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Article Excerpt
Courage is presented as the energizing catalyst for choosing growth over safety needs. A content analysis of the literature reveals 3 dimensions of courage: fear, appropriate action, and a higher purpose. Guidelines and strategies for developing courage are described.
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Several schools of psychology point to a basic tendency underlying all growth. Maslow (1968, 1971) called it the self-actualizing tendency; Jung (1968) called it individuation; Homey (1950) called it a drive toward self-realization. Carl Rogers (1961, 1980) described this force accordingly,
Whether one calls it a growth tendency, a drive toward self-actualization, or a forward-moving directional tendency, it is the mainspring of life ... it is the urge which is evident in all organic and human life--to expand, extend, become autonomous, develop, mature--the tendency to express and activate all the capacities of the organism. (1961, p. 35) The actualizing tendency can be thwarted or warped, but it cannot be destroyed without destroying the organism. (1980, p. 118)
According to these theorists, there is an inherent force directing growth. Why, then, is there so much difficulty in achieving full growth, wholeness, or self-realization? Rogers (1961) contended that the growth tendency will not flourish without unconditional positive regard, empathy, and authenticity from significant others. Maslow (1970, 1971) proposed that there are prerequisites to self-actualization in the form of basic need gratification and a firm values framework. In addition, Maslow (1968) maintained that the growth tendency is counteracted by the safety impulse:
Every human being has both sets of forces within him. One set clings to safety and defensiveness out of fear, tending to regress backward, hanging on to the past ... afraid to take chances, afraid to jeopardize what he already has, afraid of independence, freedom and separateness. The other set of forces impels him forward toward wholeness of Self and uniqueness of Self, toward full functioning of all his capacities, toward confidence in the face of the external world. (p. 46)
A gap is created whenever growth forces encounter equally powerful safety forces (fears). If growth is to proceed, then this gap must be leaped.
The energizing catalyst for choosing growth over safety is courage. Courage allows one to effectively act under conditions of danger, fear, and risk. Without courage, the individual or group remains stuck in existing patterns or immobilized in fear. Rogers (see Rogers & Stevens, 1971) stated it in this manner,
It is the quality of courage which enables a person to step into the uncertainty of the unknown as he chooses himself.... It is not an easy thing to have the courage to be, and clients shrink from it at the same time as they move toward it. (pp. 42, 46)
Maslow (1991) said,
The difference between the diminished individual, wistfully yearning toward full humanness but never quite daring to make it, versus the unleashed individual, growing well toward his or her destiny, is simply the difference between fear and courage. (p. 120)
Because courage is given a pivotal role in growth, it is of great significance to understand its nature. The purpose of this investigation is twofold: (a) to present a conceptual model of the dimensions of courage and (b) to describe guidelines for developing courage. A variety of disciplines were examined for their views on courage: military history and research (W. Miller, 2000; Rachman, 1978), schools of psychology (Ellis, 1995, 1998; Frankl, 1984; Maslow 1968, 1970, 1971, 1991; Rogers, 1961, 1980; Rogers & Stevens, 1971), literature (Hemingway, 1932/1960, 1939/1969; Tolstoy, 1999), and philosophy (Aristotle, trans. 1987; MacIntyre, 1984; May, 1976; Thomson & Missner, 2000; Tillich, 1952/2000).
One of the most extensive analyses of courage is in The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle (trans. 1987). He believed that courage was between the extremes of cowardice and foolhardiness. Aristotle's overall definition of courage is "He who faces and fears the right things for the right motive and in the right way and at the right time, and whose confidence is similarly right, is courageous" (p. 63). In addition to examining Aristotle, a content analysis was conducted on the divergent sources noted above. It yielded three primary dimensions of courage: fear (danger, risk), appropriate action, and purpose. All three dimensions must be present for an act or person to be called courageous (see Figure 1). In actual acts of courage, all three dimensions interact simultaneously and with varying degrees of intensity. For purposes of discussion, however, it is necessary to examine each dimension separately.
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
FEAR
It is difficult to imagine courage being called on when one is happy and joyful. Courage, if it appears, always makes its presence known under conditions of threat, risk, or danger. Some thinkers, like Keen (1999), contend that fear is part of the human condition and that the "real question is not 'Are you afraid?' but what are you fearful of and what do you do with fear" (p. 41).
Fears vary in their intensity and may have a tangible or intangible source (the latter usually called anxiety). Examples of physical fear-inducing dangers include combat, severe injury or illness, aggressive animals, and standing in an arena with nothing more than a cape and sword while awaiting the charge of a 1,700-pound fighting bull. Selected fear-inducing threats with psychological origins include phobias, fears of isolation or abandonment, chronic anxiety, loss (e.g., relationship, job, aging), shame and disgrace, erosion of identity and spiritual foundations, and fear of failure in the pursuit of major goals and life dreams.
Existential writers point to nonbeing, one's eventual nonexistence, as the core fear. Tillich (1952/2000) proposed that basic anxiety results from realizing one's finitude, and among the possible consequences of this fact are alienation, meaninglessness, and despair. To affirm oneself in spite of these obstacles, Tillich termed "the courage to be." Tillich also believed that fear and anxiety function as guardians, as warning signals to one's being. According to Tillich, "Courage is the readiness to take upon oneself negatives, anticipated by fear, for the sake of a fuller positivity" (p. 78).
Paradoxically, there is the fear of growth itself. Maslow (1971) called it the Jonah complex and described it...
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