And now we come to a subtler insight. The value society instils into its young to make them seek out, meet, and conquer adversity must be balanced with a second value that will cause the energy put into seeking challenges to be focused so the individual can deal with those challenges efficiently. There is nothing to be gained by teaching young people blind aggression; it will only run amok in its own society and sometimes other societies. Eager, but directionless, young people end up hurting themselves in daredevil stunts, car crashes, and street fights, while accomplishing little or nothing in useful, material terms.

The courage-tempering value is usually called wisdom, but intelligence and judgment are also terms for this same value. Wisdom has the effect of directing humans to achieve objectives by behaviour patterns that employ their energy efficiently. It is seen clearly in the medieval code of chivalry and the samurai warriors’ code of bushido, both of which contain instruction on how a man may be simultaneously brave and civilized, i.e. “noble”.

Note that balance is implied all through my model. Balance is an ideal in all cultures, but even more so in the Far East than it is in the cultures of the West. In ancient Greece, Aristotle told his followers to seek moderation. For example, a balance between fool-hardiness and cowardice is what makes courage, in his view. And stinginess must be balanced with extravagancy if we are to reach a moderate way of handling money, and so on for a whole list of virtues.

But in the religions of the East, like Taoism and Buddhism, the whole picture our minds make of reality as if it were made of separate, opposite traits is seen as being the illusion. For Buddha and Lao Tse, reality is an unbroken whole with no seams. Our minds think they see separate entities like good and evil, life and death, past and future, rich and poor, but in reality there are no such things. We get free of our suffering on the day we let all of our categories go and become one with everything.

                                             

                                             

      Achilles and Chiron (wall mural in Herculaneum, Italy) (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Not surprisingly, there are echoes of this balancing of courage and wisdom embedded in mythology. The Greek heroes Jason, Achilles, Perseus, Theseus, and Aeneas all needed Chiron, the wise, kind, moderate teacher. Among the early Britons, Arthur needed Merlin. In modern myth, Luke Skywalker needed Yoda, Dorothy, Glinda, and Katniss, Haymitch. Courage tempered with wisdom.