Face the Brutes!

“Face the brutes.” That is a lesson for all life—face the terrible, face it boldly.--Swamiji Vivekananda

The world is what we believe it is. If we see it as a harsh place where no beauty can exist for long, then that is what the world will be for us. If we see it as a place where the brutes will always stamp us out, then it will be such a world to us. The world is merely a manifestation of what is within us. If a baby is lying in a cradle and he is happily sucking his bottle, and suddenly a thief comes in and steals the furniture in the room and all the paintings on the walls, the baby sees no thief. The baby does not believe in or know of thieves, so no thieves exist. Such is the power of the unsocialized mind. We need to go back to our own infancy in the way we see the world. See it as a place where our minds give us control and not as a place where we are controlled willy-nilly by the thoughts and actions of others.

David faced the brute Goliath and slayed him with one stone. He beheaded him before all his people to their astonishment. Why? Because he believed with all his soul that he could. Why? Because he believed that God would support him and would make it so. Like David, we must know we can achieve anything. We must be fearless. This is not a polyana attitude for sissies and prisses. It is the truth. If you believe, if you have faith in God and yourself, you can never be defeated.

Fear is useless. Fear must be channeled into action. So, as the great Swamiji Vivekananda says, "Face the brutes!" Never run from them. Look them in the eye and dare them to continue. Dare them!