“Celebrating Courage”

Throughout history, courage is often exemplified by acts of physical bravery. Other times courage is described as an absence of fear. But courage, particularly moral courage, need not involve overcoming bodily risk and suffering. And it does not require that we banish fear. As Mark Twain put it, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.” For Felix Adler, the founder of Ethical Culture, real courage emanates from the inner self and arises in the faith that “locked up within us stores of moral power that are practically infinite.” Hugh Taft-Morales explores the virtue of courage and the reality of vulnerability, and how they can help us lead a more ethical life.

Hugh Taft-Morales serves as Leader of the Philadelphia Ethical Society and the Baltimore Ethical Society and is a member of the Ethical Action Committee of the American Ethical Union (AEU).  Hugh taught philosophy and history for twenty-five years in Washington, D. C., after which he transitioned into Ethical Culture Leadership.  In April of 2009 he graduated from the Humanist Institute and was certified as an Ethical Culture Leader by the AEU in 2010.

Born and raised in Connecticut, Taft-Morales graduated with a B.A. cum laude in American History from Yale University, 1979, and an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Kent at Canterbury, England, 1986.  He lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, with his wife, Maureen, a Specialist in Latin America for the Congressional Research Service.  They have three wonderful adult children – Sean, Maya, and Justin. Hugh’s hobbies include yoga, singing, and playing guitar.