Hidden Potential - June 2022
Some words are best defined by stating what they are not, and so it is with the word courage that we can begin to define it with the recognition that it is not the absence of fear. In confirmation of this, Google cites the Cambridge English Dictionary, stating that courage is “the ability to control fear and to be willing to deal with something that is dangerous, difficult or unpleasant.” Going further, we find this comment on Wikipedia, “the Tao Te Ching contends that courage is derived from love” and then this translation from Chinese text, "One of courage, with audacity, will die. One of courage, but gentle, spares death. From these two kinds of courage arise harm and benefit." While we ponder these thoughts, we see that, in these times of rapid change and uncertainty, there is surely no shortage of opportunities to express courage. Nor is it just major issues that require bravery as fears range from those that are primitive instincts to the more modern fears of loss, failure and public opinion. Indeed, spiritual teachings note that, “Fear holds the world in thrall, and no one is exempt from its influence.” 1
From pre-historic times to the present day, fears have been a part of life. They are part of this experience, and yet we are not our fears. The soul’s nature is love and with its connection to divine realms, it has no fear. In its light, we can see the underlying dynamics, attachments and values that prompt our fearfulness and gain a better understanding and greater freedom from them. This increased self-knowledge is a hidden gem revealing a clear opportunity for the redirection of our energy into constructive channels. Spiritual teachings confirm that fears are overcome by the embodiment of the soul’s values and perspectives. In addition to this, we are reassured that the fears which are denied attention simply die of attrition. With vision and connection to a higher purpose, courage rises from the ashes of fear.
An explanation from the Alice Bailey books provides further insight: “the fears which beset humanity, having their roots in instincts, seem nevertheless to be divine characteristics, misapplied and misused. When, however, they are rightly understood and used, and transmuted by the knowing soul, they produce awareness and are the source of growth and that which conveys to the dormant soul – in time and space – the needed impulse, impetus and urge to progress which have carried man forward from the caveman stage and the prehistoric cycle, through the long period of history, and can be trusted today to carry him forward with increasing rapidity, as he now arrives at intellectual comprehension and can apply himself to the problem of progress in full awareness.”2 Today all around us, the courage derived from love is displayed in all its diversity by the many who face great challenges, whether of a personal or a more universal nature, and the enlightened goodwill that supports this increasing development and growth of soul consciousness is continually distributed worldwide through the service of Triangles.
1 A Treatise on White Magic, Alice Bailey p. 625
2 Ibid., p. 629