What is Courage?

While reading Paul Tillich's "The Courage to Be" (not through it all yet) I have been inspired to think what the meaning of courage is. This is not meant to be a response to Tillich's book at all though, but only a musing of mine.

What is Courage?

Courage is to face the situations of the world in which the outcome is unsure and one could very well face negative results as a result of participation. Courage can not be had in a situation where we know for certain the result will lead to a negative outcome for oneself. This might be termed a sacrifice if we act knowing we will suffer and a form of confidence, but this is not courage itself. Courage is to walk into the fog, not knowing whether there is a cliff to fall off or not. To walk off a cliff unobscured by fog and knowing that it is there is not a courage to risk ones life because at that point ones life is not a concern anymore. There is no fear for the consequence of one's own death (though it might be courage to face what comes after).

Courage is necessary to reach for an ideal for something better, even if it means the possibility of worse for our own well-being, it is even inspired by that ideal. But the greatest amount of courage is formed when we believe the outcome will turn out good, even if we should suffer. But this trust can not be had in worldly thoughts, because the world and the universe itself appears cold and callous and is apathetic to our plights of suffering. Such a faith can only be had in a personal Being over creation, one whom can control the world and the universe and loves. With faith in such a Being, God, comes greatest pinnacle of courage, when it is a trust in God for the good to be good and the bad to be turned into good.

But then as our trust in God to bring about the ultimate good grows so as to be a certainty in God's promises and not a mere bet, courage ceases to be courage as we know it. It becomes paradoxically both courage and not courage. It isn't courage because one knows the result will be good in the end, but yet it is courage in knowing that bad may be a temporary result. And so, this courage is the greatest courage of all. While it is yet courage, it is unmovable because it does not accept pain and suffering as the real or ultimate consequence but only an obstacle in the way of facing the greatest good. It both accepts the possibility of a negative outcome and disregards it entirely.

This is why we must live by faith (or rather trust) and not by sight. Living by sight, there is so much uncertainty. We can only see so much and can not see all that is being done. It is impossible for us to get rid of uncertainty. It requires such a great amount of personal courage that is based upon ones own self to act. But to trust God does not require a great personal courage, but only a simple courage to face the "obstacles" that come along with a certainty that all will be well.

But this is not to say that courage is minor to the Christian. It takes a major role in the faith. It takes courage to trust in an unseen God whose actions we do not directly see. It is to step into the fog of not knowing for certain that there is a God, with the result that if there is no God at all, what we do is for naught. In addition, we may suffer more so than we would have if we had not trusted in God. So it does take courage to trust God. As God vindicates our trust in Him, we no longer need a simple courage to trust God as we currently do, but our trust becomes closer and closer to certainty in our minds. In turn, this trust in God that turns to certainty begets a greater, more stable courage (if indeed it can be called merely courage) that is unmoved.