Courage

This is an extract from a book that I've been reading recently called Wild at Heart. It is (mostly) about males and how to discover their true masculinity through God. Great book, I encourage you to read it. But anyway here goes:

'Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. "He that will lose his life, the same shall save it", is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers. It might be printed in an Alpine guide or a drill book. The paradox is the whole priniple of courage; even of quite earthly or quite brutal courage. A man cut off by the sea may save his life if he will risk it out on the precipice. He can only get away from death by continually stepping within an inch of it. A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for life with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to live, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.' (G. K. Chesterton)

John Eldredge, the author of this book, says just before this passage; "All men die, few men ever really live. Sure, you can create a safe life for yourself....and end your days in a rest home babbling on about some forgotten misfortune. I'd rather go down swinging. Besides, the less we are trying to 'save ourselves', the more effective a warrior we will be. John isn't suggesting anything like going round killing people before we die, or 'live on the edge' with fast cars or party pills and such. He is talking in christian, masculine terms. He wants us to be warriors for God, and to do that, we need real courage.