Strength and Courage

George Shaw Cook

When Joshua, the successor of Moses, undertook the leadership of the children of Israel, this reassuring message came to him from God, divine Mind: "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest."

It is plain that the kind of strength demanded of Joshua was not so much physical as spiritual. Indeed, viewed from the standpoint of divine metaphysics, strength is seen to be mental, or spiritual, rather than material. Looking at strength in this light, it is easy to understand what Mary Baker Eddy said in her dedicatory message to the church in Concord, New Hampshire (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 162): "Strength is in man, not in muscles; unity and power are not in atom or in dust."

It will be readily seen, then, that, strictly speaking, strength is as essentially mental as faith, intelligence, wisdom, or any of those qualitites which are obviously spiritual. Therefore, whether one manifests a sense of strength, vigor, and vitality, even in a physical way, depends not upon material conditions, but upon what one thinks or knows.

In this connection the words of our Leader on page 417 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" are illuminating: "Never tell the sick that they have more courage than strength. Tell them rather, that their strength is in proportion to their courage."

Whether what is ordinarily regarded as physical strength appears gradually to have been depleted by disease, or suddenly to have failed because of fear, the fact is that real strength is not affected either by adverse material conditions or by erroneous states of thought. Because true strength is spiritual and has its source in divine Mind, it is universal, omnipresent, and inexhaustible. Realization of this fact has in many instances immediately restored a sense of strength where weakness has seemed to be present, and has demonstrated that there is no so-called material law to decree that an experience of disease must necessarily be followed by a period of depletion. The law of God, Spirit, operates as a law of immediate restoration to a right, normal sense of strength and activity. Thus the belief of exhaustion and fatigue is replaced by the consciousness of energy, power, and might, as being ever-present qualities of divine Mind, always expressed by man. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

There is a kind of courage which is sometimes described as physical or animal courage. Such courage, while often considered desirable, does not ascend above the plane of valor or intrepidity, and may descend to the level of mere boldness. Then there is that which is known as moral courage, and which is a most praiseworthy and admirable mental quality. Of it, Mrs. Eddy says (ibid., p. 514), "Moral courage is 'the lion of the tribe of Juda,' the king of the mental realm." Such courage enables one to stand for that which he knows to be right in the face of opposition, unkind criticism, and ridicule. It helps one to face adverse conditions with equanimity and assurance.

However, there is an even higher type of courage which is the equivalent of fearlessness, based upon knowledge of the omnipotence of God, infinite good, and the consequent powerlessness of evil. Such courage enabled Jesus to face his trial and crucifixion fearlessly, because he understood the undying reality of Life and the unreality of its suppositional opposite, called death. This sublime courage, based upon knowledge of the indestructible facts of being, resulted in his victory over death, and proved for all time the supremacy of good over evil.

Spiritual courage such as that expressed by the Master enabled our Leader fearlessly to face and overcome the obstacles which mortal mind placed in her way as the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. It enabled her to persevere in her effort to establish the Cause of scientific Christianity in spite of the aggressive opposition of scholasticism and material medicine. Without this courage, Mrs. Eddy would not have been able to give to the world her scientific explanation of the words and works of Christ Jesus, an explanation which has proved of untold value to suffering humanity. Through the exercise of this spiritual type of courage, students of Christian Science are proving, in the measure of their understanding, that they can meet and overcome the arguments of discouragement which present themselves in daily experience. Whether such arguments are due to the presence of disease, lack, or other forms of discord, they can be met, refuted, and annulled through conscious realization that, absolutely speaking, there is nothing by which one can be discouraged. Therefore, "be thou strong and very courageous."

George Shaw Cook

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