Kinds of Courage

Each of us is called to step up to the plate, to be engaged in life in ways that challenge and inspire us.  In fact, when we are unwilling to do so we cannot experience the fullness of what it means to be alive.  This takes courage.

Over the last four years I have been fascinated with the ways we respond to the challenges that face us and the many kinds of courage that are available to us, physical, emotional, moral, intellectual, and spiritual.

I must admit I began my exploration of this subject by comparing myself unfavorably to the physically courageous.  I have always admired, and often been amazed by those who exhibit superb physical capability such as Navy Seals, professional sportsmen, extreme climbers, etc.  Such comparisons can prove to be fruitless.  I remember being proud, and a little intimidated by my father whose first four years of work life, from ages 14-18, were in a tinplate factory.  As a result he developed great strength and huge forearms!  Unfortunately as he aged he did not take care of his aerobic capacity and died relatively young of a heart attack.  My admiration for a dad who could do anything sobered into an awareness that we must be fully rounded human beings.

The root of the word courage hints at this.  It comes from old French, meaning with heart.  Courage is not an outward capability alone as much as an inner center, a core of connection to the heart of us.  Dictionary definitions of courage describe it as the ability to overcome fear and that gives us another clue to its nature.  Courage is not being fearless.  It is facing or, as I prefer, embracing the fear and choosing to let the heart, the intuitive core, express.

Examples of those exhibiting great strength and courage in emergency situations, lifting cars to rescue a family member, standing firm in catastrophe, show that even seemingly ordinary people can display great courage when need arises.  There is definitely no time for thinking in those circumstances.  The response is visceral, intuitive, straight from the heart.

Another form of courage, emotional courage, calls us to stand firm in our convictions even amidst the disapproval of those around us.  As social animals it is so easy to buy into group think and remain silent or compliant even when our heart says something else.  Worse still, when we do speak, it can be with defensiveness or aggression.  I recall speaking at a city hall meeting in my home town on environmental issues and feeling those same aggressive and defensive emotions, trying to keep balanced and get my point across.  My frustration worsened when an emotional and irate citizen was removed by marshals for refusing to be silent.  The way through was to remember that love is always present and therefore it is optional for me to take it personally, because no one is truly against us.  I got through my presentation with some of those truisms working for me, and left to contemplate the maxim, ‘You can’t fight city hall.’

This pales in comparison to those among us who display moral courage.  Examples are not hard to find…from Rosa Parks to Aung San Suu Kyi and her noble and gracious struggle in Burma, to Nelson Mandela, to the unsung heroes of the Arab Spring.  A notable expression of moral courage to me is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German priest and theologian.  Escaping from Germany to America at the onset of World War II his conscience would not allow him to be disconnected from those living under the weight of Nazism.  Returning to Germany to preach and teach and advocate for freedom he was subsequently captured, imprisoned and eventually killed, ironically just days before liberation.  His book The Cost of Discipleship is a testament to his courage and the price that sometimes must be paid.

The Neville Brothers wrote in a song, ‘There’s freedom of speech as long as you don’t say too much.’  Unfortunately, even in the U.S., a country with greater freedom of speech and press than many in our world, that statement is only too true.  Intellectual courage is our ability to think and say what is on our heart to say no matter now mass consciousness or group think would have it.  This is controversial territory.  Activists like Julian Assange and the Wikileaks scandal for example have created polarization even in good ol’ liberal freedom of information circles.

Where does our security lie? In codified structures of belief and physical deterrence or in our inner awareness of a protecting presence that is greater than any human power.  Judas may have desperately wanted Jesus to reveal his power and overthrow Roman domination, but Jesus’ power was not of this world.  His courage was of God and with it he had the spiritual ability to resurrect.  Jesus’ example of spiritual courage has been inspiring and empowering us ever since giving us ability and capability that we thought were not possible.  History is full of exemplars like medieval mystic Meister Eckhart and founder of the Jesuits Ignatius Loyola, to George Fox, the illumined founder of the Society of Friends (the Quakers).  A modern representative is Matthew Fox, former Dominican priest, prolific author, and spiritual activist.  His courage is championing a creation based spirituality of feminism and blessing is closely aligned with Unity’s all encompassing spirituality and although removed from the Catholic Church he continues to advocate for spiritual freedom and connectedness.

Yes, it takes intellectual and spiritual courage to embrace and live a unitive spiritual path like Unity in an often dualistic and separating world.  But it can be, and is being done.  More and more people are welcoming this viewpoint, from Oprah supporters to those attending a yoga studio on a street in your home town.

Courage is not for the squeamish, or those overwhelmed by emotionalism.  Nor is it the pretense of bravado.  True courage is a response from the heart of us.  That heart is nobody’s fool, yet is not cynical either.  It is the perfect combination of those unlikely partners juxtaposed for our illumination by Jesus when he said, “Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

Once again, we are talking about embrace in the midst of apparent paradox.  Innocence married to canny wisdom leading to effective outcome; fear joining with faith to produce amazing courage.  All this sounds good on paper but it is the way that courage arises in us in the most trying of circumstances that is truly remarkable.

In what ways are you called to generate a courageous response to what life offers, whether it be physical, emotional, moral, intellectual, or spiritual?  Foremost, remember who you are.  You are a spiritual being of infinite possibility.  At your heart is a stillness and a peace which is the dwelling place of God.  From that center you are empowered to respond with a loving heart, which is the essence of courage.

Do you have a dream or a vision like Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr?  If you do, courage and ability will flow as naturally as tapping a well yields copious supplies of water.  I have noted this many times in my own life.  When conventional or all too human responses had dried up or proved unproductive my willingness to surrender to God and become vulnerable and open brought a power that impelled me forward.

My first wife died of breast cancer in the summer of 2003.  I knew that a huge part of my life was over, that the unthinkable had happened and that I was firmly in the arms of grief and the unknown.  I know that most of us have experienced a similar wrenching loss.  There were many people whose love supported me at that time, particularly my daughter, who was experiencing her own grief.

Two things carried me through in a way that nothing else could.  The first was my late wife’s courage and grace during the last year of her illness.  Although afraid and sad she allowed the light of God to flow in her and literally glowed with an otherworldly love.  She became an inspiration in our church where she led Sunday meditations.  Her example and her continuing presence got me through the first months after her death.

The second thing that sustained me was what I call the compensatory power of God’s love.  Whenever there is loss or inability, a great gap or hole in our very being, God delights to fill it in ways beyond our imagining.  Spirit gives us a courage, a voice, a strength that is unexpected and therefore doubly welcome.  As a minister I have seen this compensatory power at work numerous times in the lives of those dealing with illness, hurt, and loss.  It is a blessing to behold.  It is Hemingway’s ‘grace under pressure’, God’s gift to us all.

Are you encouraged?  Literally, are you ‘with courage’.  When we feel encouraged, there is a sense of greater possibility, we stand up straighter and our chest opens to receive more air and more life.  The opposite, discouragement, shuts us down, bends us over and saps life and strength.

There are many kinds of courage, many ways by which you can receive God’s sustaining power in your life.  Examples to encourage us are all around.  I’ll leave you with two simple practices to kick start a courageous attitude today.  First, there are the words of the British metaphysician Thomas Troward, who advised us, when facing fear or feeling disempowered to stand up tall, stick our chests out and, with full voice, exclaim a robust ‘Cock-a-doodle-doo!’  It works!  Try it.  Finally, when life seems overwhelming, I recall the words of my Welsh grandmother who would often say, ‘Let’s have a cup of tea and a bit of fun.’  If the tea doesn’t do the trick our ability to laugh and have fun certainly will.