Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/235821
The Art of Manliness Continued ment and inspiration running through your veins, that's thumos telling you you're on the right course. allowed to run wild, it can lead a man to destructive ends. It's up to the charioteer to steer his thumos in a noble path. Ambition and the Drive for Recognition and Honor Unused Thumos In contrast to the lower desires of the dark horse simply for pleasure and material wealth, thumos seeks independence over possessions and sensuality, and recognition and honorover security. Thumos desires pride and prestige for its own sake.This drive for recognition will motivate him to risk much, even his own life, for his reputation, and also for the reputation of a group to which he is devoted. Plato calls thumos "the ambitious part [of the soul] and that which is covetous of honor." Thumos pushes a man to despise mediocrity and to want to excel his fellow men, to dominate, and be the best of the best.Thumos is ultimately what drives a man to seekglory, and above all, legacy. So now we can see that while thumos is often translated today as spiritedness, heart, passion, will, courage, anger, boldness, or fierceness, it is really a combination of all those descriptions and yet still something more – something that no modern word is able to fully convey. Perhaps the best and simplest definition I've come across is "energetic thinking that leads to action." Harnessing the White Horse JOBS for TEAMS Just like the dark horse of our appetites, the white horse of thumos can be used for either good or ill.The Greeks called it both "dark-faced,""vain,""terrible,""greedy," and "pitiless"…as well as "courageous,""noble,""kindly,""moderate," and "strong." Properly harnessed and guided it has even more potential to lead a man towards eudemonia, or full human flourishing, than the dark horse, but if The charioteer may err by failing to hitch the white horse to the chariot at all, or not exercising him to build up his strength.The Greeks said that a man's thumos could be "sluggish," and certainly there are a good number of men today who match that description. A man lacking in thumos is the "nice guy" who can't stand up for himself when others push him around. He is placid. Nothing arouses him. He has no ideals for which he fights and no real drive or ambition in life. He is content with mediocrity, or at least doesn't have the will to figure out how to make things better. He's the kind of guy who thinks the whole idea of "manliness" is really rather silly and feels he is above the kind of "unenlightened" competitions and jockeying for position that occur amongst men, when really, deep down, he's simply ashamed that he doesn't think he could make the cut and stand among them. Unbridled Thumos A man may also run to the other extreme of failing to rein in his thumos at all.The Greeks called this "yielding to thumos," or letting one's thumos "run beyond measure."The consequences of letting one's white horse run wild vary. When the Greeks used thumos in a negative sense, it was most often in the context of the emotions, which they thought of as passions. Being ruled by one's passions could be dangerous if it usurped the role of Reason and overruled a man's rational faculties. Of the emotions, anger was the most important to check and channel, and restraining anger and restraining thumos | 22 JobsForTeams0114_manliness.indd 4 www.jobsforteams.com 12/4/13 11:41 AM