All We Really Need is Courage

Don't Let Fear be the Mind Killer ͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­ Forwarded this email? [Subscribe here]() for more [All We Really Need is Courage]( Don't Let Fear be the Mind Killer [Ronan Loughney](ronanthomasloughney) Sep 19 ronanthomasloughney   [READ IN APP](   “Fear is the Mind Killer” Frank Herbert said it right. When we are afraid, our mind is hijacked. We struggle to make good decisions. Our perspective on life is twisted, wrong.  Fear, if left unchecked, filters all experience through it. The world becomes a reflection and confirmation of our fear. We feel there is something lurking in the dark, ready to waylay us at every turn. Think of the darkest moments of your life. What gave them their darkness?  Was it really your grief at what had assailed you? Or was it not the fear that this grief would consume you? That it would crush you, and you would never return to the light you knew could shine on life? When you were crushed by loss, was it not fear that the wound would never heal that kept you down? When you were abandoned, was it not the fear that you were unlovable that created your loneliness? When you were defeated, was it not fear that you were too weak that made it sting? Was the essence of your suffering not the fear that you would be consumed by the darkness, when in fact the darkness was nothing but that fear? And Courage is the Antidote And yet! If anyone else were to have experienced these struggles in their lives, is there a single person who you would not have told: “Do not fear”? Who you would not have told that time heals everything? That if you trust in life and patiently cultivate an attitude of love, discipline and forbearance, this suffering will not only fade, but will become the fuel that lights the fire of your life? Is there a single being who has suffered who you would not, in short, have told that what you need is nothing but the courage to go on? Fear is the mind-killer. And whenever there is fear, the only remedy is courage. As such, perhaps the most valuable quality we can cultivate in life is courage.  To live takes courage, demands it even. Because courage is that which goes out to meet life, rather than waiting for life to spring upon it. Courage is that which seeks out difficulty. Which proactively calls it forth, which wants to learn to overcome it, so that it is not defeated when difficulty comes its way. Courage is the Foundation Because difficulty will come, and, as the master said, We will not rise to the level of our expectations but fall to the level of our training.  What I mean is that courage is not, typically, some spontaneous and heroic exertion of the will in a moment of crisis. (Or at least, that is only the tip of the iceberg that is courage.) Rather, courage is composed of the million decisions that lead up to that moment. It is cultivated in the in-between, so that it may be harvested when the time is ripe.  I mean that courage is not limited to or even mainly found in glorious demonstrations of strength and prowess. Rather: Courage is the basis of love. Because love is vulnerable and openhearted. It gives of itself by opening itself, expecting nothing in return, knowing that it can only truly exist when it ceases to cling to its source. Courage is the basis of faith. Because to have faith we must fall, we must let go, we must bear our sadness and pain with the conviction that it comes to us because we were made to bear it. Courage is the basis of beauty. Because beauty is the synthesis of the good and bad into something that transcends both, and to march into that space beyond good and evil requires great courage.  Courage is the basis of kindness. Because in order to be truly kind, we must be able to stand up for what we believe in. To do what is right in spite of public perception. To trust in our deeper integrity above the chiding voices which tell us that we can’t or shouldn’t.  Courage, perhaps most of all, is the willingness to fail, publicly and embarrassingly if necessary, again and again. Because courage, perversely, means accepting that we may lack courage, and persevering anyway. We are beings meant to fail. Meant to be defeated by greater and greater things.  Because failure is where our learning happens. And so we will fail in our attempts to be courageous, good, whatever else. But if we at least have the courage to make this commitment, to try our best, and to show up again when we have failed to, life will reward us.   Courage is the Next Step How do you become courageous then? If you are someone who has shrunk back from life’s challenges, it can become easy to think that you are not courageous. We tend to look towards the behaviour of those around us and judge ourselves against them. We look at soldiers bravely charging into battle. Doctors serving teaming wards of patients. Endurance athletes running for days beneath the boiling sun.  These acts are indeed courageous. But that is not to say this is what courage means for you.  Courage is simply to take the next step beyond the limitations that currently surround you. To live courageously is to take stock of the things you fear (which are synonymous with what prevents you living life precisely as you want to) and then to make a commitment to moving, however slowly, towards and through that fear.  Courage is to accept that this is a necessary precondition of life. That there is no stasis in life. Only growth or decay. And growth must mean the breaking of our own shell, going beyond our boundaries, into the unknown. And so, no matter how much you have wrapped yourself in fear, no matter how much you have withdrawn, courage is always available to you. Because it is always just the next step.  What it requires above all else is honesty. The honesty to ask yourself: What is most immediately oppressing me in my life right now? And then move towards that opposing force, and instead of letting it lay you flat, take up its burden.  Perhaps this sounds thankless, joyless, Sisyphean. But there is a growing momentum that follows each step. Every time you move beyond the edge of the limitations you had created, you grow in confidence and self-belief. You begin to see the infinite potential surrounding each moment, if you could just let go of fear and open  up to life.  This sense of possibility begins to infuse your perception, so that it gradually shifts from a cautious apprehension of all the barriers in your way to excitement at the endless opportunities as yet unmanifested.  It is this edge where we all must live, its exact shape inherently personal to each of us. So ask yourself: Where is my edge? And how can I move just one step beyond it? Sometimes I wish that life worked according to other principles. That it would be possible to reside permanently in comfort and ease, and that we never had to do what was difficult, challenging, scary.  But we cannot truly fall in love with life until we embrace the parts of it we sometimes resist. Because we cannot love anything until we can accept every part of it. And if every part of life was nothing but pleasant, any love we had for it would be worth little.  The reward for our courage then is a deeper connection to the unspeakable mystery we find ourselves ensconced within, finally unseparated by fear and self-limitation, learning to know ourselves as an intimate and inseparable part of it.  Apotheosis: Rebirth Apotheosis Rebirth is the combination of our signature 7-day plant medicine retreat in the Mayan jungles of Mexico with a 2-month curriculum for holistic life mastery. We want to help you become the leader the world needs, and that you know in your heart you can be. We’ve specifically designed it to support you in moving past that edge, and taking the next step towards becoming who you truly are.  Will you heed the call? [Find out more and apply here]( Book a call within the next 24 hours to get a $250 discount Apotheosis by HighExistence is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Apotheosis by HighExistence that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won't be charged unless they enable payments. [Pledge your support](   [Like]( [Comment]( [Restack](   © 2024 Jordan Bates 548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104 [Unsubscribe]() [Get the app]( writing]()