Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/183645
The Art of Manliness Continued nor wholly cuts him off. He harnesses and directs the energy in a positive way. Between the two extremes of unchecked hedonism and the iron-fisted squashing of bodily appetites lies a middle way.This is the man who maintains a sense of sensuality and earthiness, who makes room for the pleasures of body and money but puts them in their proper place, who, as Dr. Robin Meyers puts it, is able to find "the virtue in the vice." He enjoys sex thoroughly, but does so within the context of love and commitment. He enjoys good food and drink, without mindlessly engorging and imbibing. He appreciates money, and that which it can buy, but does not make acquiring it his central aim. The dark horse, when properly trained and directed, can lead one closer, not further from the good life. Pleasures satisfied with discretion make a man happy and balanced, and keep him feeling healthy and motivated enough to tackle his higher goals. And the appetites themselves can lead directly to those loftier aims.The desire for money, when kept in balance, can lead to success, recognition, and independence. Lust, when properly directed, leads a man to love, and Plato believed that beholding one's lover was a central path to recalling the Beauty of the Forms, and regrowing one's wings for another trip into the heavens. That is the nature of the dark horse – a force that can be used for both good and ill, depending on the mastery of the charioteer. It is fairly easy to grasp, if not always to live. But what of the white horse, thumos? That is another matter.There is no word in our modern language equivalent to this ancient concept. We have here rendered it "spiritedness," but in truth it encompasses much, much more. It is to that subject we will turn next time.> JOBS for TEAMS | 24 JobsForTeams1013_manliness.indd 5 www.jobsforteams.com 9/4/13 3:33 PM