Courage

"People, especially Americans, most often think of courage as something physical -- mountain climbers, soldiers on the front lines, and so on. There are elements of courage that manifest within such activities, but there are other qualities of courage. Sometimes courage is a balance between external and internal, like medical care workers who travel to dangerous war zones to help the hurt and suffering, sometimes working with the victims of contagious epidemics -- that sort of compassionate courage. Then we have those facing no direct external danger, who dare a deep inner exploration in order to discover some tangible relationship to the spiritual source of existence. But this too manifests in a complex, somewhat wayward variety of attitudes and approaches. Still, when it comes to self-discovery and inner exploration, there is always a kind of inner courage called for because one becomes aware of risking one's sanity, perhaps even one's soul, and under certain conditions, one's life. And definitely one risks the security of mass somnambulism, because the quest demands a stepping away from acculturated formulas of belief. Such exploration demands a willingness to give up all in order to find some deeper more substantial meaning to one's existence." — Lew Paz, Press interview for Pushing Ultimates: Fundamentals of Authentic Self-Knowledge