Daring

Daring

"He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small,
That dares not put it to the touch,
To gain or lose it all."
   ___ James Graham, Marquis of Montrose,
   "My Dear and Only Love"


    When the young Setanta was being taught by the druid Cathbad, the students asked their teacher, "What deeds are favorable for this day of all days?" Cathbad replied, "This day is one on which any young stripling who claims the arms and armor of a man shall become the hero who surpasses all the youth of Ireland. His name will be glorious, but his life will be fleetingly short." On hearing that, Setanta - who would become the hero Cuchulainn - immediately decided that the day had come for him to take valor and claim his status as a man.

  When we are young, we are fearless, heedless of both hidden and obvious perils. We have the brash arrogance and ignorance of youth, a combination that is oddly endearing and chillingly frightening at the same time. Age and experience bring us to greater circumspection.

    Whence do we draw the daring to perform the deeds of adult life? There is no time to dither when we stand in danger of losing our livelihood or well-being. To take up the gage of daring is dangerous, but to have never dared is to have never won. It is good to spend our lives in risk-free circumstances, never challenged or stretched beyond our personal comfort factor? Sometimes we have to become vulnerable, and suffer risk to protect and defend that which we love beyond our personal lives. When our response is absolute, we seize our fate with urgent hands, fly out on the spiral loop of our soul's thread, without a parachute, only by the truth and integrity of our actions are we protected.

"What feels risky in your life? How are you endangered? Where are you being stretched to dare?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]