Areté

Areté Excellence

The Truth Exposed - The Meaning Of Areté?

The Greek word areté refers to “excellence” or “virtue” of any kind. The Greeks used this word to denote courage, strength, and the need to live up to one’s full potential. In its time areté was what all people aspired to.

“What moves the Greek warrior to deeds of heroism,” Kitto comments, “is not a sense of duty as we understand it  — duty towards others: it is rather duty towards himself. He strives after that which we translate ‘virtue’ but is in Greek arête, ‘excellence’ … we shall have much to say about arête. It runs through Greek life.” Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Arête implies a respect of the wholeness or oneness of life,  and a consequent dislike of specialization.  it implies a contempt for efficiency  or rather a much higher idea of efficiency, an efficiency which exists not  in one department of life but in life itself.” Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

The Choice of Heracles (Cacia and Arete), by Annibale Carracci (1560-1609),  Italian Baroque painter In a fable related by Xenophon, Arete (Virtue) and Cacia (Vice) offered Heracles the choice between a life of valour and one of luxury.

:"There is a tale that Arete (Virtue) dwells on un-climbable rocks and close to the gods tends a holy place; she may not be seen by the eyes of all mortals, but only by him on whom distressing sweat comes from within, the one who reaches the peak of manliness." Simonides, Fragment 579 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric III) (Greek lyric C6th to 5th B.C.) “

“Then Phaedrus feels a tugging to read the passage again, and he does so and then… what’s this?!… ’That which we translate ‘virtue’ but is in Greek ‘excellence.’ Kitto had more to say about this  arête of the ancient Greeks.  ‘When we meet arête in Plato,’ he said, we translate it ‘virtue’ and consequently miss all the flavor of it. ‘Virtue,’ at least in modern English, is almost entirely a moral word; arête on the other hand, is used indifferently in all the categories, and simply means excellence” Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Enjoy

© 2016 MU-Peter Shimon

One Starfish... At A Time

The Spirit Of The Great Heart You Can Make A Difference One Starfish At A Time

From the story The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley  "On a point of land, I found the star thrower... I spoke once briefly. "I understand," I said.  "Call me another thrower." Only then I allowed myself to think, He is not alone any longer. After us, there will be others... We were part of the rainbow... Perhaps far outward on the rim of space a genuine star was similarly seized and flung... For a moment, we cast on an infinite beach together beside an unknown hurler of suns... We had lost our way, I thought, but we had kept, some of us, the memory of the perfect circle of compassion from life to death and back to life again - the completion of the rainbow of existence."

In our sheer preoccupation with technology, we do not realize the inherent artistic choices when creating technology... and the questioning and reflection that the process of creating art implies. -Tapan Your life can be a work of art You just have to notice and care... Arete (Ancient Greek: ἀρετή), in its basic sense, means excellence of any kind.  In its earliest appearance in Greek, this notion of excellence was ultimately bound up with the notion of the fulfillment of purpose or function: the act of living up to one's full potential. Sometimes translated as "virtue,"  the word actually means something closer to "being the best you can be," or "reaching your highest human potential." Arete in ancient Greek culture was courage and strength in the face of adversity and it was to what all people aspired. Aristotle called contemplation of this a means to the highest human ability and happiness." (Wikipedia)

You Can Care More, But Can You Care Less? The Heart is a Muscle  It Strengthens with Use (I could care less vs I couldn't care less) You can make a world of difference as soon as you start to give a damn

You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject & verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace.  A soul generated by love. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Excerpt from The Star Thrower "On a point of land, I found the star thrower... I spoke once briefly. "I understand," I said.  "Call me another thrower." Only then I allowed myself to think, He is not alone any longer. After us, there will be others... We were part of the rainbow... Perhaps far outward on the rim of space a genuine star was similarly seized and flung... For a moment, we cast on an infinite beach together beside an unknown hurler of suns... We had lost our way, I thought, but we had kept, some of us, the memory of the perfect circle of compassion from life to death and back to life again - the completion of the rainbow of existence." Loren Eiseley

Enjoy.

© 2012 MU-Peter Shimon