Blog Post #2

The agṓn experienced by a person is supposed to mean that said person knows what “quality” is and is on their way to achieve arête- a lifestyle that focuses on “quality” in one’s life. The Greeks thought that the way to live was through the concept of arête, meaning people were constantly working hard to better themselves and in turn, better other people’s lives. If they were constantly going through agṓn,- suffering or struggling- then they were on their way to achieving the greatness of arête.

The whole idea of becoming the best human is good in theory. You become the best, helping your society and the those around you achieve their best. But I don’t believe that’s how it always plays out. A lot of the time, I think it’s very easy for people to become obsessed with the idea of being the best- achieving perfection in a way. They might have a good-hearted goal in their mind, but I think it’s easy to lose track of that goal amidst the agṓn they face. It’ll even reach a point where they don’t care about helping others anymore, and they just want the bragging rights and the pride of being the best. At this point, arête is no longer the goal; perfection is.

Once perfection is a person’s goal, they’ve lost track of what they were originally chasing. It starts becoming more harmful than helpful to become better. They’re so focused on themselves, they lose sight of what’s around them. They no longer care about making their or people’s lives better.

In the end, true arête is achieved with a balance of oneself and others. It can’t become an obsession, because then it stops being arête. If they’re struggling and doing “quality” things simply to say they did, that’s not arête. If you pursue it to make yourself and others happy, then you’ve reached true “quality”. Your life has reached a point where you’re making other people’s and your own life better, by becoming a better rounded person and achieving your full potential.