Fear of the Earth Moving

I have a fear of speed. If I am in a car driving, the speed itself causes my mind to race which makes me panic. The speed itself is too much for my mind to handle and speeds up my mind causing panic. I'm not afraid that anything is going to happen. I'm afraid of the speed itself and just the thought of me traveling in a vehicle speeds up my mind and causes me anxiety and panic.

But since I am here on Earth which is traveling 67,000 mph through space, just from knowing this causes my mind to race and feel like it's always moving which causes me anxiety and panic. Since the Earth is always moving, the panic and anxiety from knowing this is always there and lasts all day everyday. Regardless of the fact that I know that there is no way to feel the Earth's speed and that what I'm feeling is a delusion and not true, this feeling persists all day everyday anyway due to my fear of speed.

But regardless of what I tell myself such as that we need the Earth to move and many other things, this feeling persists all day everyday anyway. I now feel very uncomfortable just from being here on this Earth despite the fact that I know there is no reason to panic over something that can't even be experienced and that what I'm feeling is all in my head. But regardless of even knowing that, this feeling persists all day everyday anyway.

This may not be the same as you,but when I look up at the canopy of stars
at night I can actually feel the Earth moving as the stars are moving. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it makes me feel like a very tiny part of the cosmos.

I don't have a fear of speed. I don't like when I'm driving with somebody else, and they are driving too fast. It's okay when i'm driving fast though. You may want to ask a therapist about it, if you haven't already. Good luck.

Piraeus

Now is knowing that I'm moving the same thing as the mental sensation that I'm moving? The reason I ask this is because if my mind can separate those two things, then this will help me. But if I were to ask myself why do I feel like I'm moving even though I know that there's no way to feel the Earth move, the answer to this question is simple. It is obviously because I know that I'm moving. But I wish to know if knowing that I'm moving is somehow different from feeling that I'm moving.

I think knowing that you're moving is different than the mental sensation that you're moving. I'm sorry that you feel this way, it sounds terrifying, I hope you can work through it.

If you're feeling like you're moving, you might be having balance issues like in your inner ear? Or with your eyes and optical nerves. You might want to see a medical doctor before assuming it's mental?

I think that's a good insight. Also speed is relative. We aren't moving that fast in effect so it shouldn't feel like you are moving fast in reality. Also speed isn't bad in itself... as they say it's the sudden stop when crashing into another body that is bad.

Now the reason we can't feel the Earth move is because the Earth is always moving at a constant speed--there is no acceleration. And when I first had this fear of the Earth moving, I felt that I was accelerating. But I was actually able to overcome that feeling just from knowing that this feeling is not true at all because of the fact that there is no acceleration.

But now instead of feeling that I am accelerating, the problem now is that I feel like I am moving which is true because we are moving and I feel that this feeling is well justified. This feeling that I am moving is causing me anxiety and panic and knowing that this feeling is actually true and well justified causes me even more anxiety and panic.

I think you have three approaches to dealing with this anxiety, and they are already discussed above:
- rationalise to reduce the fear, by looking at how you feel acceleration and how you do not not feel constant movement, and by looking at how the movement is not harmful.
- check for underlying physical and medical causes - are you doing this? Have you spoke to a doctor about this?
- reduce the fear by looking at the anxiety and addressing it directly. Where did this fear originate? Can it be addressed through therapy or through densensitisation? Can you talk to a therapist who deals with anxiety about this?

Now this question I'm about to ask right now is very important because it might get rid of this fear once and for all or at least reduce it significantly.

The question is that even though we cannot sense constant motion in that our bodies cannot detect it, can we feel constant motion in our own heads through thought or visualizing something (as an example given here):

Even though this person is not receiving any movement signals from the body, he/she feels that he/she is moving just from visualizing the stars. Is this feeling of movement a feeling of acceleration in his/her head, or is it an actual feeling of constant motion achieved in his/her own head?

But aren't our brains only designed to feel acceleration, therefore, making it impossible for our brains to even feel constant motion through thought or visualization?

The reason I ask this is because my fear of feeling that I am in constant motion from knowing that the Earth is in constant motion makes me feel like I am moving in constant motion. But is this feeling of constant motion I am experiencing not a feeling of constant motion at all and is instead a feeling of acceleration and that my mind is mistaking this feeling of acceleration as a feeling of constant motion (since, again, aren't our brains only designed to feel acceleration)?

If this feeling I am experiencing in my own head is a feeling of acceleration, then that means I have no reason to fear because of the fact that there is no acceleration which makes that feeling completely false. But if this feeling I am experiencing in my own head is indeed a feeling of constant motion, then that means that this feeling (even though it is a feeling obtained by thought and not obtained by the body) is true because it's true that the Earth is moving in constant motion.

Could someone who knows how the brain works answer this question for me and show me links to information that backs up his/her answer?

Our brains rely on our other senses and try to make sense of conflicting signals at times. It usually does a very good job. We stand upright and turn our heads without falling over, whether our eyes are open or shut.
Our inner ear senses movement and our position relative to the earth: acceleration and what way is up, which is the acceleration from gravitational forces.
The system detects movement: linear movement along each axis, and rotational direction around that axis, by detecting movement in fluid in tiny canals oriented to each axis. If the movement stays constant, the fluid does too, so acceleration is really what is detected.
At the same time our brain is busy comparing what this system detects with what we see, and feel. Sometimes it gets things wrong, and we get that sensation of movement even if we aren't because it gets images that tell it we are moving relative to something we see.

Hey Matt.
I feel that way too. But its because I have vertigo from a damged bone in my ear (made worse atm by my meds). If I look up, I swear Im spinning. My head feels it and so does my body. It causes great anxiety. It is a very uncomfortable feeling. Sometimes, I think Im moving when Im not. Idk, if that helps. But what you are discribing sounds exactly what I experience with this vertigo. I hope it helps alleviate your anxiety somewhat