For years, William Peter Blatty’s “The Exorcist” terrified me. The theatrical trailer for the director’s cut alone induced horrifying nightmares that kept me up at night. Add that to the scary maze game where Linda Blair’s character of the possessed Reagan jumps out with a terrifying scream and I wouldn’t be caught dead seeing anything to do with that book or movie.
I don’t know why, but something in my teenage years told me that I needed to come to terms with this fear. I asked myself, why was I afraid of it? I knew that I wasn’t afraid of being possessed by the Devil, I was afraid of the demonic imagery. So I took the first step in facing my fear: I read the book.
I stayed up all night, but I completed the task. Once I knew I had lived to see another day, I saw the movie with some of my friends. Years went by and after that, I did the penultimate thing to face my fear: I went through a maze at Universal Studios Horror Nights in what was a rendition of Exorcist film.
Since then, I’ve seen the movie a handful of times and have analyzed it in depth. Now I view it as a wonderful addition to modern cinema. I don’t fear the story anymore is because I understand its underlying message: that the battle of good and evil exists, but good will eventually win.
What I learned from facing my fears is that so many of us are afraid of what we don’t know. Speaking of movies, think of a monster movie: most monster movies are scary up until the point we see the monster and realize it wasn’t the monster we were afraid of, it was what it can potentially do to us.
Of course, this stems from a primal fear that benefited humans in our evolution, but there is necessary fear, and unnecessary fear, and it’s our job to distinguish when fear benefits us and when it hinders us.
So the next time you are hesitant to enter the haunted house that comes in so many forms: the other, rejection, hurt, insult, or even injury. Analyze it, ask yourself why you’re afraid, and then if you think it’s the right decision, step right in. Sometimes, you will come face to face with the monster, but you will either have the tools to face it head on or realize that it wasn’t a monster to begin with.
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