2021/08/29 Courage is Death
Courage is Death. Let's attempt to unpack this statement, starting with what death is. Death is when you cease to be living, when you cross the river Styx and see what's on the other side. Non-being - the lack of being after death - can't be known other than through belief, since one can't talk from experience or go on the experience of others. To act or move towards death is to act or move against life - they're opposites. Life can be understood as your instinctual forces which drive you: your drive to stay away from danger; your drive to protect yourself; to keep family close; to beware of stranger; essentially, to move towards life is a move towards staying alive. Where does courage fit in then? Courageous acts are moral actions which disregard one's drive towards life. To jump into a river to save a drowning child takes courage; you're risking your life, moving in the opposite direction of life, towards death, in order to save the child. It takes courage to charge into battle with bayonets; you're risking your life for the sake of your countrymen. Courage is not, however, a love of death, or a desire to move towards death - the foolhardy berserker who charges into battle can't be called "courageous", only foolish. Unlike Aristotle, I wouldn't place courage between the coward and the berserker. Instead, courage is moving towards death for a moral reason whilst still loving and holding onto life. It is to move towards the promise of the afterlife by leading a moral life.