Knowing oneself means knowing all of oneself, including the dark hiding places where we've been stuffing scary things since we were born. There is no point in struggling against fear, so we might as well get to know it. It's not easy. It takes courage to affirm life in the face of death and disease. Jim also reminded me of Terry Fox, who symbolizes the spirit of courage that doesn't sit down when there's a reversal.
Courage is almost a contradiction in terms.
It means a strong desire to live, taking the form of a readiness to die. We may not need to be ready for a physical death, but courage means we do risk the loss of face, the loss of ego, and the loss of illusion. Courage is a willingness to be humbled, more than a quest for glory or flowers. Something must matter to us more than our fear, or else our lives are being controlled by fear. Once we know what really matters, we may have the secret to our purpose in being here.