We, humans, live in a complex world that is largely characterized by toils, difficulties, disadvantages, anxieties, troubles, challenges and struggles. There are very few moments of comfort, relaxation, leisure, and tranquility. But when such moments extend beyond the normal and tolerable, boredom seeps in, strikes and hastens us to stand up and face the daily grind of life. By whatever name we want to call this push of habit, it has always been the desire of our hearts to improve our lot and make our lives better. We want to transcend the present and move on to a more exciting and challenging future. It takes a true-blue warrior to get into the difficulties of life because this world we live in is a daily battlefield. And how would you survive and win the battle if you do not have the heart of a warrior whose defining essence is courage? The late hippie writer, James Neil Hollingworth (1933–1996) said: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”
This is the basic platform of human existence where courage is praised, even glorified as the most honorable of virtues that stands out over and above the rest. Every crucial human act requires solid and enduring courage without which, there is no accomplishment, there is no achievement of goals, there is no pragmatization of objectives. It takes an indomitably courageous personality
To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star
. . .
To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march
Into hell for a heavenly cause
[with apologies to the late Mitch Leigh (January 30, 1928 – March 16, 2014) who composed “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” and to the late Joe Darion, (30 January 1917 – 6 June 2001) as well, who penned its lyrics. It is the most popular song from the 1965 Broadway Musical, The Man from La Mancha.]
Whatever the case may be–whether it is a real, literal war or a personal battle within us–the warrior stands out. And it is the warrior’s readiness to engage in such a battle that confirms her/his resoluteness. Courage is the name of the game in critical moments when there is no room for cowardice. There is no backtracking as defeat is not an alternative. In other words, it is within the mental framework of the warrior to always look forward to winning though at times losing is an inevitable consequence. But the ultimate test of a fearless warrior lies in her/his ability to keep her/himself calm and composed under pressure.
While we look at the positivity of courage, the negativity of fear pops up and makes us realize that a modicum of which is prone to demolish the framework of the desired condition by way of a life-changing decision. Fear may be considered as a natural component of our being but it is only tasked to warn us and likewise give us the time to sit down and consider certain alternative actions that will not put precious lives and properties in jeopardy. Let fear squeeze in a little bit but don’t blow it up and let it take control of the situation. In agreement with this, Nelson Mandela once said, “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.”
” . . . [F]ear beyond the boundaries of what we have considered as natural and positive in its normal and rational configuration is a negative factor that wreaks havoc to one´s integrity as a human person. A fearful disposition to suspend and thus fail to effect a defensive action in the face of a clear and present assault offensive to one´s particular worth as an individual person is a case of shrinking down to a sub-human level of being that in the final analysis besmirches not only him/herself but the very dignity of human existence in general.”
(“Fear,” https://ruelfpepa.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/fear/)
Generally, fear is a negative emotional factor, in fact, the most negative of emotions because it rattles the heart and prevents the possibility of issuing out a crucial decision to reverse the flow of events earlier anticipated to get into a disaster. It is the fear factor that makes people fence-sitters who cannot immediately come up with a principled choice in the face of a circumstance that requires immediate action. Fear is absolutely unappreciated and definitely abhorred in the battlefield of life where every responsible action is of the essence.
Having courage as the most honorable of virtues, its diametrical opposite, fear, is therefore considered as the most negative emotions of all for it prevents the flourishing of life at its fullest. A quote from the late celebrated American journalist Dorothy Thompson backs it up: “Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live”. And authentic living in that sense is characterized by freedom from being controlled, manipulated, and intimidated by certain dominant forces that we cannot face and repulse at a certain point because of fear. There is not any other solution to this but to face fear and overcome it. This condition connects perfectly well with what Aristotle once said that “He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.”
(c) Ruel F. Pepa, 29 October 2019
ZETETIKOS 