What is the difference between courage and recklessness?
By Rabbi Shalom Landau.
Rabbi Landau teaches that “the difference between courage and destruction is one step,” and what decides it is direction. “The wise don't take fewer steps. They just know which direction they are facing.”
Courage moves toward the edge; wisdom knows which way it is facing. So the answer is not to avoid risk. It is to stretch as far as you can without breaking what can't be repaired, and to become aware enough to live on the edge without falling off.
In A Soul at Peace, Rabbi Landau describes people who are not afraid to stretch but know how to calculate: Where am I standing? Which way am I facing? Is this stretch growth, or am I nearing the point of no return? His suggestion is one question at the end of each day: “Which way did I face today?”
Related concepts: Selfawareness · Inspiration has to become a deed
In A Soul at Peace: Living on the Edge
Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level
Surface claim
Courage and destruction are one step apart, and direction decides which one it is.
Deepest human truth
A person who knows which way he is facing can live on the edge in peace.
More questions from this teaching
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