Question: Why is cowardice so despised?

Answer: It is despised, but you have to understand that it is a human feeling, and a very strong one. By the way, it protects us from many problems that we could cause for ourselves and for others.

Question: So do you not despise a person who admits that he is a coward?

Answer: No, I do not despise him. One simply needs to know how to balance this force and protect oneself in a balanced way to the extent that is necessary.

Question: Is there courage without cowardice? Does such a thing exist at all?

Answer: No, only if it is a pathological condition.

Question: So do you call it a disease when a person is completely reckless?

Answer: Of course. Look at animals, and how they behave. They do not recklessly attack someone. They check, they circle around, and so on. And only afterward, if they decide to attack, they rush forward.

Comment: Yes, that is true. But with rabid dogs this mechanism seems to be switched off.

My Response: Yes.

Comment: So if a person is purely reckless, “brave,” as they say, it is actually a disease.

My Response: That is not courage.

Question: An important question arises: how should we raise children? They tell a child, “Do not be a coward; be brave.”

Answer: You should weigh everything.

Question: Who are you saying this to right now?

Answer: To the child. Weigh all the pros and cons. And only if you are convinced that there is no other choice, then attack.

Comment: You are now addressing the child as an adult, as someone possessing wisdom.

Answer: What can you do? It is the same with adults as well.

Question: But should such an attitude be applied to a child? That you should weigh all the pros and cons, and only after that…?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is this what is called education?

Answer: Of course.

Question: Can a child do this?

Answer: He can because precisely this caution, this cowardice, can help him.

Question: What age are you talking about when you speak of this upbringing of a child?

Answer: At a young age, from three years old.

Question: From three years old you can say, “Weigh the options”? Sit in front of a child and say in an adult way, “Weigh the options”? Can one already relate to a child as to an adult at this age?

Answer: Yes.

Question: If a parent relates to a child in this way, what does it say about the parent?

Answer: That the parent is teaching the child a balanced attitude toward the world.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 12/5/25

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