Meditation on Courage

So after tripping over a music video on YouTube quite by happenstance, I popped by Wikipedia to see if former Flyleaf lead singer Lacey Sturm had been up to anything since her departure from said band. I actually quite enjoy Flyleaf, but the good Mrs. Sturm has an incredible singing voice in her own right…so I was happy to learn that she has gone on to launch a new band and (presumably) recording project as of October of this year. I was also surprised to find that she had performed duets with several other artists, which is how I came to find the above video. In it, Sturm sings opposite Australian rocker Orianthi, and the subject of the tune is Courage.

Which brings us here. It being Advent, I find myself moved once more to muse upon matters philosophical, examining the Eight Virtues of the Ultima series and comparing these against real-world philosophy and theology. Except that this time around, rather than focusing on a particular Virtue, I’m instead going to focus on one of the Three Principles which underpins the Virtues…Courage, specifically.

What’s interesting is that the Ultima games never really define what Courage is, to any significant degree of precision. Courage contributes to the Virtues of Valor, Sacrifice, Honor and Spirituality; it is the sole contributor to Valor. But these relationships don’t tell us much in and of themselves. Looking more closely at Valor, the Virtue that relates directly to Courage, we can perhaps tease out some meaning:

Valor is the courage to take actions in support of one’s convictions.

Valor is the courage to uphold virtue, even in the face of a physical or psychological threat.

Valor is the cloak that protects the other seven virtues. Valor gathers selfish Courage and shares it with the beliefs that one holds and protects. Valor is tested again and again, and through it, one sees the portal to virtue. To demand valor of oneself is to lead the way for others to find it in their hearts.

In like manner, we can look at Sacrifice and see some additional definition given to Courage:

Sacrifice is the courage to give of oneself in the name of love.

Sacrifice gathers Love in the palm of Courage. Sacrifice requires a love of self to be given without consideration to others when that selfish love suggests safer choices. Where there is no choice, therein lies no sacrifice. Where the shape of those choices blur and lose definition, the highest standards of the common good find expression. In finding the Courage to share your Love, you shall fine therein Sacrifice.

Similar themes are echoed in the Virtue of Honor:

Honour is the courage to stand for the truth, against any odds.

Honor is the courage to stand for truth regardless of the circumstances.

Truth is the tree from whose top sing the bird of Honor. The Courage to be true in repetition brings the song of Honor to your spirit. Though its melody sweetens over time, Honor can be lost in a moment’s hesitation. Honor sings from a lonely mountain. In finding the courage to pursue the truths in one’s life, you shall find Honor.

Whereas the pursuit of Courage seems to be a consistent object of Spirituality:

Spirituality is concern with one’s inner being, and how one deals with truth, love, and courage.

Spirituality is the urge towards steady improvement of the soul. The spiritual are never sated in their hunger for Truth, Love, and Courage. From whatever place the Principles are viewed, spiritual energy rights them into proper balance. In the unity of Truth, Love, and Courage, you shall infuse your spirit with peaceful Spirituality.

If you read through the various things people have said about Courage, a common theme emerges. Mark Twain’s take on it is thus: “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not absence of fear.” And a similar attitude is reflected in the song that began this post:

We all have excuses why
Living in fear something in us dies
Like a bird with broken wings
It’s not how high he flies but the song he sings

Courage is when you’re afraid
But you keep on moving anyway
Courage is when you’re in pain
But you keep on living anyway

It’s not how many times you’ve been knocked down
It’s how many times you get back up
Courage is when you’ve lost your way
But you find your strength anyway

We can see this same ethos echoed in how the Virtues incorporate Courage, and how Courage envelops the Virtues it animates. Honor, in particular, calls out Courage in this role: it is to stand for Truth in the face of any circumstance. Sacrifice, meanwhile, puts Courage in a similar role: it is to give of oneself in Love, in spite (and perhaps regardless of) the consequences. And Valor obligates Courage to come to the defense of all Virtues.

Similar themes concerning Courage are echoed in two places in Christian tradition: the cardinal virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In both, Courage is seen as the willingness “to stand up for what is right in the sight of God, even if it means accepting rejection, verbal abuse, or physical harm. The gift of courage allows people the firmness of mind that is required both in doing good and in enduring evil.”

So…what, then, is Courage?

Fundamentally, Courage is the act of living — and perhaps, if necessary, dying — for something more than ourselves; for others, yes, and for the pursuit of what is right as well. And it requires us not to be without fear, but to be able to control our fear, to master it, and to show persistence and perseverance in spite of it. It isn’t really possible to show Courage in the absence of fear; the very idea is somewhat absurd. Nor is it wrong to fear; whether we fear rejection or outright harm, it is normal to feel trepidation at the prospect of such things. And Courage doesn’t require us to purge this aspect of ourselves…only to remain in charge when it presents itself, and to recognize the need to move past our fear and continue to act in pursuit of what is right, even if this means that some or all of the things we fear may come to pass.

Courage is when you’re afraid
But you keep on moving anyway
Courage is when you’re in pain
But you keep on living anyway

(Image credit: LP Archive)

8 Responses

  1. Stirring Dragon says:

    Courage to me is being able to go against the grain for the sake of love.

    This world is full of too many “Yes” men. People that simply go along with things because they lack the courage to speak up. They live in fear of the consequences. And by consequences, I mean fear of monetary loss. Most people would rather go along doing something or working on something they know is crap for a paycheck then to risk their job by speaking up to change things for the better.

    It’s very rare to find someone with the courage to tell things like they are and even more rare to find someone that is willing to put their ego’s aside and listen. If you ever come across either one of those people in your life, you should cherish that relationship.

    What wonderful things we could accomplish in this world if we only valued love as much as we do money.

  2. Sanctimonia says:

    Lovely write-up, WtF. Your others have been nice too, but this one’s concise.

    @Stirring Dragon

    You’re right, but I wouldn’t limit the motivation toward inaction solely to finances. I think a lot of people realize, even if only subconsciously, how tenuous their life is. Their friends, family, job, romantic relationships and physical well-being could disappear like a dream at any time. The voice inside that tells us to stay with the herd, to not speak up, to not rush in to help, to not change a thing is an echo of darker times when life was even more perilous.

    Society often reinforces this mentality. You can get in more trouble trying to save someone dying on the street than by standing over them and laughing. The phrases, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions” and “No good deed goes unpunished” have more meaning than most people give them credit for. Our modern virtues and philosophies and empathy toward our fellow man is often at odds with that voice, but in practice (police and military excluded, as they are paid) most people stand and do nothing, willingly swallowing their guilt and discomfort for the knowledge that their life won’t change.

    We get stuck in a routine, closing first each door and later each window until there is only one path left, whether it’s what we really wanted or not. I think courage is the conscious choice to examine who you are and what you want to be and to effect the changes necessary to make the latter so. That is a very hard thing to do.

  3. Sanctimonia says:

    Actually there’s one more thing I wanted to point out regarding courage. There is a fine line between courage and stupidity. Sometimes I have trouble distinguishing the two.

  4. Stirring Dragon says:

    @Sanctimonia

    Sure I don’t mean it’s always about finances, however the fear involved with the things you mentioned, still seems to relating back to money some way. Heck, do you know how many people these days don’t even take sick days off when they really are sick and need to rest their bodies? They would rather come into work, making themselves worse in many cases, and potentially get their co-workers sick as well, just because of money and/or the fear that they may be perceived as slackers and lose their job. Or how many people stay in relationships just because of the money? Then when they fall on hard times, someone takes off.

    It’s very rare to find (adult) people these days that make decisions apart from their pocket books. And no, I’m not talking about them being fiscally responsible here. Talk about courage and virtue is great but meaningless if we can’t start to see others as human beings rather than commodities. It has to start with ourselves.

    Yes there can be a fine line between courage and stupidity, and that’s where wisdom comes in. But don’t you think someone can be both courageous and stupid at the same time? It’s all how you perceive it. Someone getting killed in the process of helping save someone from an attack, may be perceived as stupid by some, but I hope nobody would deny the fact that it was a courageous act for him to put his life on the line to help someone in need.

    I would say that people just choosing inaction so that they can feel safe and secure, regardless of their herd mentality, is usually not the path of the courageous and most times is extremely shortsighted. History tells of this time and time again.

    I’m talking about this…

    “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that virtuous men do nothing.”

    • Sanctimonia says:

      As far as the financial aspect, something to consider is that money isn’t real. It’s an idea created as a convenience to represent work, used to replace or augment systems such as bartering or agreements to exchange goods for services. You could loosely equate money with stability or power, which I think is where our viewpoints agree.

      Wisdom, or Experience and Thought (to use Ultima-esque systems) is good when making potentially courageous decisions. I wonder where the line blurs between courageous and foolish, however. Is it culturally dependent or universal in certain situations? Can an individual make unique assessments to display Courage? Can a suicide bomber be courageous, or is that always an inherently foolish decision? Is deciding to to join the military always a courageous act? As WtF suggested, maybe overcoming fear is the one constant. Courage would then also apply to overcoming fears unrelated to receiving bodily harm such as public speaking, cleaning a rooftop, flying and driving.

      I’ve never been in a situation where I needed to be courageous in the face of imminent danger. It would be interesting to know what each of us would do in a situation where we could help someone at our own peril.

      • WtF Dragon says:

        Money isn’t real…but the impact of its sudden absence certainly is.

        I used to do a lot of political blogging, and also wrote about Catholicism a fair bit. And I used to participate in some heavily-trafficked web forums about those same topics. It was an overall positive experience, but I made a few enemies along the way…some of whom attempted to get me fired from my job at one point. (This is part of the reason that I usually wait a good six months — if not a year — before publicizing the name of my current employer on e.g. LinkedIn.)

        Not that I let the incident slow me down; I switched focus to Old Aiera (and now the Codex) some time thereafter not out of a desire for job security but because I needed the change in tone; it’s hard to rail on about matters political for an extended length of time without feeling profoundly drained.

        But…these are the stakes that sometimes attend taking a stand on a particular issue. And it’s not hard to understand why it might give some pause. Had I in fact lost my job back then…it wouldn’t have been a big deal. I was younger, had only just gotten married, and had no children to support. These days, the loss of employment would be a lot more impactful.

      • Stirring Dragon says:

        I’ve personally been in a few situations where I choose to come to the aid of others in need. Looking back I can say that not much thought went into my mind beforehand. I simply saw a potential threat to someone, found myself in the immediate proximity and made a choice to help before more people got injured. Being courageous or brave never entered my mind before or afterwards. It was more confidence that I could help out before more people might get hurt. Thankfully those situations ended well, so I have never looked back at those actions as being stupid

        Of course I was also younger and single when these events took place, which I guess if you had to pick a time to be courageous, would be good time for it. When you have people counting on you or a family, courageous actions become more weighted.

  5. Stirring Dragon says:

    I believe it was Mark Twain that said that it’s the lack of money that is the root of all evil. I find that statement extremely profound.