Birdwatching is a multi-faceted activity as far as Jacqueline and I are concerned. The birds might take our attention much of the time, and rightly so. But as we let go of the rest of the world, ideas flow.

Over the last couple of days, we have spent time talking about what courage might be, what being is, and what conclusions can be drawn from both.

We started from the work of Paul Tillich and his book The Courage to Be, written in the 1950s, which had a big influence on me. His central argument was that human beings inevitably experience anxiety, uncertainty and the threat of meaninglessness. Courage is the capacity to affirm life despite these realities.

Jacqueline then introduced the thinking of psychologist Rollo May, whose work she has been looking at of late. Undoubtedly influenced by Tillich, his work suggests that a society that deprives people of agency, purpose, meaningful work and the opportunity to influence their futures risks producing alienation rather than well-being. His work suggests that freedom is not simply freedom from interference. It also requires the courage, capacity and opportunity to act.

Then, we discussed the poetry of E. E. Cummings. I have read a little of this. It is not that easy, but the theme seems to fit with Tillich and May, and I need to do more research here. The essence of his argument seems to be that being genuinely yourself in a world that constantly pressures you to conform is one of the hardest and most important things a person can do.

Put these three together, and you get a form of unity of thinking about courage. This is what we discussed, at length.

I do not have time to note all we had to say, but in reaction to the discussion I wrote this, which I think approximates a poem:

I asked myself a question.
Who said I could seek to change the world?
And I realised: I had.

I had told myself to have courage,
the courage to reject what is
in the hope of something better.

I gave myself the right not to conform,
to refuse what was demanded,
to refuse indifference
to my fate, and to theirs.

To believe the future can be changed,
and that we must choose it,
knowing we may be wrong,
and that this risk is the price
of saying what is will not do,
and that something better can be.

I asked myself if I believed that,
and found I did.
And there was my answer.

I had the courage to be.

Free from fear,
and knowing my freedom to be
means nothing
unless others are free to be too.

I set myself free from compliance,
from those who would take me
and mould me to their needs, not mine.
I have the right to be me.

As do you.
To be free.
To be.

PDF of article