Paranoia

I was walking down a dark street, blinded by the utter blackness surrounding every inch of me and my sight. I felt my adrenaline pumping through my veins, expedited by my racing heart; the panic consumed by being. Overwhelmed, I began to see movements in the darkness, feel vibrations around me, and hear twigs snapping. The remnants of a logical human being had disappeared, I was a slave to this paranoia.
Paranoia is overwhelming and irrational fear of the unknown. We discussed what differentiated Hume and Descartes in their thoughts of paranoia. Personally, I connect with Hume, who argues that humans are slaves to the passions and will react when necessary in order to survive. Descartes believed doubt was the only possible way of reaching reality; rational thought was the only way to know. In the case of paranoia, Hume would have expected a human to accept the fear and react to it, while Descartes would have expected a human to doubt the fear and thus come to a rational conclusion about it.
I agree with Hume; when put into a situation of intense, perhaps irrational, fear the most sensible thing to do is put yourself into a situation where that fear no longer exists; thus, even if there is no basis for the fear, you feel safe and create your own safety. Perhaps though some people can create their own safety within their mind by rationalizing that there was never a basis for the fear; therefore, the fear should not exist.