Knowledge is power, applied knowledge is power is you want to annoying technical about it, applied knowledge in the right context is power if you want to get ridiculous about it. But nevertheless knowledge is power. However there are things that gleam even brighter than knowledge. Things that are even closer to the gods and therefore higher in the primal and cosmic order of the universe.
I want to point out some of those things and talk about one that I hold very close to my heart and if someone held a gun to my head and say pick one virtue to stand above them all, this would be one of the two before the trigger was pulled. But anyways as powerful and needed as knowledge is, and as much as I recommend pursuing it, what is it that stands above?
Two things spring immediately to mind, the two virtues I was speaking of. Those virtues are courage and wisdom and to me they’re the two highest virtues that a man can aspire too, they’re the two things on this earth that are closest to the gods. We’ve touched on them before but today I want to talk about courage, which in even parts with wisdom is what every man should strive after.
Courage & Fear
It’s been said so much it’s almost a cliche but courage is not the absence of fear but doing what needs to be done IN SPITE of the fear that you feel, that is courage. That is the essence of it. Courage has nothing to do with never afraid, as a matter of fact if you’re never afraid then you’re not risking enough, you’re not using the fullness of yourself, of your powers, and you’re not fulfilling the mission that you were put on this earth to fulfill, and we all got one, even if we’ve denied it or buried it so deep it’s almost gone.
Without fear there can be no courage, they are not a either/or thing. They are not polarities, they work together. Like the moon and the tides, you can’t have one without the other. Don’t worry about the perfection of the analogy worry about the message I’m trying to transmit to you. If you don’t fear feel then you can exercise courage. So in a way you should be seeking out fear on a day to day basis.
Don’t be foolish of course, I’m not saying rob a bank or jump covered in blood into shark infested waters. But you should do things that stretch you and make you uncomfortable. When I first started boxing I hated sparring. But I forced myself to do it because I knew good things were developing from it. I never that by pulling on that old groin protector, that worn out headgear from the 60’s, and those laced up gloves and stepping into that ancient ring I was doing something good for myself.
I was courting fear and reaping courage.
Without Fear, There Is No Courage
So I’ve said to pursue wisdom and to pursue courage. Wisdom will be a topic for another time. But pursuing courage, let’s talk about that. I think you’ll agree with me that courage is something you want to develop in yourself. Developing courage also develops many other positive facets, virtues, like willfulness and tenacity. But let’s look at this on a day by day basis. What are you doing that’s building your courage in your day to day life? Put another, perhaps more illuminating way, what are you doing day by day, week by week to feel fear and do what needs to be done in spite of it?
Many times life will throw things your way and you’ll just have to push forward and do what you must. Make a decisions and stick with it, keep one foot in front of the other. But for times in your life where the water is calmer think of something you can do to face a fear. Combat sports works, but so can something like toastmasters which is a public speaking organization, or maybe writing a book, or volunteering somewhere.
You have to measure it by fear. What gives you fear, pushes past your comfort zones? Go for that, it’ll be different for everyone. Seek out discomfort and fear and then push forward through it. You’re building just about the most important muscle that you could possible build. And one that won’t fade with age and that lasts forever.
Like the old poem in the Havamal.
Cattle die, Kinsmen die, You yourself die,
I know one thing, which never dies.
The fame of a dead man’s deeds.
Or at least that’s one version. But it has power, understand it.
Courage In Life
Look for examples of courage around you for inspiration. Look to history, look to fiction, and please don’t say “Well fiction’s just made up and therefore has no power.” our materialist age would deny you the greater power. Myth and story is truer than mere facts could ever be, Alexander the Great conquered the known world with a copy of The Iliad under his pillow.
Keep your eyes open for examples of courage. Feed on it, soak in it, let it seep into the deepest part of your heart and bones. Raise yourself on courage, feed yourself with it, be sustained by it, and then go and do it yourself. Courage is all around you, you just have to look through the darkness and dullness to see it.
But it’s there…for those that look.
Find it.
