Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/235821
Manliness The Art of By Brett & Kate McKay, courtesy of www.artofmanliess.com Got Thumos? L JOBS for TEAMS ast October we explored Plato's allegory of the chariot, which the ancient philosopher used to explain the tripartite nature of the soul or psyche. In the allegory, a chariot (representing the soul) is pulled by a rebellious dark horse (symbolizing man's appetites) and a spirited white horse (symbolizing thumos). The charioteer, or Reason, is tasked with harnessing the energy of both horses, getting the disparate steeds into sync, and successfully piloting the chariot into the heavens where he can behold Truth and become like the gods. We presented the allegory not simply because of the insights it can offer into the nature of man and how we may progress in our lives, but even more importantly, to lay the foundation for a discussion of thumos. While the other components of Plato's vision of the soul have ready modern equivalents, there is no word in our language that truly corresponds to thumos.This is most telling. When a culture lacks the word for something, it is because they lack the concept of it. The Greeks believed thumos was essential to andreia — manliness. It is mentioned over seven hundred times in the Iliad and the Odyssey. Philosopher Allan Bloom called it "the central natural passion in men's souls." If we have lost the ability to recognize, appreciate, cultivate, and utilize one of the three main components of our nature, we should not be surprised when negative consequences follow. When one hears of a lack of virility, fight, energy, and ambition in modern men, of a malaise of spirit that has settled over our sex, what is really being spoken of is a shortage of thumos. For millions of men, thumos lies dormant, an energy source left untapped. It is as if each of us had a potential Kentucky Derby-caliber thoroughbred waiting in the stable, ready and eager to run, but we kept him locked away, only trotting him out for pony rides at children's birthday parties. Recovering an understanding of thumos, and its role as the vital life and energy source of men's souls, will be our task today. What Is Thumos? As we mentioned last month, Plato envisioned the three components of one's soul as independent entities.Thumos was thought to be the most independent of the bunch.The Greeks believed it was found in animals, humans, and the gods.Thumos could act separately from you, or in cooperation with you — as an accompaniment, tool, or motivation behind some action. Because it was a distinct part of yourself, you could talk to it, tell it to endure, to be strong, or to be young (thumos was associated with the passion and power of youth, but older people could have it too). In the Iliad, Achilles speaks "to his great-hearted thumos" when anxious about the fate of Patroculus. He also delights his thumos by playing the lyre. | 16 JobsForTeams0114_manliness.indd 1 www.jobsforteams.com 12/4/13 11:37 AM