Fear is in the dictionary

MUKUL SHARMA

There’s the curious case of a middle-aged woman named SM who suffered from the extremely rare disease called Urbach-Wiethe syndrome, the symptoms of which include a build-up of calcium deposits in the brain that, in her case, had destroyed both sides of a small almond-shaped brain structure called the amygdala at the age of four.

Since then, SM had never experienced any fear. Researchers at the neurology lab at the University of Iowa who investigated her in the mid-1980s noticed that there wasn’t any fear when she was taken to films like The Blair Witch Project, Arachnophobia or The Shining.

Nor did she flinch when shown a terrarium of snakes. In fact, according to reports, she even lifted one and touched its flickering tongue saying, “This is so cool.” Similarly, she’s also utterly unafraid of spiders, haunted houses or graveyards at night.

Interestingly, there are no studies that have ever commented on SM’s religious orientation, if any. After all, being scared of the wrath of God, eternal damnation in hell or at least death is what drives a lot of people into religion. Without having any such fears, would she still be a believer?

And, if so, wouldn’t it be the kind which is so rare — being only for the love of a loving God? There’s a related incident. Being without fear, she often wandered through parks in the dark by herself. Once, she walked up to a man who had called her and who then grabbed her at knife point. Fearlessly, she told him, “If you’re going to kill me, you’re gonna have to go through my God’s angels first.” The man released her and SM calmly walked away.