In the old Kung Fu television series with David Carradine, young Caine is asked to walk on a narrow plank over a deep, steaming pit of acid in a dark room, as a test of his courage, by the elder priest.
His fear gets the better of him and he falls off the plank into the pit. But the "pit" is only 1 foot deep and the steaming acid is just warm water. Relieved and embarrassed to find out the truth, Caine now walks back and forth over the plank with ease, now that his fear has gone. Nothing has changed except his knowledge of the unknown and his fear.
We create our own realities, don't we?