"Courage does
not eliminate anxiety, but bears it without fear. The opposite of fear is
trust. If in the midst of anxiety we trust in life, life will lead us through
any tight spot into a new birth. ...
We
must distinguish between fear and anxiety: Anxiety is unavoidable in life; fear
is optional. Yes, we can choose between fear and courage. Fear puts up
resistance against anxiety and so gets stuck in it; courage accepts anxiety as
a given and confidently passes through it. This doesn’t mean that the anxiety
is now gone. Courage does not eliminate anxiety, but bears it without fear. The
opposite of fear is trust. If in the midst of anxiety we trust in life, life
will lead us through any tight spot into a new birth. Experience proves this as
we look back at anxious moments: The more frightening the anxiety we had to
pass through, the more liberating the new life that emerged."
I highly recommend reading the rest of this letter. See it here.
