Self-acceptance demands that we aspire to be, not disdain , who we
are; it rejects disguise, knowing that it is neither helpful or necessary.
Integrity is oneness – being in harmony with ourselves and neighbour. The
courage to be is nothing more and nothing less than a fundamental affirmation
of our own uniqueness conditioned by the limits imposed by life and death.
Practiced together, self acceptance, integrity, and the courage to be lead to
human freedom. In contrast, fear disguises reality, trades in duplicity, and
rejects human limitations, thereby making freedom impossible..."
"The courage to be" Forrest Church
I was recently invited to lead a “Singing Meditation” at Bank Street Chapel, Bolton. The minister Stephen Lingwood asked if I’d like to come early and watch the Olympic torch (This blog was originally published on 10th June 2012) as it arrived in the town and then go for food. It sounded like a grand idea and so I arrived early!
Once the flame had passed through we
went in search of something to eat. As we walked down the precinct we heard the
terrifying screech of children and wondered what on earth was going on and then
we saw it. In the middle of a crowd of people was an enormous raven wandering
up and down. People were crowding round it and it pecked at them in an attempt
to scare them off. We carried on a little concerned for the bird, not that we
needed to be, and went for food. After enjoying a fish and chip tea we returned
to the chapel. On the way we passed back through the town square and as we did
I looked up and I saw the great bird once again. He was happily sitting there at
the summit of the town hall surveying the scene below. I walked away chuckling
to myself and thinking...mmmhhh!!! I think I know who rules this place...yes
his time had been disturbed by all the goings on but now he could get back to
where he belonged, ruling the roost from his perch high above it all...
It brought the Edgar Allen Poe poem
to my mind and those immortal words...”Quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore’”
Fear does have the power to inhibit
but it also has the power of allure. I remember those terrifying public
information broadcasts from the 1970’s, images that still stay with me, about
the dangers of railway lines, and electric pylons and of course water. Not that
we headed the dangers, in many ways it kind of made them more enchanting for me
and my friends. When I think of the more exciting childhood memories they were
all laced with danger. I also remember a collection of “video nasty’s” that my
stepdad must have got a hold of and of finding them and watching them and the
waking nightmares and terrors that I suffered as a result.
The childhood memory that
haunted me the most though was a Saturday night episode of “Hammer House of
Horror”. It was a werewolf tale that vividly remains within my psyche. The
image that had the greatest impact was of the beast at the window in the black
of night and the person turning round and it being in the room with them. This
was etched on my memory for years and to such an extent that I never dared look
out through the glass of my room after dark. Even to this day there is a part
of me that feels nervous if I look through “glass darkly”
Fear comes in many forms. We need not
fear fear in and of itself. It is a vital part of our make up, of our animal
heart. It sets the pulse racing and heightens our awareness. Fright is a vital
instinct. It points to danger, it’s a warning signal. That said there are other
forms of fear which are not so useful. Perhaps the most debilitating of all is
dread.
Dread and other forms of debilitating
fear can overwhelm us and lead to crippling forms of anxiety which can inhibit
us from simply living and being. When we are overcome by such emotions
everything can appear bleak; our senses become dulled; it drains all the colour
and taste from life. This leads to us projecting our anxiety and worry onto
everything that we do in life; it takes the very life out of living and leads
to abject misery. It drags us into pits of depression and traps us in the very
things that we believe protect us from present dangers. As a result we go
deeper into ourselves and get lost and trapped in our black holes of doom and
gloom. It can be very difficult to find our way out of these black holes. It
sucks the life out of us and stops us being who we really are, all that we can
be.
So how do we overcome the power of
this debilitating fear? How do we find the courage just to be?
Well it takes just a little faith and
a little love to create the courage just be. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Which of
course it is, but it is far from easy.
This brings to mind a verse from one
of my favourite hymns “Others call it God”
The verse goes like this...
“A picket
frozen on duty,
A mother
starved for her brood,
And Socrates
drinking hemlock,
And Jesus on
the rood;
An millions,
who though nameless,
The straight,
hard pathway trod –
Some call it
consecration,
And others
call it God.”
The straight hard pathway of faith is
not easy...
The images depicted in this verse are
of characters who had the courage to do what they believed they were there to
do, whether a picket on duty, or a mother looking after her children or the
likes of Jesus and Socrates who were willing to sacrifice their lives for love
or truth...They had the courage to be...inspirations to me, inspirations to us all
Socrates was charged by the Athenian
council with “corrupting the minds of the young, and of believing in deities of
his own invention instead of the gods recognised by the state.”
He courageously contested the charges
against him, but ultimately lost and as a result was condemned to die. He
accepted the judgement of his peers, while responding with these immortal words
“The difficulty is not so much to escape death...The real difficulty is to
escape from doing wrong, which is far more fleet of foot.”
He did not fear death because he felt
that it would take nothing from him of value. As he said to the court “I have
never lived an ordinary life...I did not care for the things that most people
care about – making money, having a comfortable home, high military or social
rank.” Neither did he fear what death would bring which he saw as either the
sweetest sleep or a journey to a better place, a place of justice. As he
proclaimed “nothing can harm a good man either in life or after death.”
Socrates would rather have
surrendered his life, than his integrity. Both in life as in death he perfectly
illustrated the courage to be. He had the integrity and therefore courage to
say “I have a more sincere belief than any of my accusers, and I leave to you
and to God to judge me as it shall be best for me and for yourselves.”
“Jesus on the rood” (Jesus on the
cross) like “Socrates drinking hemlock” is another incredible example of
someone living out the courage to be. This is truly an example and beacon to us
all. He was not immune from fear though. He struggled with it as he hung dying
on the cross. In the Gospel accounts of his life he rarely quoted scripture,
but at this moment he did. That said he did not quote the comforting 23rd Psalm “I shall walk through the valley
of the shadow of death and fear no evil for thou are with me”. No, instead he
quoted the much starker 22nd Psalm
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me?” He did not quote the comforting words “My cup runneth over”, instead he
cried out “I thirst”.
Some might say where is the courage
here? Well it is in what comes next, as he utters “Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do.” In these words lies the essence of his message of
radical love. For Socrates integrity gave him the strength to be; whereas for
Jesus it was love; the love of God and the love of neighbour as for self. He
surrendered himself utterly to his purpose and to his God as he uttered those
immortal words “Father, I commend my life unto thy spirit.”
This is where we find the courage to
truly be, to overcome the power of unnatural fear, through living in and
through love, truth and integrity. Love will always overcome fear; love will
always enable us to find the courage to truly be all that we can be. It is love
that enabled the picket to stand in the freezing cold to stand up for what he
believed in; it is love that motivated the mother to sacrifice herself for her
children; it is love that enabled both Jesus and Socrates to make their
ultimate sacrifices.
We will always know the emotion of
fear, we will always feel it. We need it, it is a natural instinct. That said
we need not be enslaved by it. We need not fear that raven perched above us. To
be free all we need do is live in integrity, live in love and the courage to
simply be will shine out of us. In doing so not only do we liberate ourselves,
we will be a light to others who in turn may be inspired to liberate themselves
and others too.
Let love and truth show
us the way to be all that we can be...
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