Living Dangerously Through The Tao Of Courage

April 16 2015

‘Courage is not the absence of fear. It is, rather, the total presence of fear, with the courage to face it’ ~ Osho

About a year ago, I came across Osho’s book ‘Courage: The Joy of Living Dangerously’, an inspiring book and one I immediately resonated with. He speaks of Fear as something we should embrace and we’ve all heard the saying before: feel the fear and do it anyway. However, Osho actually steps deeper into this concept with a spiritual twist. He proposes that whenever we are faced with uncertainty and change in our lives, it is actually a cause for celebration. Instead of trying to hang on to the familiar and the known, we can learn to enjoy these situations as opportunities for adventure and for deepening our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

‘Life is not a problem. To look at it as a problem is to take a wrong step. It is a mystery to be lived, loved, and experienced’ ~ Osho

To live a life, which is conforming to social expectations can become routine and secure. The security is our comfort zone, which we find hard to leave. So what is it that stops us from actually living our life? Enter the ‘Fear Factor’: The fear of the unknown. The fear of the unknown always exists, there’s no escaping that with anything in life but it’s when we embrace that feeling and just trust in life, the universe and ourselves, that we grow stronger. We develop an inner courage that enables us to lead fulfilling and authentic lives on a day to day basis. The more we start to do the things that scare us, the more our confidence grows, the more challenges we want to take on and that is when we are really living the essence of a happy and fulfilled life.

‘A Buddha is a Buddha, a Krishna is a Krishna, and you are you. And you are not in any way less than anybody else. Respect yourself, respect your own inner voice and follow it.’

Are there things that have become so routine and comfortable yet boring because you’re not growing in any way? But once you take that step and do something despite the fact that it scares you, you start to move forward and realise all these new opportunities that have suddenly opened up (they were always there, funny how you’re seeing and thinking so clearly now). I really believe that life has a way of guiding you towards better things and rewarding your courage once you step into the unknown.

‘This is what I call maturity of mind: when somebody comes to the point of looking at life without any questions, and simply dives into it with courage and fearlessness.’

The most blissful and courageous way to live life is in the unknown. The adventure and thrill that it feeds in our spirit is what makes life a joy. If you’re unhappy with where you are in life but are too scared to make any changes, then you’re not actually living but merely existing. ‘You have given your power to the fear of the unknown instead of collecting your power from the joy of living in the mystery.’ The unknown is not nearly as scary as the boring known that you pretend to enjoy.

‘It is your fear that makes you a slave — it is your fear. When you are fearless you are no longer a slave; in fact, it is your fear that forces you to make others slaves before they can try to make a slave out of you.’