A lovely story by Haruki Murakami from the book "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman"
In this lecture Shunryu Suzuki talks about fear and how Zazen (mediation) helps to overcome it.
The ancient document, Hsin Hsin Ming ("Faith Mind Verses"), virtually unknown outside of scholarly circles, is the most succinct guide I have found. In the simplest language, it repeatedly takes you to the edge of consensual reality and says, "Look!"
"One Original Thought Worth a Thousand Quotings." - Diogenes