Virtues: Courage (Dedicant Path Essay)

Courage: the ability to act appropriately in the face of adversity. Courage is perhaps the quintessential second-function virtue, the warrior is nothing if not courageous, the timid protector is bound to fail.

Courage is not a subject on which I am an expert. The environment in which I was raised was harshly divided along gender lines: men are active, women are passive, men are dominant, women submit, men lead, women follow. Courage, to my community, was firmly in the camp of men’s virtues. I think growing up this way has hurt my ability to really even think of myself as courageous, although I know there are times that I have taken the harder road despite the consequences.

 

Detail from the Dying Gaul
Photo by Jastrow, via Wikimedia Commons

But I do think that description is the best working definition of courage that I have right now: When evaluating the choices you have, courage is taking the harder path with knowledge of the consequences. I think courage doesn’t need to be a bold act, it can be a quiet one. I don’t think it denotes fearlessness, only a willingness to act in the face of fear. And I don’t think it can guide you in what action to take, only give you the strength of will to carry it out.

I have been working with, meditating on, and thinking deeply about these virtues for the three years I have been practicing an ADF-style druidry, and my understanding of courage is still at a really basic level. Often I reach within myself and find that it isn’t there.