Fear is the conscious or unconscious "appropriating" of our vital life-force (the basic energy that animates and sustains our being) for the purpose of survival and self-defense. Chronic fear leads to a state of contraction, limitation, narrowness, and stagnation. Our vital life-force is inherently electric, dynamic, blissful, expansive, and creative. Courage is releasing this state of fear/contraction, so we can experience the true pleasure of the flow of our life energy. Expanded, released energy (from a previously contracted state) feels indescribably pleasurable and blissful. In my view, the opposite of fear isn’t courage. The opposite of fear is the experience of pleasure, bliss, and joyful life expression (mindful of the welfare of others, of course).