One never knows what is going to happen. It keeps you continuously in wonder. Don’t call it uncertainty—call it wonder. Don’t call it insecurity—call it freedom.
— Osho
Courage means going into the unknown in spite of all the fears. Courage does not mean fearlessness.
Fearlessness happens if you go on being courageous and more courageous. That is the ultimate experience of courage—fearlessness: That is the fragrance when the courage has become absolute. But in the beginning there is not much difference between the coward and the courageous person.
The only difference is that the coward listens to his fears and follows them, and the courageous person puts them aside and goes ahead. The courageous person goes into the unknown in spite of all the fears. He knows the fears, the fears are there.
When you go into the uncharted sea, like Columbus did, there is fear, immense fear, because one never knows what is going to happen. You are leaving the shore of safety. You were perfectly okay, in a way; only one thing was missing—adventure. Going into the unknown gives you a thrill.
The heart starts pulsating again; again you are alive, fully alive.
Every fiber of your being is alive because you have accepted the challenge of the unknown. To accept the challenge of the unknown, in spite of all fears, is courage.
The fears are there, but if you go on accepting the challenge again and again, slowly slowly those fears disappear. The experience of the joy that the unknown brings, the great ecstasy that starts happening with the unknown, makes you strong enough, gives you a certain integrity, makes your intelligence sharp.
For the first time you start feeling that life is not just a boredom but an adventure.
Then slowly slowly fears disappear; then you are always seeking and searching for some adventure. But basically courage is risking the known for the unknown, the familiar for the unfamiliar, the comfortable for the uncomfortable, arduous pilgrimage to some unknown destination.
One never knows whether one will be able to make it or not. It is gambling, but only the gamblers know what life is.
You can find this passage in Osho’s great book — Courage: The Joy of Living Dangerously
Making art in the face of nothing to be gained other than its freedom of action is all one ever needs to know about courage. Poets and artists are crazy with courage to strike the anvil over and over again even if time has just about slipped away to oblivion.
I’ve cowered from more opportunities in my life than I care to remember, will be buying this book