Fear describes a state, not an action. Courage describes an action.
If you’re afraid, you’re in a state of fear, like in that moment right before you’re called up to the platform to give a speech. You’re sitting there, trembling, rehearsing again and again the reasons you’re afraid, trying to justify that fear.
But then you’re called, your feet walk you to the podium, and you begin. That’s courage. You’re still trembling, your voice might even crack as you start to speak, but you’re going ahead anyway. You’re acting despite the fear.
Fear is the state you’re in. Courageous is how you’re acting in that state.
But what if you could change that state entirely? What if you could move beyond fear? What if you didn’t have to do anything courageous because you just were no longer afraid?
That would be the true opposite of fear. And that I call peace.
Peace is the state where you no longer have to act courageously because there’s no need. It’s the calm, the rest, the inner tranquility where you don’t just kill the resistance, you realize it doesn’t even exist.
And all this time I was shooting for courage. No wonder I didn’t get anywhere. Courage is only the path, not the destination.
It’s like I woke up: the destination is peace. Peace, Marshall!
The opposite of fear is peace. The other point of the line is peace. The state is peace.
