Overcoming Fear
Working with fear rather than being controlled by it.
Fear is natural but need not be master. The Hero Twins faced Xibalba's terrors and prevailed through courage and wisdom. We too must face our fears, not to eliminate them but to act rightly despite them. Courage is not absence of fear.
The hero feels fear but does not obey it.
Fear-facing is modeled in Mayan mythology and taught as practice.
Popol Vuh
Written about in
- What Maya wisdom says about good and evil
The twins feel fear and act anyway. Courage is defined here as not obeying fear, which is a lower bar than not feeling it.
- What the Maya tradition says about starting again after a fall
The teaching is explicit that the twins felt fear and acted anyway; courage is defined as not obeying it, not as lacking it. What is asked after a fall is right action while still afraid, not the disappearance of the fear first.