There is an absence of spiritedness today. The existence of “spirit” is argued away, thought not to exist by the rationality and scientism that dominates our institutions, or it is safely delegated to wishy-washy “spirituality,” which is unserious and undangerous.
According to Plato, the human soul comprises three facets: reason, desire, and spiritedness—logos, epithumia, and thumos. To achieve harmony within, he advises that reason be our guiding light, propelled by spiritedness, ensuring that desire does not transform into self-destruction, both within ourselves and in the world surrounding us.
Devoid of thumos, reason and desire mutate into distorted versions of themselves, running rampant without restraint. In this modern era, we are guided by data-obsessed "truth," dispensed by bureaucratically compromised experts, while the pursuit of fleeting escapist highs propels us. Our souls no longer burn brightly with the flames of emancipatory wisdom; instead, they gradually erode, succumbing to inescapable foolishness.
Aristotle argues that thumos relates to honor and shame; a thumotic person upholds honor without shame. In a thumosless society, people are honorless and full of shame. Anger is needed for honor to exist and shame to be optimally felt. A thumotic person honors their anger; they do not demonize it. Without a conscious engagement with anger, thumos is not attainable.
The excessively "reasonable" silently shame those who express anger, as if they have committed some grave fallacy. Simultaneously, the pervasive culture of psychotherapy, ostensibly focused on embracing all “parts” of the self, unconsciously deems anger as "too masculine," destructive, and a precursor to violence. The inner work junkies fear unleashing their anger, apprehensive that it would make them unlovable.
This fear is understandable because anger can lead to great suffering if the seeds of its virtue remain unseen. If anger is not channeled into the courage to act toward the good, it will move elsewhere; the movement will be an impotent rage, with the meme-possessed smashing their keyboards, culture waring as a cope for the pain that comes with their lack of wisdom.
Thumos is our non-reasoned motivation that maps to the deepest reasons for what we are meant to do. Given our moment's complexity, our deepest reasons are often unknown, and we cannot express them with clear propositions. If we try such an expression, secretly out of fear to control fate, we inadvertently castrate our thumos, leaving the spirit adrift.
The less foolish move is to risk seeming unreasonable. Instead, fill the body with thumotic passion that does not seem from this world, because this passion is what will breathe life back into it. For our world to thrive and for us to survive what lies ahead, the thumotic souls must reclaim their rightful place.
Yesterday was the final public session at The Stoa. It was a beautiful session, providing closure on my mode of stewarding The Stoa for the last 3.5 years.
The Stoa will live, slowly transforming into something new, but for now, most of my “wisdom commons midwifery” will happen here on Less Foolish, accessible to paid subscribers.