A friend posed this question: “What is the opposite of fear?”
I had to think about that one for a bit. Then I came up with an answer.
The opposite of fear might be death.
Fear is built in. We can’t remove it. It’s in the fabric of life. Life and fear go hand in hand. If you remove fear, you remove life. Removing life is the definition of death. Death is the opposite of life, thus…death as the opposite of fear? I’m stretching the transitive property here, but you get my drift.
Fear doesn’t’ have to be all bad. Fear tells you things about yourself and about the world in which you live. Fear gives you reason to pause, and pausing helps us from diving into swimming pools with no water. Fear sharpens our senses thanks to jolts of adrenaline. Fear provides us with the context for risk. In other words, fear is a component of wisdom. Fear only becomes a problem when the individual allows it to paralyze them to the extent that they cannot participate fully in their own lives.
Maybe there is no opposite of fear. Fear simply is, and what it “is,” more than anything, is a subjective label we slap on to an emotional or cognitive state that can keep us from action. The absence of action is called “inaction.” Inaction, I am pretty sure, if a characteristic of death.
To recap, fear is part of life. Life is characterized by action, so fear is characterized by action. The absence of action is inaction. Inaction is a characteristic of death. Fear, though, is also characterized by inaction. So, fear is part of life, and fear is part of death. Fear is living, and fear is dying. But…as living and dying are verbs, they imply action. Action implies life. The opposite of life is death. I think we covered that already.
So, the answer is death. No fear equals no life. No life is death. The opposite of fear is death. If you are feeling fear, then you are still alive. Feel fear, but just don’t let it keep you from life.
Illuminate Possibilities 
i’ve been meaning to respond to this for some time. it just so happens i’ve given lots of thought to this idea for many years. my conclusion is that the opposite of fear is love. there’s a scripture in the book of mormon that says "perfect love casteth out all fear." it was in high school, actually, that one of my catholic friends quoted it to me – i guess he thought i was being fearful – which i was. no one likes their religious beliefs being pointed out to them by someone not of the same religion. so it got me thinking. my views are very much grounded in my christian beliefs, so please forgive me if they don’t speak to you in the same way, but thank you for being kind enough and open enough to let me share them!i figured that fear is the tool of satan. satan is a very real being intent on drawing me away from my father in heaven and my faith in jesus christ. he is the one that plants self doubts and self recriminations. he wants me to doubt my true nature as a daughter of god and believe myself weak and failing. when i fear then i’m giving in to a negative emotion – sort of like when luke skywalker faced darth vader and the emperor kept saying something like "feel the anger" – i think fear and anger come from a similar source. in fact, when we’re scared a lot of times we become angry. love, though, is the opposite of both of those. when you have love for others then you don’t see them as a threat but as a brother or sister who you want to help. love brings the playing field to an equal level and treats everyone, including yourself, with respect. it is accepting and nurturing and calming and allows us to think clearly. i love how love is also a proactive sort of feeling – not reactive the way fear is. love is empowering where fear puts us on the defensive. christ taught us to love one another and i think there’s more wisdom in that counsel than many of us grasp. it’s not just a commandment but a blessing – when we love others then we actually are blessed and filled with love ourselves.so anyway, those are some of my thoughts. thank you again for always sharing such good nuggets for pondering.
by the way, i had a discussion once with someone else about fear. this guy wanted me to go down a scary slope in some caves and i was scared. i told him that fear was there to protect me from danger. he told me fear just held me back from living. i went down the slope. i came up just fine. i try not to fear anymore.try. 🙂