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The Spiritual ChicksSM
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Courage
For more on
Dr. Fleet, and the Rays of the Dawn book check out
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Courage
is the attribute of the soul that gives us the strength, power, and
endurance to overcome or surmount obstacles, weakness, hardships, failure,
loss, disappointment, crisis---any force, circumstance, condition, person,
or thing that tends to impede our progress or interfere with our
well-being.
Many
types of courage find expression on every plane of our being---physical,
mental, and spiritual. Courage is closely associated with bravery,
gallantry, valor, and heroism. Bravery implies fearlessness in the face of
danger, whereas courage may be shown in spite of fear. Gallantry is "dashing
courage." Valor defies danger, and heroism signifies
self-denial and self-sacrifice in the face of danger. Heroism is a
spontaneous act of extraordinary courage.
There
is always a motivating force behind courage that determines its nature and
intensity. Aside from the instinctive traits that motivate someone’s
courageous action, all human beings are endowed, according to their stage
of evolution, with attributes of the soul such as love, faith, devotion,
loyalty, and unselfishness. Those qualities stimulate the noblest form of
courage. Spiritual courage is founded on faith and unselfishness. It
accompanies loyalty, devotion, and personal commitment. Those causes,
persons, and values that are nearest and dearest to our hearts inspire the
strongest and most enduring courage.
When
courage is lost, all is lost. We become weaklings, afraid to meet the test
of life. We see examples of this every day in those people who have lost
their courage, who have given up hope, who allow themselves to sink to the
depths of human society. The person who indulges in self-pity is naturally
a coward. When our power and energy becomes inverted, when we become
overly concerned about ourselves, then we have incapacitated ourselves for
brave and daring action. Then our inevitable reaction to danger and
difficulty is not courage but alibis and escapes. In
the makeup of each person’s character, we find the carnal
person and the spiritual person constantly
struggling for supremacy. The carnal person embodies all the destructive,
worldly traits that tend to lower human nature. The spiritual person
represents all the attributes of the soul, which shine like a light to
direct the soul on the upward path. Self-control and self-discipline do
not mean self-repression but, to the contrary, spell power for
self-expression gained through exercising courage in overwhelming the
destructive forces within ourselves and
within other people. It
requires courage to shoulder our responsibilities, to work out our own
problems. It is so much easier to burden another person, often taking
advantage of their friendship and love. As the saying goes, misery loves
company. Selfish, cowardly people don’t possess the character to fight
their own battles---physical, mental, or spiritual. When inconvenienced,
when in distress, they never fail to share their discomfort with those
about them, disrupting their peace and happiness. So
many individuals delight in posing as martyrs, but such behavior clearly
indicates a weakness of character and a lack of courage. To assume the
role of suffering innocence is a violation of the Law of Courage, and
anyone who pities him or herself is lost. What more destructive habit for
mind and soul could we indulge in than to nurse our nerves, coddle our
whims, or baby our sins. We
are entitled to peace and happiness, and it takes courage to face the
evils of the world and rise above them. When people and things around us
become irritating and depressing, we must adapt ourselves and rise
superior to those annoying elements in our environment or in other
personalities. To become weak and indulge in the destructive forces of the
mind can only result in our own downfall. People of courage defend their
rights, control their emotions, and ever maintain a happy state of mind. To
be pleasant when everything is rosy is simple, but to be good-humored when
things are getting rough requires that we exercise courage. In meeting the
challenges of our environment, we must either conquer them or they will
conquer us. Either we must be the victor over circumstance or else become
its victims. Most people follow the path of least resistance. They long
for a life of ease, free from struggle and pain, and were it within their
power to plan and arrange the conditions and circumstances of their lives,
nothing would interfere with their ease and comfort. Consequently, the
most stimulating elements for growth and development of body, mind, and
soul would be eliminated. God’s
Divine Wisdom has designed and planned a world in which struggle and
effort are compensated for by character development. The great
discoveries, inventions, and productions in every field of human endeavor
have been possible through the heroic efforts of those brave souls who
have recognized that growth and achievement lie in meeting and mastering
the conflicting forces and difficulties of Nature and humanity. The
height of humanity’s possibilities and the fullness of its power rest on
our awareness of the world of realities in which we might grow and
develop. They also rest on our capacity to meet and master the challenges
of life. Many people become dwarfed in mind and darkened in sprit because
they live in a world of unrealities. They lack the courage to seek
enlightenment and to struggle through the mire of opposing forces in
conquering their environment. They lack the faith in themselves, in other
people, and in God to strive in cooperative effort until the final victory
is achieved. People who can see the challenging vision of the far horizon,
prepare themselves and press on---growing in wisdom and experience each
day as they stretch toward the mount of conquest---will ultimately reach
their goals. In
our daily lives we meet obstacles that seem so great we wonder what’s
the use of going on. We are inclined to give up, to blame our bad luck,
and to look pessimistically on the world. On such occasions we should
recognize the fact that life was, is, and always will be full of
obstacles. We should use these experiences to gain more and more courage
so that, as we evolve, we will have an abundance stored up. When
we recognize that this universe is governed by God’s Immutable Laws and
that nothing happens by chance, that each difficulty met with has its own
purpose in the Great Plan---then we cease to rebel against the great
scheme of things. Through our struggles in this world of unharnessed
Nature and endless difficulties, we gain experience and wisdom. Thus we
evolve to higher and higher planes of existence until we attain our
destiny as Children of God. As
we grow spiritually, we acquire a better understanding of other people.
And when we take the material of this world and through it allow our souls
to find expression, then we have contributed something of value to
humanity. Mental and material wealth contribute to character development
only to the degree that they are used as a medium in serving the Divine
for the good of humanity, and as a tool to promote our personal
evolutionary progress. All of our resources are temptations to selfish
desire, and unless we use them constructively they will lead us on the
downward path. We must constantly exercise courage to guard against the
downward pull of mental or material riches. There
is an apt saying: The soul would
have no rainbow had the eyes no tears. Many individuals owe their
successes and their triumphs to tremendous difficulties, and some of our
greatest contributions to life have been the outcome of the pressure of
suffering. Many people who are physically handicapped display unusual
courage. Their other powers seem to become magnified, their limitations
motivating a courage that strengthens their mental and spiritual capacity
for self-expression. Some of the greatest masterpieces have been the
expression of individuals who have been deprived of some physical
possibility---individuals who defied Fate and had the courage to overcome
their handicaps. When
pain, suffering, misfortune or calamity threaten our peace and happiness,
and at times our very existence, then let us have the courage to fight
onward. By overcoming the demons of fear and worry that rise on such
occasions, they cannot subdue our minds and dim the visions of our souls.
Much of our misery and depression in this life is due to our own violation
of the laws of our being. As long as we allow people and things to
influence us to a spirit of fear, then chaos, confusion, and destruction
will be rampant in the world. But when we radiate a spirit of faith, love,
and courage, when we embody in our souls all the noble attributes that
lift humanity above the plane of selfishness and desire, when we keep our
faces turned toward the sunshine---then the shadows will fall behind us. Through
the Law of Opposites1
and the Law of Relativity2
we obtain our sense of beauty and goodness. And through the operation of
these laws we are provided with an ever-present stimulus for courageous
thought and action. Some people get little joy out of life because they
have few appreciations. Their interests are confined to a small selfish
circle. Outside of that limited sphere, their eyes are blind and their
ears are deaf to the appeals, attractions, and challenges in every field
of human enterprise. They do not possess the courage to pioneer new ideas
or movements, to explore strange regions, to invent different ways and
means, or to alter the accepted order of things to any degree. We
have countless examples of brave souls who have exposed themselves to
criticism, condemnation, and abuse of the most diverse kinds, while timid
souls, who actually admire the others’ courage, hold back their approval
in order that they themselves might stand safely back among the masses.
The universe is a vast panorama of contrasts and variety filled with
endless appeals and challenges for heroic effort, but our minds must be
open and our souls must be generous, imbued with faith, love, and courage,
so that we might combat the obstacles of life and ultimately achieve our
goals.
For more on
Dr. Fleet, and the Rays of the Dawn book check out
|
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1.
Also called the Law of Polarity, the Law of Opposites says that all
opposites are identical in nature and differ only in degree.
Hot and cold are different degrees of the same thing (temperature). 2. Also called the Law of Correspondence, or "as above, so below," the Law of Relativity states that all things are related to and correspond with each other. There is no big or little, fast or slow except by comparison. |
SM & Copyright © 2001 K. Weissman & T. Coyne