of your penthouse window?"

I find that an extraordinary statement in what it implies...rather than what it says directly. It implies that the only possible escape from fear is death. I have experienced any number of times in this life where I was living in the complete absence of fear. They were temporary, yes, but they were what life is meant to be, in my opinion. They were peaceful times, happy times, joyful times, times when I felt love, times when I felt connection with others or with Nature, times when I experienced complete trust. They're what makes life worth living, those times.

There's a thing called the ego. It looks at the world this way: "I am the center of concern here. It all revolves around my interests. Everyone I see is one of 3 things to me: an opportunity to get something I want, a threat, or...they don't fucking matter. Everything I see is one of 3 things to me: something I desire, something I fear, or it doesn't fucking matter. Nothing is "sacred"...except my own desires...and the stuff I own...like my property and my kids. That stuff is sacred because it's MINE. There is no meaning behind life except what meaning I choose to arbitrarily give it. That basically makes me the god of my own creation. Everything happened probably by accident, there was no purpose behind it, but here I am all alone in a dangerous world, so I have to get whatever I can while I can and watch constantly for threats and opportunities of all sorts. In other words, I have to play this competitive game to win and to extend my survival as long as possible. It's all about me. Survival of the fittest is all there is to it. I'm the boss here...hopefully. If it turns out that someone else is the boss, because I'm not strong enough to stand up to them...then...well, I'll either suck up to that boss and get a good spot in the game or I'll hate him with an undying hatred and hope for his downfall. Maybe I can find out how to destroy him...

Etc. You can see this shit-level vicious psychology behind the foreign policy of any aggressive military power and any competitive business entity out to dominate the marketplace. It dominates our political and financial power structures and corporate boardrooms. It has resulted in extremes of wealth and poverty, corruption, warfare, oppression, and the death of millions of innocent people.

It's a very ugly business, it's downright satanic in the terms of spirituality, but that's how the ego works. It doesn't really believe in anything but itself, and it thinks it is irrevocably alone in an uncaring and meaningless Universe, constantly in danger of its own extinction. For such a consciousness there certainly can be NO possible end of fear short of death.

Most people don't even notice how the ego works, because they take it totally for granted. It rules them and they never question it. It IS their god. It would never even occur to them to question its most basic assumptions: being "number one" and being absolutely alone.

And all of that, in my opinion, is the deepest, darkest lie and the grossest misconception...it is what could be termed the Father of Fear or the Father of Lies. It has no connection with love...but it does desire intensely, and it will sometimes mistakenly call its most fervent desires "love".