On the eve of his first transoceanic flight, while discussing courage with another student of Christian Science, an army pilot gained a clear sense of equanimity and dominion. The spontaneity of Mind brought many truths into this conversation, and it was revealed that there was a vast amount of difference between undemonstrated human courage and spiritually demonstrated courage. Recklessness, carelessness, and heedlessness were seen to be undesirable traits in aviation. Indeed, our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, points out (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, pp. 28, 29), "There is too much animal courage in society and not sufficient moral courage."
Everyone likes to think he is brave, that he can cope with any situation, that his sense of dominion will not fail—whether he be on the seas, in the midst of battle, or faced with an incurable disease. World conditions are challenging men to prove their capabilities today as never before. Christian Science, the Science of Life, enables them to meet this challenge. It is possible for every man adequately to express all the courage that he needs every moment, and the only thing that can prevent him from being brave is lack of understanding of what God really is and of his forever oneness with his all-loving Father-Mother God, divine Principle.
It is well worth while to take the time to differentiate or analyze the difference between animal courage and the true courage derived from God. Animal courage, in its basic analysis, is human will, or egotism. Such courage is really the fear that one may lose something—life, prestige, health, supply, and so forth. It draws its apparent strength from human reasoning, mortal mind, instead of looking away from personal sense testimony to the divine facts of being, to the truth that God is all-inclusive good. Just as a beast will sometimes devour anything that would interfere with it, intense fear or human will may drive a man to fight with animal ferocity for that which he cherishes, and this often ends in his own destruction because his motive has been to preserve, exalt, or satisfy the false self of materiality. A sense of duality is always the motivation behind any display of animality. On page 597 of our textbook, Science and Health, one of the definitions of "will" is "animal power," and again in this same definition it is stated, "Will, as a quality of so-called mortal mind, is a wrong-doer; hence it should not be confounded with the term as applied to Mind or to one of God's qualities."
