Quote:
Originally Posted by Nocapszy
Essentially I'm splitting the question the question by asking whether one can be courageous if one chooses what's easier and then answering the rest. In typical psychology, the most immediately intuitive idea is that survival is the lesser of all evils, but I honestly believe the human survival instinct can be switched off (the suicide rate basically proves it...) being perhaps not so strong itself, but only strongly supported by evolutionary implementation. Where the survival instinct is shut off, those mechanisms might still work, thence having to focus their energies elsewhere (thrill seeking as an example).
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I like where you're going with this. For example, if I choose to risk my life to save someone else, maybe it was just the easier choice because I didn't want to live myself as the kind of person who let somebody die without trying to help. A lot of the time, a courageous and risky act is the best option. Many courageous acts could be cowardly in nature.
But, to me, this is about reactive courage. Proactive courage could be a different matter. Think of a person's dreams. Most people's dreams are so important to them that they'd rather not even try to accomplish them rather than risk actually failing if they do try. To follow one's dreams is proactive courage. To go after that one thing in life that you want more than anything. That's pretty risky, not just physically, but emotionally. It's like putting all your eggs into one basket. To give something everything you've got, even if you might completely fail.
So this brings a new question. If you're not following your dreams, are you simply failing to be courageous enough?
Think about all the messed up things that are happening in this world. I'm not getting blamed for them, so there's not much of a direct negative consequence for me. But I'm not doing anything to stop it, either.
I think to understand courage more, we could study cowardice. Cowardice can save your life, but it can also make you hate yourself... and what's the point of living if you're not actually LIVING?