Courage

Courage

Outer chaos, inner calmness, and healing 

Master Glenn Tobey

Addressing your emotional response to the pandemic.

April 9, 2020

My topic today is courage.

Courage is an ability to do something difficult, something out of ordinary. The virus and the epidemic that is surrounding us is parameter of nature. It is producing us a connection of fear and to being scared and to danger. Healthcare workers, first responders, and others had done so many incredible, heroic, and brave things. However, I have heard stories from them. They don’t particularly think of themselves doing courageous things. They are doing things that they want to do. Providing love, care, and intervention. It’s not so much courage they are talking about. How can I remain doing things that I want to do? To courage being myself. Yes, there are times of heroism and bravery. But for them to talk about the courage to be yourself most of all and not to compromise the care they give to others.

Master Lin talked about the creator of Spring Forest Qigong. Everyone was born a healer. Our task is to alleviate the pain and suffering in the world. He is not talking about you can only do that if you have a level of courage. Everybody has courage. Everybody has a level of courage to alleviate the pain and suffering of others.

When you talk about the level of courage, you really start to talk about reality and spirituality. The reality of courage is how you can overcome courage, how to keep you more brave, how to evaluate what you are doing as its measurement. Or it is a task you have to do. Or ashamed of yourself. I am not good enough. I am deficient of my courage. I am not a courageous person. That’s reality speaking.

Spirituality says, “Everyone has courage.” That courage is your teacher. Everything in life is teaching us to respond to things. In my psychotherapy life, a number of people I have seen over the years, their courage is actually to get up in the morning. Just face the day. That may not be true for a lot of you. But for other people in their lives, because of whatever is going on, just the courage to face the day is a significant deed and a significant act. Maybe most of you get up in the morning, you kind of have a thought in the mind what is going to happen, some sort of routine, some sort of expectation. A couple of surprises here and there.

In spirituality, the courage is actually to face the unknown, to go outside that routine of everyday reality. The courage isn’t to face the beasts or monsters walking down the street. The courage is to face the beast inside. The things are walking down your heart. I heard the sentence, “Your mind is like a bad neighborhood. Don’t go there alone.” It’s terrifying things inside.

So, in spirituality, the consciousness is the courage to face yourself. The courage to look what’s going on, to face that unknown. Incredibly powerful.

The reality says there is a vein that is courageous. Take some bravery and heroism. Yes, but inside, the courage to come inside, the tools to meditate, and then go deeper. The tools to connect to this higher energy. This level of energy of loving and care. The masters and spiritual leaders say, “Face yourself. Don’t do this alone.” The fear you have, join into a higher spiritual life. Don’t do this alone. The courage to join in. The courage to go deeper.

One of the words for that is humidity. I love that word a lot. Humble is not just being, “Oh, praise for what I do.” Humidity is trying not to be more than who you are. Fake. Arrogant. But humidity is not to be less than who you are. Afraid of being who you are. Humidity is the courage to be who you are. The spiritual of who you are.

In reality, there is a judgement. In the spiritual world, there is no judgement at all. Everything is there to help you to learn more and more about your life. If you try to be more than who you are or less than who you are, either way, you are not learning about what is to be who you are.

Master Lin always, “Here is my understanding what life is. To know what you know and to speak what you know.” Be courageous of that inner life.