Courage comes not from the elimination of fear but from the cultivation of a purpose bigger than fear. Whenever someone goes into a situation of danger, such as when soldiers go into a war zone, it is not that the soldiers are some special kind of people who don’t experience fear the way we all do. Rather, they go there because, for them, there is a higher purpose. It may be something as noble as selflessly protecting their country, or it may be something as mundane as just earning a salary. But when their focus is on a purpose that is bigger, they can manage their fears, and similarly, so can we by seeking not to eliminate fear but to cultivate a higher purpose.

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18.35 And that determination which cannot go beyond dreaming, fearfulness, lamentation, moroseness and illusion – such unintelligent determination, O son of Pṛthā, is in the mode of darkness.