Thumos

The moral questions that once tormented earlier generations recede.

and what remains is a culture that's highly sensitive to physical and emotional harm yet increasingly indifferent to questions of excellence or degradation related to this is something i've already mentioned which is the smothering of thumos again thumos is that spirited part of the soul the part that's willing to risk that seeks recognition and deliberately courts struggle and sacrifice plato and later thinkers understood that a healthy soul requires the proper cultivation of that force Modern culture has grown deeply uncomfortable with it, since the World Wars especially, I think.

People see Thumos as being responsible for the forces that led to things like Nazism, for example.

So too much ambition or anything that's too much about forcefulness or strength or masculinity is suspect or toxic.

It's not that there's no such thing as competition anymore.

But from that constant struggle for distinction, from that came the great flowering of art and philosophy and political and intellectual energy that would transform a collective of Mediterranean cities into the birthplace of the greatest civilization in the world.

The Thumos, as the ancient Greeks called it, the fire of passion, strength, courage, pride, is the heart of great civilization.

And without it, without it, nations lose their will to fight, the will to strive, the will to survive.

Strength, courage, and pride.

Remember that? Let's listen to a corner of that speech.

The Thumos, as the ancient Greeks called it, the fire of passion, strength, courage, pride, is the heart of great civilization.

And without it, without it, nations lose their will to fight, the will to strive, the will to survive.

Today, too much of the West has forgotten this quality.

And in too many places, we taught our children to be ashamed of the countries they would inherit.

Well, there you go.

Thumos, not a word you hear every day in a politician's speech.

But I commend this speech to our listeners because I think it is fascinating on many levels.

But from that constant struggle for distinction, From that came the great flowering of art and philosophy and political and intellectual energy that would transform a collective of Mediterranean cities into the birthplace of the greatest civilization in the world.

The Thumos, as the ancient Greeks called it, the fire of passion, strength, courage, pride, is the heart of great civilization.

Without it, Without it, nations lose their will to fight, their will to strive, their will to survive.

Today, too much of the West has forgotten its equality.

and political and intellectual energy that would transform a collective of Mediterranean cities into the birthplace of the greatest civilization in the world.

The Thumos, as the ancient Greeks called it, the fire of passion, strength, courage, pride, is the heart of great civilization.

And without it, without it, nations lose their will to fight, the will to strive, the will to survive

in fact our nation doesn't always have that because what he's talking about that that that desire to create to build to build upwards instead of the bill downwards to do great things that today and throughout history really has has had a capitalist bent because the reward for achieving greatness for building great things oftentimes is unimaginable wealth And today we have an ideology that has poisoned the minds of far too many in this country, far too many across the Western world.

He then challenges our world, our nation, for something that is lost that we must reignite.

Thumos, as the ancient Greeks called it, the fire of passion, strength, courage, pride, is the heart of great civilization.

And without it, without it nations lose their will to fight, the will to strive, the will to survive.

Today, too much of the West has forgotten this quality.