When Richard Steele was about to be jailed for refusing to serve in the South African Defense Force, he had to consider the possibility that he might be killed in prison. “Was I prepared to die for what I believed?” he asked himself.

I realized finally that I was, and this freed me of a tremendous anxiety… The power of fearlessness is astonishing. I think of those who were giving me orders. They were under a real tyranny and far more the victim of it than I was.

When they were yelling their orders at me, I had a vivid image of these tiny creatures assaulting my feet, wanting to demolish me with orders, while I was way above, not on their level at all. They could threaten me with anything at all and not get me, because I wasn’t afraid.

This was immensely liberating to me. I could be the person I was without fearing them. They had no power over me.

from Engaging the Powers