Tracing the fear to its cause

For Lucretius, the terrors that gnaw at the soul are not driven off by exhortation but by knowledge: they arise from false opinions about the nature of things. This rule takes up his method: instead of fighting the fear, you trace it back to the belief that feeds it, a world that punishes, a fate set against you, a sign sent to strike you, and you replace that belief with the natural explanation. For nothing comes from nothing and the gods take no part in our affairs: what happens has causes, not intentions. Today it is a way to defuse anxieties built on false beliefs, by returning them to what can be explained.