“So whenever we say ‘I refuse to believe…’ we can be sure that the evidence that’s coming our way is not bearable, and that it’s conflicting with our worldview much too much. As I thought about all of these responses I realized that what is common to every one of them is the emotion of fear. People are afraid of being ostracized, they’re afraid of being alienated, they’re afraid of being shunned, they’re afraid of their lives being inconvenienced – they’d have to change their lives. They’re afraid of being confused, they’re afraid of psychological deterioration, they’re afraid of feeling helpless and vulnerable, and they’re afraid they won’t be able to handle the feelings that are coming up. None of us want to feel helpless and vulnerable, so we want to defend ourselves, and the way we often do that is with anger. So then we become angry, and when we become angry, then we become indignant, we become offended, we want to ridicule the messenger, we want to pathologize the messenger, and we want to censor the messenger.” ~Frances Shure, M.A., Licensed Professional Counselor