8 Pillars of Greek Wisdom st
1 Pillar
• Humanism-Be proud of your human abilities and believe in your capacity to achieve great things (Graphic Organizer) • Humanism is the proud statement of both our promise and our duty. Because of the pride they felt in being human, the Greeks celebrated human originality with all of their talent and might in pictures and stories. With a kind of poetic justice, those celebratory acts gave gave their race the the immortality nature denied it. Greek literature and art live on, battered by time but indomitable and still defiant. Among all these works the common denominator is our species’ tale-the tale-the struggle against great odds…
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8 Pillars of Greek Wisdom 2
nd
Pillar
• The Pursuit of Excellence-Try to be more today than you were yesterday; more tomorrow than you were today (Graphic Organizer) • To be sure we cannot all be winners, but neither were the Greeks. We may not throw the discus the farthest or write a prize-winning play. But that is not what life asks of us. Instead, it asks us to discover those things we are capable of doing well, and then to do them with all our heart and soul. To be a hero, to pursue excellence, is to be a loving mother, to be a compassionate husband, to do our job well-whatever it may be-with honor, integrity, and passion.
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8 Pillars of Greek Wisdom rd
3 Pillar
• The Practice of Moderation-Beware of going to extremes, because in them lies danger (Graphic Organizer) • The Greeks tell us: first find the extremes; once you find the extremes, it’s easy to find the middle. In effect, what works for measuring a wall or a piece of paper can work for gauging behavior. • Stop and reflect. What do you do too much of? Eat? Work? Sleep? Nothing? Where do you overdo it, hurting yourself and others in the process?...Compared to a life of exciting excess, practicing moderation may seem dreadfully dull. But the ancient Greeks weren’t trying to sell a life of boredom. All they were doing was warning us that if we go too far in one direction, we may pay a high price. But for emotional beings like us, moderation goes against the grain (not usual). Instead of steady common sense, we prefer the quick fix…
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8 Pillars of Greek Wisdom th
4 Pillar
• Self-Knowledge-Identify and understand your weaknesses and strengths (Graphic Organizer) • The fourth pillar of Greek wisdom is self-knowledge. Selfknowledge is needed in order to choose wisely between the pursuit of excellence and the practice of moderation. Only through an assessment of our person al strengths and weaknesses can we know when it is time to press boldly ahead or pull back. It is for this reason that this principle was the second to be carved over the entranceway to Apollo’s temple at Delphi. There for all to read were the words “ Know Thyself.” The search for self-knowledge requires that we identify our personal strengths and weaknesses. Only by so doing can we truly take measure of who we are, and who we can become. From an acknowledgement of our strengths can come the resolve to excel; from a recognition of our weaknesses can come the good sense to avoid extremes.
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8 Pillars of Greek Wisdom th
5 Pillar
• Rationalism-Search for the truth by using the power of your mind (Graphic Organizer) • The fifth pillar of Greek wisdom is rationalism. Rationalism means the use of reason. Unlike rationalization, which uses reason to explain behavior, rationalism employs uncompromising logic to discover the truth. To the ancient Greeks, rationalism was the primary means of gaining selfknowledge. Rather than waiting for enlightenment to come from divine revelation, the Greeks turned to an illuminating instrument closer at hand, the power of human intelligence. The ancient Greeks clearly saw that we are not totally rational creatures, but are in fact driven by emotional needs and appetites. They were the first in world history to view life as a battleground between reason and emotion. Yet if we are captives of our emotions, we are not in full control over our lives. How, then, can we gain such control? We must employ the power of reason to solve those problems…while acknowledging that reason has its limits and cannot solve all problems. Many problems cannot be addressed in the human brain; they can only be handled by the human heart.
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8 Pillars of Greek Wisdom th
6 Pillar
• Restless Curiosity-Seek to know what things really are, not merely what they seem to be (Graphic Organizer) • Restless curiosity, the sixth pillar of Greek wisdom, is the compulsive desire to know the truth. The capacity to be rational is worthless, the Greeks believed, unless we use it to generate courageous questions about ourselves and our world.
Question: 8 Pillars of Greek Wisdom th
7 Pillar
• The Love of Freedom-Only if we are free can we find fulfillment (Graphic Organizer)
Question: 8 Pillars of Greek Wisdom th
8 Pillar
• Individualism-Take pride in who you are as a unique individual (Graphic Organizer) Question:
