I think these quotes tug at the very nature of what I requested from this topic. What is a man; how many times must he regret the choices taken?Fist and Faith wrote:I think I disagree. Bravery comes from overcoming fear. You don't even have to know that the feeling you're having is fear, like if you'd never heard or read about fear. Perhaps a child of a tribe of cavemen whose language isn't even developed enough to have a word for it. But he sees some beast attacking, and, though he knows it might kill him if he tries to do X to kill it or drive it away, and this gives him a feeling that he has not learned about from anyone, he does X to save everybody.sgt.null wrote:He did nothing of the kind. It came whence ALL impulses, good or bad, come--from OUTSIDE. If that timid man had lived all his life in a community of human rabbits, had never read of brave deeds, had never heard speak of them, had never heard any one praise them nor express envy of the heroes that had done them, he would have had no more idea of bravery than Adam had of modesty, and it could never by any possibility have occurred to him to RESOLVE to become brave. He COULD NOT ORIGINATE THE IDEA--it had to come to him from the OUTSIDE. And so, when he heard bravery extolled and cowardice derided, it woke him up. He was ashamed. Perhaps his sweetheart turned up her nose and said, "I am told that you are a coward!" It was not HE that turned over the new leaf--she did it for him. HE must not strut around in the merit of it--it is not his. twain
I believe every point each of you are making but find the conclusions misguided. Bravery or "heart" is a sampling only of the inner processes of wisdom of the mind, not the brain. I don't believe for a second that your caveman example would hold up in a philosophical debate, as you assume the act of bravery is innate. I believe it is innately a component of man's ability to overcome the brain and enter the mind realms. The mind is a transcendently damaging area to try and explore; it holds so much knowledge of processes that the spiritual decided to bestow us with. However, it is not innate because of how important it is to "dig deep" and find out the difference between the ghost and the meat of man. Meat cannot feel anger or lust because it is meat. Look at gorillas for instance; they don't care about anything in the world because they do not have a mind. Can you imagine being a gorilla? Of course not! Gorilla's lack a mind, which makes it impossible to put your imaginary mind in theirs. You can imagine yourself as a gorilla, which is not AT ALL the same thing. Man is man and only man, bestowed with gifts worked out long ago, to be able to over come other men. Bravery is one of these gifts but it is neither innate or learned. It is not both nor is it a mixture. By its very involvement with the mind and not the brain, it is beyond the capacity for humans who are only using their lower logical mind to understand the higher realms. I believe we can unlock every mystery in the universe if we just collectively think hard enough and remember that we already have the answer locked in our minds. Imagine the mind like the internet cloud.