Throwing the spear

An old story
A young man lived with his mother for many years. He didn’t want to go out, he didn’t want to do anything, he just wanted to stay with his mother. But she pushed him so hard to go out into the world that one day he got up. He took his spear, stood outside the hut and threw it as far as he could. He ran after it, found it and threw it again as far as he could. He ran after it again, found it and threw it again as far as he could. He did not stop until he had finally reached the world*.

The movement
When we talk about courage and encouragement here, we are talking about the young man’s javelin throw. A single throw, his first. I don’t know why the young man didn’t want to go out into the world. Perhaps he was afraid. Maybe he couldn’t imagine that it would taste the same everywhere else as it did at his mother’s. Maybe he hadn’t realised that he was no longer a little boy. These things happen.
Anyway, he threw the spear. Courage comes when desire is greater than fear. Longing for the world, for others and for ourselves lives in each of us, otherwise we would not have been born. The same goes for fear of the world, of others and of oneself, otherwise you would not be reading this and I would not have written it.

Desire and fear
Encouragement means bringing desire and fear into balance. The natural balance seems to give longing a slight advantage, otherwise nothing and no one could grow. To have courage is to trust your desire and your fear. And then to follow your longing to the point of throwing a spear.
Encouragement, as I see it, is getting to know your longing and your fear so well that you begin to trust them. Encouragement also means watching others throw the spear, watching them go further and further into the world. Encouragement also means recognising others in the world who have thrown the spear. A glance between you is enough to know: this is good. Even after many spear throws, the world is still good as it is. Eventually, the world itself will become an encouragement. Then you may no longer need the spear and can pass it on.

Notes
* From Indian mythology according to Wolfgang Giegerich, The Logical Life of the Soul. The Christian equivalent would be the biblical story of the prodigal son. I am surprised by the title, because it was the ‘prodigal son’ who showed double courage: once when he went out into the world, and again when he came home empty-handed but with a full heart. His father was happy with both. He was simply delighted.