Introduction – Physical Courage – Emotional Courage – Intellectual Courage – Social Courage – Moral Courage – Spiritual Courage
How To Help Your Child To Have SPIRITUAL COURAGE
We have a tendency to want to protect and insulate our children from any sense of mortality and death. But death is an inescapable reality much as we try to tidy it away out of sight and mind.
Spiritual or existential courage is being open to and asking questions about our existence, our brief time in the flesh, what Life is all about, and what intrinsic meaning it has or might be given through our creative endeavours and philosophical investigations.
Spiritual courage includes an openness to experience other religions besides the one you may have been taught and questioning and testing religious, spiritual and agnostic ideas.
To help your child manifest more spiritual courage:
TALK FEARLESSLY ABOUT THE ‘BIG ISSUES’
- Death is a part of everyone’s life. A sage once said, “Death is just a dead body.” Don’t be afraid to talk about death naturally with your kids. Point out dead animals and birds along with dead vegetation. Let them see that it’s all part of the recycling of Life.
- Talk about how in the scheme of the Universe, we are all here on Earth for a brief time, and that’s why we must savour every moment and seize the opportunity of Life.
EXPLORE THE BIG IDEAS & BUILD A TOLERANCE FOR AMBIGUITY
- Some terrestrial ideas and topics can be explored and mastered with logic and scientific reasoning. Yet, the topics of meaning, Life beyond the physical, whether there is a God or Spiritual Cause or Source, an underlying Field of Infinite Potential or a Universal Oneness of Unconditional Love (as sages and mystics have suggested and hinted at), are topics that cannot be easily explored, but are still worthy of regular investigation, discussion, and reflection upon.
- Teach your kids to embrace mystery. To allow for answers that are not binary, black or white, or straightforward. In an infinite universe, there may be infinite answers.
- Your child will need to have the spiritual courage to stand face-to-face with the unknown and to have the fortitude to tolerate that sense of the unknown as they probe the mysteries of life.
Being Brave in the Face of the Unknown
Many questions are apparently unanswerable because they are too big. We can only be courageous enough to keep entertaining them while not fully knowing.
Additonally, some answers are not binary black-or-white, yes-or-no, but a spectrum of answers in the field of infinite possibilities. Being able to hold that openness to not having a clearly defined answer takes spiritual courage.
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” ~ Rumi
How To Raise Your Child To Be Courageous – 1. Physical Courage – 2. Emotional Courage – 3. Intellectual Courage –4. Social Courage – 5. Moral Courage – 6. Spiritual Courage
