Love is what we are born with, fear is what we learn.
Imagine that you wake up in the middle of the night to find a deadly snake coiled next to you on your bed.
Filled with terror at the thought of being bitten, you spend the night frozen in fear. But as sunlight floods your room the next morning, you discover that the “snake” is really a belt you forgot to put away the night before.
Does the snake matter? No. Does the belt? Yes. It is your perception of life—not life itself—that is illusory.
— Rabbi Rami Shapiro