Brian Johnson (Heroic +1) discusses the virtue of courage, reminding listeners that Aristotle viewed courage as the primary virtue that enables all others and noting Churchill's embodiment of heroic courage during WWII. He introduces Ryan Holiday's book Courage Is Calling and quotes a passage defining courage as "the management of and triumph over fear," urging listeners to answer the call to courageous action rather than waiting for others to act.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. In our last plus one we talked about virtue number one in Admiral McRaven's hero code, courage. I reminded us of the fact that Aristotle told us that courage is the most important virtue, the one that vitalizes all the other virtues. Why? Because if we don't have the courage to take action in the presence of fear, then all of our supposed wisdom and self mastery and love and gratitude and hope and curiosity and zest is stuck in theory land and is, to put it bluntly, useless if we don't have the courage to put it into practice. Churchill echoed that wisdom when he told us that courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the rest. Note Churchill also embodied that heroic courage in the face of overwhelming odds and and looming catastrophe during World War II. We arguably have him and his tenacious courage to thank most for leading us in such turbulent times to help create the world we live in today. And today I'd like to talk more about Ryan Holiday's take on the subject of courage. So let's as you know, if you've been following along, Ryan Holiday is one of my all time favorite writers and thinkers. My respect for him and for his dedication to his craft as a writer and as a practicing stoic grows with each new book of his I read. So far we've covered the Obstacle is the way, the daily Stoic, ego is the enemy, and stillness is the key. Check out links to each of those notes. They're all fantastic and as expected, the first book in his new Virtue series on the most important virtue, Courage's Calling, is also fantastic. The book is packed with practical wisdom on why and how to embody heroic courage. Here's one passage we can reflect on today. Ryan tells us, and I quote, courage is the management of and triumph over fear. It's the decision in a moment of peril or day in and day out, to take ownership, to assert agency over a situation over yourself, over the fate that everyone else has resigned themselves to. We can curse the darkness or we can light a candle. We can wait for someone else to come out and save us. Or we can decide to stand and deliver ourselves. Which will it be? Every hero faces this choice, the critical turning point, the moment of truth. Will you be brave? Will you put yourself out there? What will you reveal your character to be? If cowardice is failure to do your duty, then courage is, is the decision to step up and do it, answering the call, overriding fear and seizing your destiny, doing the thing you cannot do. Because it needs to be done with fortitude and spirit, guts and grit. Even if you have no idea if you'll succeed. This will not be easy, he tells us, but we cannot fear. We must, as Shakespeare said, meet the time as it seeks us. Our destiny is here. Let's seize it. And that's today's plus one. Courage is calling. Let's answer the call together today.
