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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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Agreed, this is one of GW's best pieces....that said, there is one important distinction to be made =
A man standing up to tanks does not produce a rush of testosterone in observers...that act bolsters their will...to resist.
It is the will that is being slowly bred\bled out of Merikan men...the chemtrails, the plastics, the terror vision, and most of all, the 'general education' system....all a planned effort to reduce the collective will of a people born into freedom and now within a hair's breadth of losing it.
The will is what gives us the power to act in freedom from fear - and in the absence of fear, we can work miracles by accessing that core in ourselves which with lightening quick speed shows us how best react to danger....sometimes to fight, and sometimes to flight...every situation is different. Testosterone induces the fight instinct, but only calm, cool fear-free analysis gives us the keys to the right response.
Wellington, who swept Europe clean of the scourge of Napoleonic imperialism, was a General who always retreated in the face of superior forces...and earned the contempt of the French Marshals who noticed this tendency, and failed to understand his tactics...
at Salamanca, when the French divisions surged forward in an enveloping move that seemed certain to afford them the day, Nosey, as his troops called him, cooly surveyed the field, and sure of himself as always, called for the advance, instead of the retreat his opponent expected...the result of which bold stroke was the end of French hegemony in Spain.
it's not the amount of testosterone that counters fear and induces courage: it is the will...possessed of leaders who's will be unbroken, Merikans could have still pulled this thing outta the fire...it is too late?
We'll soon enough know.
Wellington didnt sweep Europe free of anything. Napoleon defeated himself in Russia, a simple error of judgement. Even so the combined might of the sixth coalition could barely defeat him in the final battles.
Furthermore, the imperialism was really on the part of the various royal coalitions who sought to meddle in French internal affairs from day one of the revolution (remember Valmy) but they got a nasty shock and found themselves being interfered with thereafter. Naturally enough the royalist revionist historians - whose nationalistic line you have entirely purchased - depicted this success of Napoleons as French imperialism, but really it was a form of self defence. Honestly, you need to think before spouting off opinions here, you just embarrass yourself repeatedly.
Btw Napoleon was also a great fan of GW (the first one!) and called for ten days of national morning when he died. Dont buy Anglo revisionist history, its BS.
The only thing I've "bought" chumly, is the complete 12 vol 1865 edition of the Duke's Dispatches n Correspondence. A treasure trove of the thoughts of a man who was made of greater stuff and worked for greater causes than yu will ever dream of. (Causes which have nothing to do with the degraded Anglo-Merikan world that fascinates yur slender intellect btw..)
(altho I am aware that this will be beyond yur grasp -I will add for the general record), Wellington, in his later political career, and his main sponsor Castlereagh were the last great and independent statesman of the continental world...all the rest fell under the spell of the moneypower whose objective, as pronounced at the Congress of Vienna, is now being fulfilled by their inheritors, the synarchist Eurocrats...
yur hero Napoleon created the conditions for his own demise by quarrelling with the Sanhedrin which had put him in power in the first place, in order to further their hebraic hegemonist goals...Wellington merely used his slender resources to take full advantage of the little man's strategic faux pas...
As for yur own faux pas, there may come the day when yur very slender understanding of the world will reveal itself to yu in it's full paucity of content...that will be a day of very great embarrassment for yu, and I wish yu the best in getting through that crisis of self revelation...
in the meanwhiles, ol sock, although I fully support yur right to opininate here alongside the rest of us, the connection of the fingers to the brain stem before posting is an option which most of us here find an obligatory addition to the rhetorical arsenal... I recommend that yu consider getting on that as yur 12 weeks here are showing a tendency to spew forth half digested ideas as a kind of projectile vomiting...not recommended!
...of course another option would be to "buy" another brain stem if the one yur workin with has failed yu... whichever way yu go, all the best!
One man's stance: Liberty!
The Idea was crushed but not extinguished. It lives on in all of us except in those who believe they can dole out just the right amount of it.
The Tienanmen photos and video move me instantly each time I see them. What an important visual reminder of our potential to stand up for something.
Where is that guy today?
I have read that both Tank Man and the driver of the tank were hanged.
Article about "Tank Man" from Wikipedia is very complete (such as it is):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man
Here are some outstanding pictures. From The Atlantic.
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/06/tiananmen-square-then-and-now/100311/
And the declassified National Archives.
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/
Thanks.
Good links.
Indeed.
Ironic too that it is the Chinese govt that exudes so much fear they wont even allow discussion of the massacre. But such is the basic nature of bullies and tyrants everywhere: at root they are fearful. Fear constantly stalks them like a shadow and so their typical response is to lash out.
Sadly, it is no different here in the (former) "home of the brave" either. Our govt is so laden with fear it would be comical were it not so despicable.
The Chinese government is one of the most fearful on the planet. They are afraid of everything -- any criticism, the internet, Tibet, etc, etc. But most of all, they are afraid of information, the truth. The are afraid of their own history, even.
The increased level of secrecy in the US government in the last ten years or so shows just how afraid they are as well. The greater the tyranny, the greater the fear of one's own people.
The greatest thing the ChiComs fear is their own people.
The greatest thing the hijacked US Gubbermint now fears is its own people.
ChiComs = Chinese Communists
ChiCons = Chicago NeoCons
convergence between the two = 1 = samesame
our courage will soon be tested each and every one . the internet is the modern day star of david. they know who is awake and soon they will unleash the hounds.courage i think i have it. i suspect i will surely soon find out. good article.
Expressing anything on ZH is good way to start testing that courage then.
and be sure to use some of the 377 words:
Guest Post: Uncle Sam Admits Monitoring You For These 377 Words ...When you grasp that there's literally no aspect of finite, in you, or out of you, then there is in fact nothing to fear.
Our primary source of fear is that we can 'lose', or we have a capacity to 'end'.
Something that has no finite does not end.
I'm not going to suggest what that means, just, there it is.
So fear is a product of an illusion that's built on top of other illusions.
But the underlaying mother of all illusions is that finite even exists, either mentally, or physically.
Like it or not, you can't actually lose your life, you never had one, because what is living as 'you', is a physical expression of infinity itself.
"Fear not", is the appropriate response.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
~Frank Herbert