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Fear Compilation (view source)

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The moment we come well into these developments and their deeper spiritual meaning, the motive of the fear of God becomes otiose, superfluous and even impossible. It is of importance chiefly in the ethical field when the soul has not yet grown sufficiently to follow good for its own sake and needs an authority above it whose wrath or whose stern passionless judgment it can fear and found upon that fear its fidelity to virtue. When we grow into spirituality, this motive can no longer remain except by the lingering on of some confusion in the mind, some persistence of the old mentality. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-godward-emotions#p6</ref>

~~= Courage =~~

Integral courage: whatever the domain, whatever the danger, the attitude remains the same—calm and assured. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/courage#p2</ref>

Courage is a sign of the soul's nobility. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/courage#p3</ref>

But courage must be calm and master of itself, generous and benevolent. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/courage#p4</ref>

~~In true courage there is no impatience and no rashness. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/courage#p5</ref>~~

...true courage, in its deepest sense, is to be able to face everything, everything in life, from the smallest to the greatest things, from material things to those of the spirit, without a shudder, without physically... without the heart beginning to beat faster, without the nerves trembling or the slightest emotion in any part of the being. Face everything with a constant consciousness of the divine Presence, with a total self-giving to the Divine, and the whole being unified in this will; then one can go forward in life, can face anything whatever. I say, without a shudder, without a vibration; this, you know, is the result of a long effort, unless one is born with a special grace, born like that. But this indeed is still more rare. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/26-january-1955#p40</ref>

And then there are two methods: either to put so intense a light, the light of a truth-consciousness so strong, that this will be dissolved; or else to catch the thing as with pincers, pull it out from its place and hold it up before one's consciousness. The first method is radical but one doesn't always have at his disposal this light of truth, so one can't always use it. The second method can be taken, but it hurts. And usually one is not very courageous. When it hurts very much, well, one tries to efface it like this (gesture) and that is why things persist. But if one has the courage to take hold of it and pull it until it comes out and to put it before himself, even if it hurts very much... to hold it up like this (gesture) until one can see it clearly, and then dissolve it, then it is finished. The thing will never again hide in the subconscient and will never again return to bother you. But this is a radical operation. It must be done like an operation. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/16-march-1955#p8</ref>

… courage means having a taste for the supreme adventure. And this taste for supreme adventure is aspiration—an aspiration which takes hold of you completely and flings you, without calculation and without reserve and without a possibility of withdrawal, into the great adventure of the divine discovery, the great adventure of the divine meeting, the yet greater adventure of the divine Realisation... <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/25-january-1956#p63</ref>

~~But the idea is the same—that it is God who has chosen you, the Divine who has chosen you. And that is why you run after Him!~~

And this is what gives—that's what he says, doesn't he?—this is what gives that kind of confidence, of certitude, precisely, that one is predestined; and if one is predestined, even if there are mountains of difficulties, what can that matter since one is sure to succeed! This gives you an indomitable courage to face all difficulties and a patience that stands all trials: you are sure to succeed. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/19-october-1955#p52</ref>

When we trust in the Divine's Grace we get an unfailing courage. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/trust-in-the-divine-grace-and-help#p12</ref>

But true courage is courage with the full knowledge of the thing, that is, it knows all the possibilities and is ready to face everything without exception. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/26-january-1955#p41</ref>

Our courage and endurance must be as great as our hope and our hope has no limits. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/enthusiasm-and-straightforwardness#p3</ref>

Courage as a quality is such a power of being, it is a certain character of my consciousness expressing a formulated force of my being, bringing out or creating a definite kind of force of my nature in action.<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/21/brahman-purusha-ishwara-maya-prakriti-shakti#p11</ref>

...courage—but really it is aspiration. They go together. A real aspiration is something full of courage. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/25-january-1956#p64</ref>

The lion indicates force and courage, strength and power. The lower vital is not lionlike. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-animal-world#p20</ref>

There are people who... I have known people who were physically very courageous, and were very, very cowardly morally, because men are made of different parts. Their physical being can be active and courageous and their moral being cowardly. I have known the opposite also: I have known people who were inwardly very courageous and externally they were terrible cowards. But these have at least the advantage of having an inner will, and even when they tremble they compel themselves. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/26-january-1955#p22</ref>

Once I was asked a question, a psychological question. It was put to me by a man who used to deal in wild animals. He had come to Paris, and he said to me, "I have to deal with two kinds of tamers. I would like to know very much which of the two is more courageous. There are those who love animals very much, they love them so much that they enter the cage without the least idea that it could prove dangerous, as a friend enters a friend's house, and they make them work, teach them how to do things, make them work without the slightest fear. I knew some who did not even have a whip in their hands; they went in and spoke with such friendliness to their animals that all went off well. This did not prevent their being eaten up one day. But still—this is one kind. The other sort are those who are so afraid before entering, that they tremble, you know, they become sick from that, usually. But they make an effort, they make a considerable moral effort, and without showing any fear they enter and make the animals work.

Then he told me, "I have heard two opinions: some say that it is much more courageous to overcome fear than not to have any fear.... Here's the problem. So which of the two is truly courageous?"

There is perhaps a third kind, which is truly courageous, still more courageous than either of the two. It is the one who is perfectly aware of the danger, who knows very well that one can't trust these animals. The day they are in a particularly excited state they can very well jump on you treacherously. But that's all the same to them. They go there for the joy of the work to be done, without questioning whether there will be an accident or not and in full quietude of mind, with all the necessary force and required consciousness in the body.

On the other hand, the second one has no affinity with animals, and so he fears them. But within himself he has much courage and goodwill, a will and mental courage and perhaps a vital one, which make him master his bodily fear and act as though he were not afraid. But the fear is there in the body. Only he has controlled it. Now it is to be seen whether physical courage or moral courage is greater. One is not greater than the other; it is courage in different domains. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/26-january-1955#p24</ref>

Of course, those animals—all animals—feel it if one is afraid, even if one doesn't show it. They feel it extraordinarily, with an instinct which human beings don't have. They feel that you are afraid, your body produces a vibration which arouses an extremely unpleasant sensation in them. If they are strong animals this makes them furious; if they are weak animals, this gives them a panic. But if you have no fear at all, you see, if you go with an absolute trustfulness, a great trust, if you go in a friendly way to them, you will see that they have no fear; they are not afraid, they do not fear you and don't detest you; also, they are very trusting. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/26-january-1955#p30</ref>

= Conclusion =

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