Courage: A Force Against Gravity "Courage is the total absence of fear in any form." - The Mother

Fear, as we all have experienced, is an emotion that pulls one down – either into depression, or insecurity, or jealousy, strife, irritation, anger, loneliness, inferiority. Basically, it is an emotion that belittles, narrows, constricts, lowers. Courage, on the other hand, is a raising up, an expansion, a widening of one’s limits. Courage implies an overcoming of something small in oneself or in the circumstances. And therefore, courage is a force against gravity, a force against that which pulls one down.

In the following passages, I have tried to explore different facets of courage as one experiences it in collective life as well as personal life. The passages bring out the fact that courage too, like any other emotion or quality, operates at various levels and for one’s courage to be absolute, one has to draw upon the Absolute

Courage for Oneself

"You fall into the water. You are not daunted by the great watery mass. You make good use of your arms and legs, grateful to the teacher who taught you how to swim. You grapple with the waves and you escape. You have been brave.

You are asleep. "Fire!" The cry of alarm has awakened you. You leap from your bed and see the red glare of the blaze. You are not stricken with mortal fear. You run through the smoke, the sparks, the flames, to safety. This is courage. …

For whose sake did you swim? For your own.

For whose sake did you run through the flames? For your own. …

The courage shown in each case was for the sake of self. Was this wrong? Certainly not. It is right to take care of your life and to defend it bravely. But there is a greater courage, the courage which is shown for the sake of others¹."

Courage for the Others

"You have heard about firemen who rescue people from blazing houses; of miners who go down into deep shafts to bring out their companions imperiled by flood, fire or poisonous gas; of men who venture into houses shaken by earthquake and who, in spite of the danger from crumbling walls, pick up and carry out the helpless people who would otherwise die beneath the ruins; and of citizens who for the sake of their town or their country confront the enemy and undergo hunger, thirst, wounds or death²."

"IN TRUE COURAGE THERE

IS NO IMPATIENCE AND NO

RASHNESS."

           The Mother

Anuradha

Notes:
1  The Mother, `Courage’ in Tales of All Times
2  Ibid.

© "The Awakening Ray" (Nov/Dec 2001) published by The Gnostic Centre, H-401, Som Vihar Apts. Sangam Marg, New Delhi 110 022. Reprinted with permission

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