Courage

How much courage would it take to face the possibility that we are alone in the universe? How much courage would it take to face the possibility that at death there is nothing beyond that point? Where does courage come from? For most people it seems that their courage comes from depending on someone else’s strength. This implies that their own strength is weak and someone else is stronger. How would it affect our world view of things and how would it affect our daily living if we were to suddenly discover that we are alone in the universe? One thing for sure, it would eliminate the hope for outside strength and help as a resource. But it would also magnify the viewpoint and experience of what kind of resources we do indeed have. For most people it would be very frightening. So much so, is one of the reasons that people do not want to even think about the possibility of what is actually true about our presence in the universe, possibly being one of utter aloneness. All ultimate authority would be gone with the comfort that comes from depending upon that authority for survival and quality of life. All that would be left is one’s own authority with the responsibility for self-maintenance and the dependency upon some other human being to take the place of any ultimate authority. Gone would be the hope for a perfect world in the life beyond the grave. All hope would be confined to this life. Waiting for the better life would be limited to the planet earth. What one would make of this life would be what he would get, without magic and myth. It would take a lot of courage to face this. This brings up the second possibility of a source for courage. The only other possibility would be from within one’s own person. This idea is even more scary because we have been taught that we are weak, frail, without power and strength to take care of ourselves. It other words, what we believe about ourselves does not give much encouragement to find courage, strength and power within. Our explanations for an established world view are the suppositions we use as our own worst enemy. This is so ironical since our explanations are the foundation and core as a base for courage and hope to live every day with the possibility that everything will get better after we died. One would think if this world view of life is true, people would look forward to getting off the planet as soon as possible. But to the contrary, people say things like: "I want to stay here as long as I can." One would think that it would take less courage to die as well as a desire to welcome the event because everything will be so much better. The reality is: Everybody wants to go to heaven, they just don’t want to go now.

If this life is all there is, and people really believed that to be true, it would be more practical to get a new world view of things that would change the beliefs about one’s own resources. It would also be more practical to invest one’s time and energy into building a quality of life as is said: as if this were your last day of life. Since we get only one day at a time as an emerging presence of the experience of our existence, it would be prudent for people to realize that one cannot fit into one’s experience of the now, the whole possibility of many experiences of the now. What people fear the most, as ironical as it seems, is the moment of the now. Most of our energy is invested in trying to solve the impasses of past experiences or seeking to restructure the future possibilities for a "better tomorrow." The fact is that change can only occur in the now, not in the past or future because these two states are only imaginations of the mind. Since people spend little time in the present, it will be difficult for many people to comprehend what I am saying since they believe that what they experience, of the past and future, most of the time to them is the present. This is a very crucial point for everyone to consider. Until one realizes how little of his experience is in the now, he will not have the awareness to motivate himself to do otherwise.

To make change is difficult because it takes courage and can only occur in the now.