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Courage is Being Scared to Death But Saddling Up Anyway
“I Learned That Courage Was Not The Absence of Fear, But The Triumph Over It. The Brave Man Is Not He Who Does Not Feel Afraid, But He Who Conquers That Fear"
Great men and women throughout history have understood courage:
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
– Nelson Mandela
Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.
- John Wayne
Courage is doing what your afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.
- Eddie Rickenbacker
Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.
- George Patton
Courage Is Contagious
Courage is also contagious. And studies show that even a single dissenter speaking their mind empowers others to think for themselves.
Here’s an example … of a navy sailor standing tall in the middle of last year’s Oakland tear gas attack holding the constitution and a veterans for peace flag … moments after Scott Olsen was hit in the head.
Here he is a couple of minutes before, standing with marine veteran Scott Olsen before Olsen was hit in the head and nearly killed by a projectile:
Whether you agree with Occupy or not, you have to admire his courage.
Here’s a more stunning example. This is the iconic picture of the brave protester facing down tanks in Tiananmen Square:
But this newly-surfaced image with a much wider view shows that he didn’t face 4 tanks … but scores of tanks:
And watch this incredible video of the man getting in front of the tank as it tries to maneuver around him, and then climbing on top of the tank:
His courage inspired people worldwide.
Courage is contagious.
Can you understand now why tyrants are so desperate to keep images of courage away from the general public … and instead to promote fear and cowardice?
Graphic by Anthony Freda: www.AnthonyFreda.com
The Secret to Courage … Love
There is a real misunderstanding of what it means to be courageous. In America, courage is often thought of as a testosterone-driven toughness. There’s nothing the matter with testosterone. Masculinity is a great thing. But many American men secretly fear that they don’t have sufficient testosterone to really be brave when the chips are down. Even those of us who think of ourselves as brave men usually only act like that when we know it is within the bounds of safety, within the limits of what we can handle.
We might jump into a bar room brawl to protect our buddy, but that’s because we know we’re only going to get knocked around a little bit — nothing but bruises that will go away in a little while. The stakes just aren’t that high.
But most American men secretly doubt whether they are macho enough to pull it off under fire. They may watch alot of action movies, and talk tough, and stand up when its not really dangerous (or when they clearly outgun the other guy), but they are secretly terrified that they don’t have quite enough backbone to pull it off against the big boys, such as tyrants.
I would argue that this view fundamentally misunderstands the nature of courage, and ensures that we will never have true courage when it counts.
By way of analogy, the word “discipline” comes from “disciple”. If you are a true “disciple” of an idea of a plan or a strategy or a religion, then you will stick to it and “have discipline” to reach your goal. It is not just a matter of willpower; it is also devotion to something bigger than ourselves.
Similarly, the word “courage” comes from the French “with heart”. Why does it have this root meaning? Because it takes heart to act bravely. That’s how my childhood Karate teacher used the word: when I was practicing with courage, power and focus, he would say “you have alot of heart today” (indeed, many old-school warriors use the phrase “fighting with heart” in that way).
If courage is acting “with heart”, we’ve lost heart. And without heart, we cannot face the truth.
So how do we regain our heart? Well, let’s start with what gets our hearts beating.
Remember that the mother bear is one of the fiercest animals of all. Just get between a mother bear and her cub and you’ll see what I mean. It is her love of her cub which gives her the heart to face any enemy when her cub is threatened. It is not her level of testosterone, but rather her love for her cub which makes her so fierce.
Just as discipline is more than just willpower, courage stems from something bigger than just cajones. In fact, the strongest courage comes from the love of something we care about, since our heart will sustain us even when the chips are really down and we are really up against a tyrant. As the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said: “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. “
In addition, we’re no longer living in the old west. Individualism is very important in numerous ways, but we can only win against the tyrants as a team, as a community, as a nation. And only by opening our hearts to what matters will we be able to work together, to fight for all of our kids, and all of our freedom. Only then will we be able to put the crooks and the looters and the tyrants back in the box.
Do we care about our kids, our significant others, our parents, our friends? Do we care about the freedom to choose what we want, instead of having our “great leader” choose for us?
If not, what DO we care about? Because if that is where your heart is, that is what will give you courage.
I care too much about my kids and their future to be afraid. I care enough about them that it gets my heart beating, connects me to something bigger than myself, and that gives me courage, even when the chips are down.
Courage is an innate human quality. It is within each of us, waiting to reveal itself when we open our hearts. When we act with heart, by definition, we are courageous.
Humor Gives Perspective … So Laugh a Little
Humor is important, because it helps us laugh at – instead of giving into – our fears.
Wise people in cultures around the world have understood the power of humor to melt fear and to let people gain perspective on what is or isn’t really a threat.
See this for a great example of humor about the threat of terror
Fear Is Not a Christian Value
The vast majority of Americans who are Christians should remember that fear is not a Christian value.
Jesus repeatedly told his disciples and other people not to be afraid. For example, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus:
- Speaks these words to the disciples during a storm (14:27)
- To Peter, James and John during the Transfiguration (17:7)
- To the women outside the empty tomb (28:10)
- To the disciples he is about to send out to teach, preach and heal, he says, “Have no fear” of those who have called the master of the house Beelzebul and will surely also malign those of his household (10:25)
- “Do not be afraid,” Jesus says, reminding those he is sending out of the One whose eye is on the sparrow. “You are of more value than many sparrows” (10:31)
(In other sections of the Bible, Jesus said do not be afraid another 10 times.)
Jesus told his flock not to be afraid. Christians that succumb to fear are not following Christ’s teachings. Those of us who succumb to fear are following those who would manipulate – instead of free – us.
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The consitution is being attacked by oligarchs and their pawns in the media and government. It's certainly not being attacked by OWS.
Occupiers are promoting the dominant ideas in academia, the manstream media, the government, and of the President of the United States.
That's not courage.
what planet are you on? occupy more opposes than promotes ALL of the entities you cite.
you need to stop getting all of your news from rush, bill & the o ther idiot.
You couldn't be more wrong, but then again. how can you expect to know what other people are thinking? Only by active participation in all sides, and not just listening to one side. You seem to be guilty of exactly what you accuse me of.
I have attended several occupy protests first hand, and I talked with other protesters in depth.
It is true that occupiers THINK they oppose the entities I cite, but they more support them than oppose them. They protest because they want the dominant ideas to be even more dominant. That is because the occupiers are what are known as useful idiots.
The money lenders ratchet up government spending, and thus government borrowing, from both sides, and occupiers are helping them to ratchet up government spending from one side. Most occupiers pay little or no income tax, but they demand free college, free healthcare, etc. Occupiers are thus useful idiots.
The Occupy Wall Street movement started out as a movement opposing the federal reserve, fractal banking, and bankster / politico cronyism.
The movement was co-opted by "other interests" and the media along with these "other interests" ran away with it.
Some of the movement is still true to it's roots, some of it is an expansion into other issues -and there are certainly people who are far from the initial intent of the movment on board now.
"Fractal" banking? Is that some sort of choom gang reference?
I agree. The founding of the movement was hijacked. As was the tea party as well. (incidentally a lot of the orignial tea party people were also on the ground in the midst of the occupy movement). The people who joined later, not understanding the initial intent, at least CARE, you have to give them that much. That is more than can be said for some sheeple.
Secondly, each of the ppl in the occupy movement (or the tea party movement) are INDIVIDUALS. They are all there with different backgrounds, concerns, etc. When you are dealing with groups, there will always be differences, because groups are made up of individual people.
Its a good opportunity to educate people and start a dialogue. While many are still looking to TPTB to save them, they actually care, and the fact that they have been misled by a public school system and the MSM is not their fault. Instead of rejecting ALL of them because a few are loonies, maybe we can dive in and try to change their minds.
What the people above seem to fail to understand is, Occupy is democratic, and as people come to participate, the movement shifts to accommodate their focus. The intent of the movement is not to stick to some ideal that a couple of organizers decided was the agenda, the movement wisely abandoned such idealism and went with what the majority want... and therein lies the beauty... in order to have a voice, you need to participate, and by participating, you shift the focus closer to your alignment.
Given enough time and participation, such communication will eventually lead to agreement and unification of opinions... at least less divergence. Occupy is exactly what is needed in this world, group discussions, consensus building.
Just remember, when you dive in, prepare to have your mind changed as well, or don't bother coming. Seriously. We're not stupid, we just have a different POV. You must be willing to understand and consider the interests of all participants. We're not looking for anyone to come over with the attitude that they can educate us properly. It's a discussion and search for wisdom.
Spot on. The occutards are fighting *for* an oppressive central government.
"Liberty" is the absence of coercion - not the power to do what you want.
"Leon Trotsky" would be a better pseudonym for an "author" who supports the Bolshevist occutard "movement".
I wish I couldn't see how this is gonna go, but the rapturous tide is unmistakable:
Facism will come to America with a bible in one hand, a flag in the other and a quasi-religious fanaticism branded as "Liberty" on its lips.
I doubt you can define liberty and I'm absolutely certain that you can't define "fascism".
Which is my point. "Liberty" is a wonderful ideal, like love, freedom and all the rest.
The modern "Liberty Movement" seems to be picking up a lot people mouthing the rhetoric who are driven primarily by hatred of people who see things in other ways.
A lot of crazy shit can be hidden by beautiful rhetoric . . . especially by those who've embraced it with religious zeal.
Liberty is the absence of coercion.
"Power" is the "freedom" to do what you want.
Thanks to the evil forces among us, that confusion is one of the major mistakes made today.
No. Fascism will come to America with promises of social justice and fairness.
And anything it takes to fight that is justified. We know our enemy . . . and it is them.
Oh, I get it.
Those who care about social justice and fairness are a poison that must be neutralized.
And you don't see who benefits from an army of ideologues who categorically reject those dangerous ideas on "principle"?
The only thing that's fair is "equality of liberty".
It's quite unfortunate that Jefferson paraphrased the Virginia Bill of Rights' more extensive note "That all men are by nature equally free and independent ..." into "... that all men are created equal" because that latter is misinterpreted today to imply that humans are somehow uniform when, in fact, Jefferson was paraphrasing the VBOR declaration.
The Corporate Person is anything but on an equal footing with real human beings. Did the FF mean for "him" to have constitutional rights?
One problem many of us have with the "Liberty" crowd is that they seem to have no problem with the Corporate Person or the legal two-class society this fiction institutionalizes.
Why are "Liberty" folks fine with this? You'd think they're capable of seeing out of only one eye.
And the rest of us must either pluck out one of our eyes or be enemies of "Liberty" and, therefore, traitors to the principles upon which this great nation was founded.
WTF?
The corporate person? I'm not exactly sure what you're saying, but if you believe a group of people can get together and demand concessions from an employer, then why would you find it objectional for a group of people to get together to produce goods and services?
They should all be viewed equally under the law. They should all be free from excessive regulation. They should all be subject to the dictates of the market, but not from a subjective govt deciding who should be more equal.
Equality of opportunity, not equality of result.
Fool. If OWS is fighting *for* oppression, explain why are they violently oppressed everywhere they turn up?
Last I checked, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and other members of the regime were praising the occutards "spontaneity", their violent attacks upon local law enforcement, and their propensity to try to attack American infrastructure with explosives.
People tend to forget that liberty is the absence of coercion - not the power to do what you want.
Spontaneous protests seem to be more effective than planned ones,
OT, if OWS guys turned up with openly carried m16's to a presdent speech would the media treat them better or worse than the teaparty ers who did it.
Or, on a similarly self-evident note:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtH7vH4yRcY
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Free us? The only freedom is acknowledging that you are a slave. You should stop trying to appeal to bible thumpers GW. It's not like a prophet wrote it.
Wyrd... I'm an atheist and i thought the religious stuff was highly relevant given the subject.
Courage and faith have many similarities with each other.
Funny how things go. I have a blog - a little self-promotion here - called Money Daily, which I write every business day. On Friday, I ended my post with these words:
Whatever one's personal beliefs, there is a power in faith that is beyond our small level of comprehension.
The most noble courage is the courage I've observed the least and is the courage I've heard praised the least. It is the courage to think for oneself and go against one's peers. It is the willingness to think for oneself even when it could lead to being shunned by everyone.
For some soldiers, it is a noble calling, but most soldiers fight primarily because of peer pressure. That's not courage.
Pressure to conform is the heart of fascism.
One little victory for courage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmEHcOc0Sys&feature=related
That was really good. Thanks. I wish there was video at the beginning showing what the marine saw that got him so fired up, but he did explain it, and I believe him.
We are born free and sovereign men and women. No one can be sovereign over us unless we allow it. The Christian Bible refers to the Holy Spirit as the great Comforter. It is that thing that rises up in you and speaks for you when the time requires, regardless of your personal belief system.
Quantum Entanglement explained perfectly, 1st century style: Jesus, to disciples, "I'm in the Father, the Father is in me, and I'm in you."
Ha. Just remembered this quote... but where is it from? "He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day!" The Princess Bride?
If a bullet is going to hit you, it already has. Trying to dodge yard darts is of questionable value.
Spare us the Black Communist and Hollywood John Wayne...who never heard a shot fired in anger. Rickenbaker and Patton? Yes. That's the Right stuff.
Nelson Mandela is a great man, miliions of black and white South Africans would agree.
and at least one replicant would agree too.
Whats wrong with that comment?
GW - You have courage.
“The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared… But a real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his innate manhood”
George S. Patton
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Just for the record, there are more than 50 verses that command fear of God.
Yep, by keeping it behind a veil of ignorance, and implying that your chances of achieving eternal life are pretty poor, the Bible provides ample fodder for fear of death.
My old friend Shozo Shimoura -- non-Christian, nominally Buddhist -- used to say that maintaining your beliefs to the end, even in the face of religions claiming divine authority and millennia of tradition, is the ultimate act of courage.
3% Roll Call mother fuckers..
Namaste. It means I bow to you.
Jesus was a man many have misinterpreted, made something of he was not, but one thing he was was courageous. He had the bravery required to teach the people God was accessible to all and religion and dogma was not part of it.
You bow to the Atma a person holds in themselves, the boundless, eternal soul that is a microcosm of the divine. The bowing, and the pranam, helps you to negate your sense of importance, and be more receptive to the person in front of you, to check your ego baggage at the door. Other cultures deeply appreciated Obama's gesture when he met with people of the eastern faiths. Isn't that in line with what Jesus said? The Kingdom of God is within you?
There is great wisdom and truth all around us. If only we could have a deeper dialogue, rather than the propaganda of fear and loathing of each other. While we watch them torch any semblance left of sanity, I wonder, having the mind set we have now, even if everything blows up, what will be the parameters of the new world we will forge?
When (not if ) everything blows up, we will recognize finally how nature is forged and with luck, be wise enough to embrace peace and love.
+1
Great post GW.
http://sumerianshakespeare.com/1047656/1050756.html
I love this quote from Chesterton, "A real soldier does not fight because he has something that he hates in front of him. He fights because he has something he loves behind his back." Nice post.
Chesterton was full of excellent quotes.
George, you know I often don't agree with your pieces. But this is the best piece on ZH, ever.
Vaya con Dios hermano