Random philosophical thoughts on Horror

------ Why I love the horror genre-----

Ok so first of all my history with the genre. I first started reading horror literature really late. Before I would almost only read Fantasy and Si-Fi. But around the age of 18 I bought my first horror book, the first part of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Chronicles. I liked the author so much, that I bought all of his stories. After I read a big part of them, I would go on over Stephen King to Edgar Allen Poe. I read a decent amount till today. Some might ask but how come you only discovered it so late? Didn't you watch horror movies? And yes I did, but they never seemed to be that interesting to me. I couldn't let my imagination run wild, because an image was already in front of my eyes. On the other hand with book I can let my imagination run wild and make myself a way scarier image than others could ever do.

So now let me answer the question, as to why I was growing so addicted to them? One of the points is, as above mentioned, that I can let my imagination make feel the most absurd. I like the feeling of this special absurdity because it makes me think with the absolute remote corners of my mind.

Another point is that I seldom feel fear. When I'm confronted with a extremely stressful situation, I don't start to become hectic or fearful and neither distressed. Rather I become really calm and collected.

-----What is fear-----

This is a question I asked myself a lot of times. And at the moment I am at the conclusion, that there are 3 types of fear; Physical fear, Social fear and the fear of the unknown. Every fear is composed, with at least one of those three types. The fear of the fear of heights -> Physical fear + the fear of the unknown; the fear of being getting dumped -> Social fear; the fear of Serial killers -> Physical fear + Social fear + the fear of the unknown, to name some of the examples.

-----What is the opposite of fear?-----

Some might think the opposite of fear is courage. Others might say the opposite to fear is thoughtfulness or indifference. When in reality the opposite is an even mix of all those possible Options. And that is the reason why fear is such a complex emotion, because it is not only one feeling, but mix of six at once.