Fear

I've always believed there were two options in the realm of fear:

1 - "There is nothing to fear but fear itself."

2 - "Be afraid. Be very afraid."

Your personal and individual characteristics probably have a lot to do with which side of that equation you tend to fall; however, I think circumstances exist in which anyone can flip sides, either permanently or temporarily, a kind of paradigm shift in the way they see and interact with the world. But mostly, I think everyone's got a little bit of both, with a tendency toward one.

Phobias and biases and past experiences as well as 'intellectual constructs' (either figure that out on your own or not; I couldn't well explain what I think I mean in a short time here) could give certain events a spin in one direction or another. If, for example, you have a fear of conspiracies, and men in black trucks and black uniforms come breaking in your door pointing shiny black weapons at you, you'll probably accept that as confirmation of your fears (and therefore probably fall along option 1). However, if you've never once given any thought to the men in black, you might very well panic (falling straight into option 2).

Perhaps it's time to break the mold, and dive into option 3.