Letters From An Enthusiast

Pluck the Day?

    Probably the most commonly used and well known of Latin phrases is Carpe Diem, which everybody translates as, "Seize the Day!".  The 1989 movie "The Dead Poet's Society" has the charismatic teacher tell his students, "But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? --- Carpe --- hear it? --- Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary."  Rightfully so, this phrase has been a positive, motivating factor in the lives of millions of people.  But in truth, this phrase has been misrepresented!  "Carpe", in fact, does not come from the Latin word "Capio", which means to seize.  It comes from the Latin word "carpo", which means to pluck.  Carpe is the second person singular command form of carpo, meaning essentially, "You, pluck!"  Diem is the English Objective case for day, meaning that it is the object of the verb carpo.  So in effect, the saying really means, "You [there], pluck the day!".  How can someone "pluck" the day?  And furthermore, where does pluck come from?
    Horace is a famous Latin poet (Horatius) who lived at the end of the Republic and the beginnings of the formation of the Empire (65 bce-8 bce roughly).  His most famous poem is Ode I-XI.  Translated into english, it is:

     "Ask not - we cannot know - what end the gods have set for you, for me; nor attempt the Babylonian reckonings Leuconoë. How much better to endure whatever comes, whether Jupiter grants us additional winters or whether this is our last, which now wears out the Tuscan Sea upon the barrier of the cliffs! Be wise, strain the wine; and since life is brief, prune back far-reaching hopes! Even while we speak, envious time has passed: pluck the day, putting as little trust as possible in tomorrow!"

    A major element of this poem centers around the Classical belief in Fate (which truly does not contradict volition).  Fate was considered to be everything outside of an individual's control.  For example, regardless of one's hopes or wishes, it will rain.  That it rains or does not rain is considered fate. The first part of the poem, up to the sentence beginning with, "Be wise...", states in essential modern terms, "Whatever happens by fate, happens.  Therefore, it's better to endure these things and overcome them, as opposed to constantly standing in fear of them."
    It is in the seond part of the poem that the famous carpe diem enters the stage.  From the line, "Be wise, strain the wine;" we can finally understand (due to the constant weather references) that Horace is singing about farmers and agriculture.  Continuing with his agricultural motif, he says, "Even while we speak, envious time has passed: pluck the day, putting as little trust as possible in tomorrow!"  Horace is thus saying that, though the rain clouds may be coming in, though the summers heat may show no sign of wavering, or though tomorrow might bring record low temperatures, we have before us right now a task (a field).  Instead of fretting over fate, we must produce as much as we can today.  To pluck the day really means to harvest as much from the day as we can.  Or put more simply, to work as hard as we can to produce as much as we can...today, right now, with no delay.
    This focus on production is the key distinction between the more unspecified, often hedonistic "Seize the day!" and the specified, hard working "Pluck the day!"  It might sound better, however, to say "Produce today!"  Nevertheless, this once inspiring phrase should have a more dear meaning to all Americans.  That famous Yankee Ingenuity is in fact the same thing as "Carpe Diem!".  And just like the Romans, it is now the Americans who dominate the world; not because of Imperial might, but because of Productive Ability.  To put it more simply, Americans are just damn good pluckers.

-----Jason Roberts

Life's Lessons Vol. 6

Here related is the story of the flea and the man:

"Once, a flea was irritating a man relentlessly.  So he caught it and said to it:
    'Who are you, who makes a meal of all my limbs, biting me all over at random?'
    The flea answered:
    'That's the way we live.  Don't kill me, for I can't do much harm.'
    The man started to laugh and said:
    'You're going to die now, and at my hands, for however great or small the harm it is imperative to stop you from breeding.'"

    The attitude of this man may catch the modern man off guard.  The modern attitude would call this man, "cruel" and state that he should simply "swat the flea away".  But to the Greeks and Romans, justice was about doing what is right and not about being attentive to the feelings of your enemy.  Ayn Rand once spoke of how the clemency given to the guilty is treason to the innocent.  Similarly, any clemency given to a threat is treason not only to your own future innocence, but to the innocence of anyone else upon whom the threat is released.

    The statue of Lady Justice displays a blindfolded woman holding a system of weights.  In our day-to-day dealings with reality, we must face each problem rationally and free from our passions (blind-folded), weighing the evidence to make a decision.  Only in this manner may justice be served.  Anything else is treason.

-----Jason Roberts

Hellenikoi We Are

    Herodotus was one of the first Greek intellectuals to distinguish the hundreds of city states in Greece from the rest of the world.  In effect, though Sparta and Athens represented two different governments with sometimes drastically different views, there was one common thread that united these two and distinguished them from the 'barbaroi'.  Victor Davis Hanson, in his book, "Who Killed Homer?", noted that to be Hellenikos was to believe that, "Science, research, and the acquisition of knowledge itself are to remain apart from both religious and political authority," (29); that, "Military power operates under and is checked by civilian control," (30); that a government should be constitutional and consensual; that, "Religion is separate from and subordinate to political authority," (31); that the average citizen, the middle class, should form the backbone of society; that, "Private property and free economic activity are immune from government coercion and interference," (33); and that, "Dissent and open criticism of government, religion, and the military," are inherent in free societies.

    We in America may argue with Europe.  We may change the name of "French Fries" to "Freedom Fries".  We may laugh at Italian fashion or mock German politics.  But what many do not understand is that these are the actions of brothers, which indeed we are.  And in such a time of crisis, now more than ever we should affirm that brotherly bond.  One of the greatest influences upon American Politics was John Locke, an Englishman.  Victor Hugo stands with Alexander Dumas, both Frenchmen, as Classics taught in every High School in America.   The music of Beethoven and Mozart, a German and an Austrian, still play in Concert Halls, on television, and in movies across America.  And where would Pizza Hut be without Italy?  Seriously though, Victor Davis Hanson's description of what a Greek was can just as easily be applied to what an American or a European is today.  Indeed, the Danish Prime Minister has said:

"Danes have for generations fought for political liberty, human rights and democracy and for economic freedom, free trade and a free and civilized world. We will continue to do that. It is a part of our history and a fundamental part of our society today." 

   

Clearly America and Europe share one very important, indeed the most important, connection: we are Western.  And to be Western is to be Hellenikos.

    In light of the recent outrage across the world over the Danish Cartoons, (which can be found here), the issue of Hellenikoi vs. Barbaroi is once again at stake.  Athens, Sparta, Thebes, Corinth, and the rest of the Greek Poleis argued and fought constantly.  But when two million Persians threatened freedom itself, the common bond of Hellenikos allowed the Greeks to overcome the seemingly impossible.  In 2001, a new Persia crossed the Hellespont.  And though we survived that Marathon and have inflicted heavy damages, this enemy is far from dead.  Now more than ever, we should extend our support across the pond and stand by Denmark.

"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
-Voltaire

-----Jason Roberts

 

Virtue in Acting

    The most dominant Christian Protestant theme of redemption in today's world is, "Saved (assured a spot in heaven) by grace (the grace of God) through faith."  They affirm that belief in Jesus, both inwardly and proclaimed, will lead to a morally upright life.  Sin, then, is an inherent part of every human that is impossible to ignore or overcome on one's own.  Therefore, it is not by one's own actions, but by the grace of God and the affirmation of the believer that a person obtains a permanent place in eternal glory.  What a radical departure from the Greeks and Romans (and even the Catholic Church)! 

    In the New Testament, the word for sin is ἁμαρτάνω (hamartano). To the Greeks, this word's unpolluted meaning was, "To miss the mark, to make a mistake, to err...".  It implied a teleological end that one was missing.  To "miss the mark" was to do something that did not lead you to the goal you were trying to achieve.  This is reflective of the Greco-Roman concept of ethics; that everything we do aims at some good, that the ultimate good is happiness, and that ethics is the means by which we obtain that good.  Unlike the later Christians, the Greeks and Romans did not believe in "original sin", man's "fallen nature", intrinsic evil, or even intrinsic ethics.  In fact, Epictetus said, "As a mark is not set up for the sake of missing the aim, so neither does the nature of evil exist in the world."

     The intrinsic ethics of Christianity leads ultimately to one thing: guilt.  If man is by nature evil, and if  he himself is unable to overcome this evil, and if the only way to overcome it is to go outside one's self and proclaim belief in a supernatural force, then man  has no hope of earning  virtue of his own accord, and becomes a spiritual slave to the non-existent being who "saves" him by "grace".  Ultimately, life is not worth living, all men are bad, and the universe is malevolent.  No wonder the  Romans and Greeks  were disgusted by the Christians.  A culture that believed,  "...the whole glory of virtue is in activity..."  (Cicero),  is a culture that believed that this life is worth living, man by nature has the potential to do wonderful things, and this universe is truly benevolent.

     Sadly, Christianity's almost 2000 year domination of ethics has led to a moral belief, even by non-Christians, that ethics is an absolute and intrinsic entity.  A person who utters one lie is a liar (forget context).  A person who shakes before his first battle is a coward.  A person who becomes drunk once is an alcoholic.  The person who lied once feels guilty because he is now a liar.  The person who was afraid before his first battle feels guilty because he is now a coward.  The person who became drunk once now feels guilty because he is an alcoholic.  And in a typical, intrinsic style, the solution to this problem (even to many Christians) is to head far in the opposite direction.  The person who lied once now will never lie, even if the reason is just (it's just to lie to an enemy wishing to harm your family).  The person who  was afraid before his first battle is now  overtly rash, putting himself in unnecessary danger in order to be "brave".  The person who became drunk once now will never drink alcohol again.

    But we must remember the second part of the equation.  Aristotle said that  "Arete (moral excellence), then, is not an act, but a habit."  The man who aims at being honest, and continues to deal with life in an honest manner, but misses the mark and lies once, is not a liar.  The alternative is not a radical departure,  is not to feel guilty, or to proclaim that  one need's a Savior.  The alternative is to recognize one's fault and move on; to continue  telling the truth.  That lie ends up becoming, not a roadblock to virtue, but a stumbling point.  And instead of turning around, the mistake turns into a lesson from which virtue can be more easily  obtained.   Ultimately, ethics is not an intrinsic  field where "sin" is a stain upon the soul.  Instead, ethics is an organic and dynamic field where "mistakes" are merely us falling off the bike.  And what do we do when we fall off the bike?  We get back up, dust ourselves off, and  get back on the bike.  There's no time for guilt when there's a life to live and a world to conquer.  Leave that to the Christians.

-----Jason Roberts (Crossposted to the Egosphere)