Courage

Courage is the ability to persist in a noble endeavor, to continue with a propitious project, to do the right thing in the face of fear, fatigue, anxiety, and worry. This ability to endure fear, worry, anxiety, fatigue and so forth is a byproduct of faith, faith in the overall goodness of the universe because it is the creation and field of operation of a good God. There is also the need for faith in one's own worth, in one's value as a creature, as son and daughter of God, and one's basic competence, to accomplish that noble endeavor or project, as well as the moral courage of one's convictions.  

Courage requires that a person's character be congruent, that there not be a division within the soul or in the mind, that there not be a war raging within. If the mind is confused the heart is compromised. Then the person is incapable of courage for they lack the faith in the rightness of the project, in their ultimate ability to carry it out, and they are paralyzed by the inner conflict.  

Courage of the physical sort is best known to you, and this experience comes to all mortals as it has come to all of you. The strength to go through with something that is both fearful and possibly painful requires courage on the physical level. And then there is the courage of the mind which is the willingness to search for truth, and when it is found, to apply it to life. This courage is greater than the physical courage although it may not seem so. Nevertheless, there are people who can endure the physical challenge but collapse intellectually because they are lazy and unwilling to consider the enlargement of their understanding.  

But the most important courage of all is moral-spiritual courage. It is the courage to do that which the heart knows to be the right thing. It is the strength to do what may not be popular among one's fellows. It is the
strength to keep commitments, agreements, regardless of the temptation to set them aside. It is ultimately the willingness to say to God, 'it is my will that your will be done.' It is the leap of faith in the goodness and
the trustworthiness of God that forever removes the need for the self to pretend to be God; it is the surrender of sovereignty over to one's Creator; not the loss of free will but the willing submission, and in fact joyful acceptance of higher reason and greater love.  

Courage is fostered as a result of the small steps of faithful obedience, based upon the faith already alluded to, and from a mind and heart that is undivided and not conflicted. It is the kind of faith that Abraham
experienced when he obeyed what he thought was God's will to offer his son in sacrifice, and discovered to his great relief and spiritual enlightenment, that when he was willing to do the most painful thing that his mind could conceive that God might expect of him, that God's will was gracious and the lamb, the sheep in the thicket was substituted. People lack courage who do not believe in a loving God. For them, they only have themselves and other humans as models of strength. In a world of disillusionment this is no certain bastion, this is a floundering fortress, a sinking ship.

You understand that your security and the course of this world are not blown about by the winds of chance, thrashed by the meaninglessness of a chaotic, mindless universe, but you know that the hand of God is everywhere present. This gives you courage on all three levels, physical, mental and spiritual. And with this courage you shall overcome all obstacles.  

When Jesus drank His cup He was sustained by an angel. He was given the necessary help He needed when He prayed for it, and you will be equally provided. When you feel that you are reaching the edge of your
courage, it is time to ask and more shall be given. 

Virginia: Is it courageous to follow the unrest that we sometimes feel with the status quo, the experiences that seem to be so traditional and accepted? I'm thinking in terms of my own unrest and how difficult it was for me to search.

Alkon:  This is a two-sided coin, my dear. Sometimes unrest is caused by a rebellious spirit, desiring to break free of God's plans. Other kinds of unrest come from the prodding of the soul by your Indwelling Monitor, by the work of the angels upon the minds and souls of individuals who are receptive to higher truth, to greater loyalty, to more perfect obedience; and there the unrest is with the status quo, with the limits of knowledge and achievement hithertofore gained.  

So to answer your question without making this distinction would be confusing, for all unrest is not necessarily virtuous, it requires discernment to locate the source of that unrest and to analyze it. Certainly to swim upstream against the current, to walk and step to a different drummer requires the courage of enduring the displease, the ridicule and the rejection of some people. It is certainly a type of courage that our Master was conversant with, indeed struggled with, in fact, felt great loneliness in the whole experience for He had no peer to share with.