The hallmark of courage is the knowledge and feeling, “I can.” It is a positive state in which we feel assured, skillful, adequate, capable, alive, loving and giving, with an overall zest for life. We are capable of humor, activity, confidence, and clarity. In this state, we feel centered, balanced, flexible, happy, independent, and self-sufficient. We can be inventive, creative, and open. In courage, there is a lot of energy, action, letting go, capacity to “be there,” to be spontaneous, resilient, resourceful, and cheerful. In this state, we can be very effective in the world.
The level of courage is very helpful in the mechanism of surrender. In courage, we know: “I can look at my feelings”; “I don’t have to be afraid of my feelings anymore”; “I can handle them”; “I can take responsibility for them”; “I can learn how to accept them and be free from them”; “I am willing to take risks, to let go of old points of view and to explore new ones”; “I am willing to be joyous and share my experience with others”; “I experience myself as willing and able.”
It is often easy to jump from any of the lower feelings up to courage merely by affirming our courage to look at and handle our feelings. The mere willingness to look at and begin to handle them increases our self-esteem. If, for instance, we have a fear and are unwilling to look at it, then we feel diminished and our self-esteem is lowered. If we are willing to look at that fear, examine it, acknowledge its presence, see how it has inhibited our life, and begin to surrender it, then our self-esteem increases, whether the fear disappears or not.
We all know that it takes courage to face fear. We champion the people who face their fear and attempt to do something about it. Such courage is one of the characteristics of nobility and makes a person truly great. Despite all of their negative programming and despite all of their fear, courageous people go forward in life, with no guarantee and not even the knowledge that things are going to get better. So courage increases our self-respect and brings to us the respect of others. We no longer need to feel ashamed.
Let’s look at the example of a man who suffered from a lifelong terror of heights. He had worked on being free of the fear for several years and it had gotten much better, but there was still plenty of it left. This was evident when he went to the Grand Canyon with a friend. At first, he stood back about six feet from the ledge. In previous years, he wouldn’t have gone within a block of it. Now he stood there, hesitantly. The friend took his hand, saying, “Come on over to the edge with me.” And so he did. He kept surrendering on the fear as he walked forward and found that he could actually stand right next to the edge, although admittedly, not without still feeling considerable discomfort. When they left the edge of the canyon, the friend looked at him approvingly and said, “Well, at least you did it! I know how much courage that took.” Even though he had not totally overcome the fear, by transcending an inner barrier, he had earned his own self-respect and the respect of others.
When we have these breakthrough experiences, we begin to perceive our fear differently and we stop being ashamed of it. We stop allowing it to invalidate our true worth. It increases our inner strength and our self-approval. In due time, the underlying fears which require courage to overcome diminish to the point that we move on to acceptance.
On the level of courage, the emphasis is on doing. We already know that we are capable of providing for our own needs and for those of others, and we know that, if we are willing to put forth the effort, we can obtain what we want. Thus, people on the level of courage are the doers of the world. Because we can only give away what we ourselves already have, people on the level of courage are able to be supportive and encouraging of others. This is because they are able to give as well as receive, and there is a balance between giving and receiving that occurs naturally.
The levels of consciousness up to this point are concerned primarily with gain. Now, on the level of courage, there is greater power and energy. We have the ability to give to others, because other people are no longer being looked at primarily as a means of help, survival, or support. When we are in the state of courage, we sense our own inner power, strength, and self-worth. We know that we have the capacity to make a difference in the world, not just gain something from it for ourselves. Because of the inner self-confidence, we are much less concerned with security. The emphasis is no longer on what people have, but upon what they do, and have become.
With courage, there is the willingness to take chances and to let go of former securities. There is the willingness to grow and benefit from new experiences. This involves the capacity to admit mistakes without indulging in guilt and self-recrimination. Our sense of self-worth is not diminished by looking at areas that need improvement. We are able to admit the presence of problems without being diminished. As a result, energy, time, and effort are put into self-improvement.
On this level, statements of intention and purpose are much more powerful and envisioned results tend to manifest. We are much more enterprising and creative, because our energies are not drained by the constant preoccupation with emotional or physical survival. Because of greater flexibility, there is a willingness to examine issues with a view to changing overall meaning and context. There is a willingness to risk shifting paradigms.
A paradigm is a whole worldview, and it is only limited by what we view as possible. As old ways of looking at things are challenged, our worldview begins to stretch and expand. That which was previously considered to be impossible becomes possible and eventually is experienced as a new dimension of reality. There is the capacity to look within ourselves to examine our belief systems, ask questions, and seek new solutions. On the level of courage, we are willing to take self-improvement courses, learn consciousness techniques, and risk the journey within to seek our own true Self, the inner reality. There is a willingness to experience uncertainty, periods of confusion, and temporary upset because, underneath the temporary discomfort, we have a long-term transcendent goal. The mind that is operating on the level of courage makes such statements as: “I can handle it”; “We’ll make it”; “The job will get done”; “We can see this through”; “All things shall pass.”
If we test a person’s muscle strength with kinesiology when in the state of courage, the level of “I can handle it,” they will test positive and remain strong to our challenge. Although there is still vulnerability to negative thoughts or energies—such as those that emanate from fluorescent lights or artificial sweeteners—the bio-energy field is more radiant than that of the lower, negative states. Because courage is a stronger, more resilient energy field, physical illnesses are less likely to be a predominant aspect of life. There may be chronic residuals of illnesses that originated from the lower levels of consciousness, but they are generally not stabilized. In courage, there is an overall sense of strength and well-being.
The lifestyle on this level shows a balance of work, enjoyment, and love. There is not the necessity for over-ambition or “workaholism,” although people on the level of courage are capable of considerable energy output if the situation requires it. Because of the letting go of so much negativity, there is a desire and a capacity to love and to have loving relationships. These now assume equal importance with efforts toward survival. There is vocational security, and in the work area there is concern for the welfare of others. People on this level characteristically state that they want jobs which will be of some benefit to the world. They want to feel that there is more meaning to their job than just a salary. Personal growth is important, and there is the awareness on this level that our life is either positively or negatively influencing those around us.
On the lower levels of consciousness, which are characterized by egotism, there is so much concern with self-gain that there is little energy or thought given to our effect on others. On the level of courage, we no longer identify solely with the small self. The world is no longer seen as the depriving or punishing bad parent. Instead, the world is seen as challenging and presenting opportunities for growth, development, and new experiences. Thus, this level is characterized by optimism and the feeling that with the correct facts, education, and orientation, sooner or later most problems can be worked out satisfactorily.
The lower levels limit our consciousness to personal concern, but on this level social issues become important, and energy is expended to help overcome social problems and to be helpful to those less fortunate. Therefore, generosity becomes possible, not just financially, but also in a generosity of attitude. Pleasure is derived from the championing of causes and from supporting the endeavors of others. This energy creates new jobs, businesses, industries, and political and scientific solutions. Education, although not always in the academic sense, becomes important.
On the level of courage, we really start becoming conscious. It dawns on us that we have the freedom and the capacity to choose. We no longer have to be the victim, and freedom in the psychological, emotional, and spiritual sense is possible. Therefore, much less rigidity is present, and because of flexibility and the capacity of concern and genuine love for others, people on this level make good parents, bosses, employees, and citizens.
There is a capacity to put ourselves in another’s place and a concern for the feelings of others, as well as their overall welfare. Although the lower negative feelings still tend to occur, they do not predominate or determine one’s lifestyle; that is, we do it even though we’re scared. People on this level are the backbone of the country. They are the people we turn to when it is necessary to do so for the common good. They are dependable and can be counted on because of their willingness to accept responsibility. On this level, there is a social conscience and humanitarianism. As the basis of moral decisions, guilt takes a back seat to the welfare of others.
It is from this level that we get such sayings as, “Success breeds success.” Because of adequate functioning, there is positive feedback, which reinforces confidence and allows greater self-exploration as well as exploration of the world. Although effort is still required to accomplish goals, it is much less than on the lower levels. There is greater satisfaction and gratification because there is greater reward with less effort than that which would be required to overcome fear. There is much greater capacity not only to seek help, but to be able to utilize it and benefit from it.
Money is used in a much more constructive manner, and there is concern with how the expenditures will affect the lives of others. Money is not spent solely for self-gratification, self-aggrandizement, or self-fortification; rather, it is seen as a tool for accomplishment.
This level is the one at which true spiritual awareness becomes possible. Because of the emergence from egotism and the relinquishment of the identification with the small self, there is an experiencing of higher energies and the hope of increased awareness. On the lower levels, God is viewed from the emotional coloration of that level. Thus, in apathy, the whole relationship with God is hopeless, if it can be considered at all. On the level of grief, one feels hopelessly separated from any help from God. When overcome with guilt, the person feels undeserving of any relationship with God, and punishment is expected rather than love. On the level of fear, the fear may be so great that the problem of God cannot even be faced, so that the subject is blotted out of consciousness, and God is viewed as fearful, punishing, avenging, jealous, and angry. On the level of anger, God is viewed as depriving, arbitrary, capricious, and failing. On the level of pride, there is egotism about one’s religious or spiritual position, characterized by rigidity, inflexibility, intolerance, proneness to exclusivity, bigotry, clannishness, religious argumentation, and warring.
On the level of courage, we are willing to take responsibility for our religious or spiritual position. The increased awareness often results in the emergence of the spiritual seeker, and the pursuit of truth in its religious or spiritual sense truly awakens. This may result in a reaffirmation of our previous position, but now from a totally new viewpoint—that of choice. It may bring about changes, which may be either slow and gradual, or sudden. On this level, there is the awakening of consciousness and the realization that our beliefs and views are now a result of our choice, not just a result of previous blind programming. There is a search for meaning, and this may occur on the level of ethics and humanitarianism rather than in the area specifically denoted as formal religion. We investigate our social function and role in the world, and we inquire as to the value of our lives, not only to ourselves but also to others.
Carl Jung said that the healthy personality is equally balanced between work, play, love, and an aspect of personality called spirituality, which we could also define as the search for meaning and value. These investigations bring inner upsets but also moments of acceptance and peace. There are moments of intuitive understanding which beckon us on to continue the quest, to find out if there is anything beyond just the physical and material world and its ever-changing phenomena.
This level of consciousness is a good one from which to look at and let go of more negative feelings. On this level, we have the energy, capacity, self-confidence, and willingness to acquire know-how and undergo the necessary steps of learning. On this level, there is a desire for self-improvement and the realization that better states of mind are possible. The level of courage knows that it is not necessary to endure the pain and suffering of the negative emotions or their interference with the satisfactions of life.
In courage, we are no longer willing to pay the cost of negativity. We are concerned about the effects of our negative feelings on the welfare of others with whom we are closely associated. Most people who have learned the letting go technique will continue to use it until they have reached this level of consciousness. On this level, their major life problems are now under control. They are experiencing vocational satisfaction and success. Material wants are supplied. Major problems in relationships have straightened out. They are no longer consciously experiencing pain and suffering, and there is satisfaction from having grown and developed in certain areas.
When we are comfortable, there is a temptation to stop using the technique and only resume it in emergency situations, or when negative feelings again become painful and necessitate our attention. However, there is more yet to be had. Because there is always a feeling going on which can be surrendered, the continuation of the process will lead to greater and greater benefits.
Continual surrender will bring about constant, subtle changes, especially on the levels of subtle awareness in our capacity for love. Previously, we had likened the radiation of love, which stems from our higher aspect, to the energy of the sunlight. We noted that, as the dark clouds of negativity are removed, this energy and our capacity to accept it and radiate it outward, increases progressively.
On the level of courage, our capacity to love is now much stronger, and it has the power to support and encourage others, lending strength to that which is positive and constructive in them. Assisting their development brings us the pleasure of watching their growth and their increasing happiness. This capacity within us can grow ever stronger. It can become ever more powerful and self-rewarding as well as more beneficial to others.
We can utilize courage to reinforce our desire to grow beyond our present state, because on this level, we are already getting inklings that there is something within us that we had hitherto unsuspected. These are indicated by those sudden episodes of perfect stillness and peace in which we have great clarity, understanding, and heightened sensitivity to beauty.
We discover that it was through the music—and not because of it—that we experience our mind going suddenly still, and, in that moment of stillness, we were allowed to experience a greater dimension. There may be fleeting seconds in which we feel a complete identification and oneness with others, as though there were no separation.
These are the moments of breaking through into the experiencing of our real inner Self. The memory of those moments is never forgotten. When they first start to happen, we don’t know what they mean. We think they are “accidental.” “Just due to chance.” We attribute the feeling to external events such as the beauty of a sunset, a symphonic passage, or a loving gesture. But, as we investigate further, we find that these were only the circumstances that allowed something else to happen. They were not the cause. They allowed a certain stillness of the mind to take place, and because of that stillness, we were allowed a moment in which we were able to experience something other than the chatter of our own mind with its incessant, restless play of sensations, feelings, thoughts, emotions, and memories.
In the moments when time seems to stand still, we get a glimpse of what is possible. These moments are so rewarding that they are treasured for a lifetime. When they occur, something is experienced that is very impressive. Could it be that, beyond the turbulence of the world and our own mind, there is silence? A realm of peace that is always waiting?