‘Nothing to Excess…. But What Is Enough?
Now I live outside
Athens in the modern Greek town of Delphi about 200 kilometres west of Athens. It’s
a beautiful and inspiring place, and if you get the chance to go I recommend
taking it. (Try and stay one night at least if you do go, since it is quite
difficult to appreciate Delphi and its very special ‘relaxed vibe’ on a rushed
day trip from Athens – well I think so anyway.)
In ancient times, Delphi was the centre of
Ancient Greek spiritual life. Much practical decision making for individuals
and cities throughout the Greek world was made in Delphi - by the very famous Oracle
of the Greek God Apollo at Delphi. (… quite possibly this reputation for
good decision making and choices also owed a lot to the very well informed
group of priests and administrators there)
Now for some
reason, there were just two short pieces of simple advice written above the
main temple doors of Apollo in Delphi, and these two phrases were obviously
very carefully considered by the wise priests and administrators who had these
phrases chiselled into the stone there.
The first phrase in Ancient Greek was ‘Gnothi S’Afton’ meaning
Know Yourself - and I have just told you a little about the deeper meanings of
this ‘Knowing who and what you are’.
Now the second
phrase above the temple door was ‘Miden Agan’ meaning literally ‘Nothing
to Excess’ or more usually rendered these days in modern English as: ‘all
things in moderation’; and although this really would be another talk all of
its own to discuss with you in any detail, I wanted to say just ‘something’ to
you about this second phrase tonight – which is basically advising us all to
live moderately and sustainably. This ‘nothing to excess – living moderately’
was clearly a central concept to the Ancient Greeks, and so I think well worth
6 or 7 minutes of our time to discuss.
In Delphi there
are some stunning archaeological ruins there and I often spend a little time
sitting there quietly ‘contemplating’ in the ruins of the temple of Apollo
there, as old philosophers like me enjoy doing from time to time. Well sitting
there in the morning sunshine over the years, I have seen so many tourist
groups nod their heads immediately in apparent understanding when their tour
guides showing them around the place tell them that ‘Know Thyself’ and ‘Nothing
to Excess’ was written above Apollo's temple door. As discussed, there is more
to the simple phrase Know Thyself than most people might think at first.
So what does the other phrase, this ‘Nothing to Excess – This living
moderately and sustainably’ - really mean?
'The Temple of Apollo in Delphi'
(The modern village of Delphi is a 10 minutes walk away)
I remind you that while we may understand the actual words, vocabulary and phrases a poet uses; understanding the various deeper meanings within the words is often much harder. For example, the modern poetess Stevie Smith writes: ‘I was not waving but drowning…’ but the deeper meaning has nothing to do with waving or drowning but about being overcome by our personal problems while appearing happy in front of other people.
In the same way, when we read Nothing to Excess there is more to it….. deeper things we need to think about.
It is prompting us to consider carefully what is enough money, clothes, enough
possessions, enough power, sex, alcohol, weed (if you are into that), enough cheesecake
(never enough!) – enough of all sorts of
things. Aristotle said that there are
few exact answers to these types of practical questions, and the specific
circumstances will all make a difference. (As philosophers, as we all are to
some extent, we are forced to use our own common sense and experience on a lot
of these kinds of issues.
As a quick and easy example, let us consider
the different answers to the simple question of how much money a person needs
to earn. Imagine one person has no children or dependants, but the other has
three teenage children soon to go to College or University. It would ‘seem’
that the first person (or rather household) can get by on less money than the
person with the three children who probably needs to earn a bit more money ‘if
they can’. So the answer to ‘what is enough’ appears to be different for these
two people in an ideal world. (….. or is it?)
Aristotle talks for the need for frugal living
in his ideal medium sized independent cities. But what is frugal living – and
what is just being down right poor or ‘hard up’ all the time?
As parents (or perspective parents
yourselves), you will all want the best for your own children and will not like
saying ‘no’ too often when they ask you for ‘stuff’ even if they do not really
need it . How much is the right amount to give children and what is simply
spoiling them?
Most of us all want a few nice things
ourselves, perhaps a few decent clothes, somewhere comfortable to live, a car
that actually starts OK in the mornings etc. In Plato’s ethics there are often
no hard and fixed rules about many things such as how much ‘stuff’ is correct;
there are only guidelines for you to consider.
Perhaps try asking yourself sometimes not: ‘How much do I need to live on?’
but rather: ‘How little do I need to live on?’
Maybe if you do that - you will get some extra free time to spend with
your friends (or kids), or get some extra leisure time to do what you like to
do, and what makes you most happy; or even extra time to make a little positive
difference in the world.
A little extra Leisure time seems to have
become such a luxury these days. Everyone in our Western style consumerist
societies seems so busy all the time – so in a rush. You know – even when
people are on holidays and should have a little spare time you hear people in
hostels say: ‘we did France yesterday and Greece today – tomorrow we are
‘doing’ Italy; whatever they think ‘doing’ Italy is. For many it’s just an
early night in a hostel and another photo on Facebook to show their friends
back home….. i.e. ‘doing Italy – maybe ?’
Remember, if we are to be ‘real’ philosophers,
then for sure we will need some calm quality spare time to consider and
investigate a few things as we go through life.
Be careful, because becoming too materialistic
is an easy trap to fall into for new philosophers. It is only when you buy new
trousers that you realise that your jacket is getting a bit shabby…. Then the
shoes don’t match….. This ‘materialism’ has a kinda way of creeping up on you
if you are not careful….. even when we think we are immured to it… You like my new shoes ?
DON’T GET ME WRONG….Plato was not keen on
hermits or people living like monks in cloistered cells; and did not think that
philosophers need to walk around looking scruffy and smelly just for the sake
of it. Maybe he thought it’s good for philosophers to have their heads in the
clouds sometimes, considering deeper spiritual and metaphysical matters, or
perhaps complex global issues; or how to get the local health service sorted
out. However, they wanted us to keep our
feet firmly on the ground, support ourselves financially, and attend to the
small stuff like paying the electricity bill on time. Plato wants his student
philosophers (as we all are in a way however much we think we know) to live and
be part of the ‘real’ world. How can you advise other people on things – or
presidents and ministers on policy – if you can’t even sort our own stuff out
in a reasonable way……
In my opinion, one of the secrets to being a
good philosopher is the ability to ‘balance’ various aspects of one’s life;
balancing the different aspects of our lives – and life is quite complicated
these days – and certainly can get very complicated if we are not careful. And of course…… there is a much more serious side to having all this
consumer stuff than just showing off a bit to your friends and neighbours….
Most of us have got comfortable with our
consumerist lifestyles – it’s what we are used to. We are all ‘fairly happy’ with the lives we
lead. For example, we enjoy buying the cheap clothes from places like India and
Bangladesh – and we just don’t want to know that they are stitched together by
children working long hours in ghastly and dangerous conditions. For example,
in Bangladesh during 2013 an illegally built clothing
factory in Savar (see end links) left more than 1200 workers dead and more than
another 2000 injured when it collapsed one day. The owner of the factory wanted
to make as much profit as he possibly could - and made clothes for many
shopping chains in the West including Benetton, Primark and Walmart. Although
cracks had appeared in the building the day before and the factory had been
evacuated; he ordered the workers to return to work the following day or loose
a month’s pay; rather than simply close the factory for a couple of days (or
maybe an afternoon) while checks could be carried out. (This is a practical
example EXCESS and a lack of moderation in the desires of the factory owner.)
Does Wallmart and Beneton and the others still
buy their stuff from that company and other companies like that ? We don’t know
– and actually – we don’t really want to know. We didn’t even ask or find out….
You see - we should never forget that Platonic
philosophy, with all its elegant and sometimes beautiful myths - and its many clever
arguments, is all to do with how to improve the lives of people in the real
world today. It is not just about intellectual discussions in classrooms about
the finer details of ancient books and abstract ideas. The discussions and
details are only just a pre-cursor to changing lives for the better in
practical and more fundamental ways in the modern world. It is for philosophers to examine ‘what’s going on in the world – and
understand how it is – and how it all works’ - and then, only then, can they
can suggest realistic ideas where improvements and updates can be made. If philosophers don’t do this - then who
will?
To
summarise these few short paragraphs about Nothing to Excess or Living
Moderately, I think you can now see that when those tourists in Delphi just nod
their heads immediately after being told that the two Delphi Maxims of Know Yourself
and Live Moderately, there is a bit more to it than just understanding what the
various words mean. Both phrases hold much deeper meanings, and I hope we have
now at least begun to scratch the surface a little.
[Note: The above blog is the second part of James’ Monday
night philosophy talk in Athens - and also appears on Pages 183 – 189 of his
paperback book ‘Life Choices’. ]
