At this point, Vail specifically quotes Tillich:
“As Tillich says:
Courage participates in the self-affirmation of being itself, it participates in the power of being which prevails against nonbeing…. Man is not necessarily aware of this source. In situations of cynicism and indifference he is not aware of it. But it works in him as long as he has the courage to take his anxiety upon himself. In the act of the courage to be the power of being is effective in us, whether we recognize it or not. Every act of courage is a manifestation of the ground of being, however questionable the content of the act may be. The content may hide or distort true being, the courage in it reveals true being. Not arguments but the courage to be reveals the t e nature of being itself. By affirming our being we participate in the self-affirmation of being-itself. There are no valid arguments for the “existence” of God, but there are acts of courage in which we affirm the power of being, whether we know it or not. If we know it, we accept acceptance consciously. If we do not know it, we nevertheless accept it and participate in it. And in our acceptance of that which we do not know the power of being is manifest in us. Courage has revealing power, the courage to be is the key to being-itself.” [1952, p. 181]
In his later work, Vaill focused on the role played by a leader as someone who encourages other people. Vaill would break apart the word en-courage-ment and noted that at the heart of the matter is Courage. It is appropriate I think to bring together the concepts of centering and courage. It is when we find a firm ground and have established the Essence of our own purpose in life that we are free and enabled to be courageous and take risks. We can enter the world of white water with a clear, centered sense of why we have dared to push off from the shore in our kayak. It is about confidence in one’s competencies and clarity in one’s purpose. We are centered.
Balancing
When we are stepping into our kayak there is always the immediate challenge of stability. The kayak moves back and forth as we impose our weight. We must immediately find balance and soon find our center as we push off from the shore. A second-order facet is required, for things are shifting back and forth. Third-order facets might even be needed if the environment one is entering is particularly turbulent. We enter the white-water world. Some first-order adjustments must be made as we travel down the turbulent river. This world of turbulent white-water is highly diverse. There is rapidly moving water, water that is moving in a circle, water that is not moving at all, and water that is moving in a chaotic manner (Bergquist, Sandstrom and Mura, 2023; Bergquist, 2024). This is no longer the Essence of Singularity. Rather it is the Essence of Diversity which I described in my previous essay on Essence. There is no better place to witness this Essence of Diversity than in a turbulent, white-water stream. In such an environment one must not only find one’s center, but also one’s balance.
Fortunately, a kayak is well designed and well-equipped to handle this balancing process. A kayak paddle is required with blades on each end (unlike a canoe paddle that has a blade only on one end). When settled in the kayak, we move the paddle from one side of the kayak to the other side, dipping it into the water and pushing either forward or sideways. The movement back and forth from the left side of the kayak to the right side is not done quickly. This would be a form of disruptive “dithering.” Rather the movement from side to side is done in a measured way that provides correction to not only the direction of the kayak (which is being shoved around by the white-water) but also to the angle of the kayak (shifting from right to left).
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