Lessons for living: Courage

Lessons for living: Courage

Courage can be understood as the ability to do something that frightens you. We might also think of courage as the capacity to be strong in the face of pain or grief. Courage is not the absence of fear, but is dependent on the presence of fear. Without the presence of...
Becoming Promethean: Creativity, courage and compassion

Becoming Promethean: Creativity, courage and compassion

The great god Zeus tasked Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus, who were both skilled craftsmen, with populating the earth. Epimetheus made animals and birds, insects and fish. When he was finished Prometheus stepped forward and made the last creature. He took some...
Jason and the golden fleece: answering the call of crisis

Jason and the golden fleece: answering the call of crisis

Jason’s father was the King of Thebes, but one day, his own brother, Pelias, took the throne from him and threw him in prison. Pelias challenged Jason to find the famous Golden Fleece and bring it back to him. If he succeeded the King would return the crown to the...
The beginnings of wisdom

The beginnings of wisdom

“Applicants for wisdom do what I have done: inquire within” ― Heraclitus, Fragments A jailor brought Socrates the cocktail of Hemlock. He calmly drank his poison. Surrounded by his disciples, the philosopher posed his final questions. “Will a true lover of wisdom, who...
Practising courage in the face of fear

Practising courage in the face of fear

There was once a man who was terrified of his own shadow and lived in fear of the sound of his own footsteps. Walking along one day he entered a panic and tried to flee at top speed. But as fast as he ran, his shadow and footsteps kept up with him and made him run all...