On courage

Someone told me I was brave. I am grateful for the compliment but I have to take my habitual dose of overthinking by asking the Socratic question: What is courage?

And this is indeed a Socratic question, explored in the dialogue Laches. A quote attributed to Plato answers it rather neatly: ‘Courage is knowing what not to fear.’ This is more like a paraphrase of a common Greek idea that held courage to be one of the cardinal virtues, relating to fear. In Aristotelian language, courage is the virtue between cowardice (showing too much fear when one should be brave) and recklessness (showing too little fear when one should be cautious). It is fearing the right thing, at the right time, in the right amount. A theme that reoccurs in Plato is that one should greatly fear the loss of reputation. So, courage is a very social virtue, one that moderates how we relate to each other.

I think any fear that trumps the fear of death is a pretty substantial fear, as it goes against our basic human survival instinct to forgo the preservation of life. A friend once asked me if I feared death, I said that I couldn’t answer with complete and naked honesty since he wasn’t pointing a gun to my head, but theoretically, I did not fear death. I do have a few fears, and they are, now that I think about it, quite ancient Greek in nature. My biggest fear would be failing to live a life worth living; an ethical life spent in the pursuit of virtue and wisdom. And such a quest requires much courage.

Of course, all this talk of courage has been secular so far. Bringing religion in doesn’t change my answer much. It would add the qualification for the sake of God to my point about a life worth living. To please God with these efforts… The fear of God is a serious matter: fearing the right thing, at the right time, in the right amount just is only fearing God properly. Obviously, the fear of God is a motivation for living morally, but it is not the principal one. In the scales, love weighs heavier.

In other words, one should pursue an ethical life to please God, out of love of God and to earn His special love in return. And the main fear I was mentioning earlier is exactly the fear of not fulfilling this objective. The fear of God is another matter. And to me, it is the source of all courage. After all, why fear any of His creation once you submit to the Creator?

So, hasn’t it come to a lovely circle? Seems like one finds the courage to live a good life by fearing God only.