"Even the fear of losing respect of your equals (coworkers, friends, family), although maybe just a fantasy in your head, can still be argued to be external."

"Even the fear of losing respect of your equals (coworkers, friends, family), although maybe just a fantasy in your head, can still be argued to be external." How could that be? It is not maybe, it is a fantasy in your head. This fantasy could be very similar to reality, so I prefer the word "simulation", as this is what it is: you simulate the future in your head with the knowledge you got in the past. In the past you got trained like a Paulov dog about what society expected from you, for example being raised as a catholic could mean sex with other people = bad, liking money= bad,being humble=good, sharing=good, competing with others=bad. If you don't get out of your original society your prediction could be very accurate, specially if you accept it without resistance. In the past I faced all my environment(friends, family and lovers), but instead of accepting it I fought it, and interesting enough they were the ones who in the end accepted it. “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.”H.Ford