Eudaimonia - Ancient Wisdom for Modern Flourishing

In this episode of Peaceful Life Radio, hosts David Lowry and Don Drew delve into the timeless teachings of Aristotle, focusing on his concept of eudaimonia, or human flourishing. They explore Aristotle's life, his influence on Western philosophy, and how his principles relate to modern ideas of happiness and personal growth. The discussion includes insights from psychologists like Abraham Maslow and Carol Ryff, who have built upon Aristotle's work. Key topics include the importance of moral and intellectual virtues, the distinction between happiness and material wealth, and practical advice for living a life of excellence and fulfillment.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:34 Introducing Aristotle
01:03 Understanding Eudaimonia
02:27 Happiness and Flourishing
06:42 Goal-Directed Happiness
07:30 The Concept of Ends and Means
11:44 External and Internal Prosperity
14:18 Moral and Intellectual Excellence
19:51 Aristotle's Cardinal Virtues
21:16 Conclusion and Farewell

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Transcript

David Lowry: 0:29

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Peaceful Life Radio. I'm David Lowry and with me today is Don Drew.

Don Drew: 0:36

I'm excited to be here, David. I think we're gonna have some fun today.

David Lowry: 0:38

It's gonna be a great program because we're talking about some values of a very ancient Greek man. Anyway, but before we do that, Don, I want to remind our listeners to,

Don Drew: 0:51

Yep. We want to remind all our listeners to download and share and tell everyone about our podcast, invite them to listen. We're getting some really great guests and covering a lot of wonderful topics, and we would love to hear from you. As we began to move towards conscious aging, it's only appropriate that we go to someone who's really old. Aristotle. Aristotle. Tell us who Aristotle was. Now, maybe not all our listeners really know. I'm sure they've all heard of him. But who was he?

David Lowry: 1:20

Well, he lived in 350 BCE, before the common era. Aristotle probably has no unpublished thought. He's written about science, oratory, speech, how to persuade people. The guy was brilliant, a philosopher, and one of his favorite areas was human flourishing. And here's the word we want you to know, eudaimonia.

Don Drew: 1:44

Eudaimonia. I believe, if I recall correctly, Aristotle is a student of Socrates and really everything we know about Socrates through Aristotle.

David Lowry: 1:54

Absolutely. And there's a lesson for us today that proves an old point that no matter where you go back in time, people are still going to be people and things important back then are important to us now will be important to us in the future. And one of them has to do with human flourishing or eudaimonia.

Don Drew: 2:14

And this was also related to a man's search or human search for the highest good.

David Lowry: 2:20

Yes. And that's the thing. Don, I remember being asked to imagine the most noble thought I could think of. And you know what? I had a hard time doing it. What is the most noble thing you can think of? What is the highest good you can imagine? Is it world peace or ending hunger? It's a worthy question to ask ourselves. And when we talk about a peaceful life and having the kind of life we want, we want to make sure that we're filling it with things that help us flourish, make us happy, and also bring good to the people we know and love.

Don Drew: 2:54

So, Aristotle was on to something. What was it?

David Lowry: 2:57

He came up with this word that sometimes is called happiness in English, but It's really almost a mistranslation. Eudaimonia is more of a term that talks about the flourishing we get. Happiness is almost like a state, but flourishing is continual renewal, living your best self. It's when you're at your best. It's like the tree in bloom, those sorts of things.

Don Drew: 3:21

This sounds a lot like our American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, that had a term he called self-actualization, the human reaching the fullness of themselves.

David Lowry: 3:31

And that's what Aristotle introduced all those years ago. There's a psychologist by the name of Carol Reif, and she talks about eudaimonia and self acceptance. Being OK with yourself or positive relations with others, autonomy. We all like to do things in our own way and feel like, hey, I know what I'm doing and I can do this in my own way. Environmental mastery, purpose in life and personal growth. Those are some of the things that she borrowed from Aristotle as she creates this scale for helping in her psychology practice, to understand what does it mean to be a flourishing human being? These are things that give us purpose in life. As my wife, Cary says, it makes you want to put your feet down on the floor in the morning. It's a reason to get out of bed.

Don Drew: 4:20

David, what is eudaimonia's highest or ultimate good?

David Lowry: 4:24

If you were talking to Aristotle, he would say, the ultimate human good is happiness. And when I first heard that, I thought, hmm, I'm not sure.

Don Drew: 4:36

It sounds like it could be kind of selfish if you're not careful.

David Lowry: 4:38

Or is it hedonism, like having any sensual pleasure that you want and being absolutely unrepentant about doing things for yourself at the expense of other people? But he's not really talking about that. He's not saying that you should avoid all pain. But he might point out that sometimes we might have a little bit of pain because we believe it's going to do good for us later down the road. So, maybe an athlete will do those hard workouts, so that when they compete, they have a chance at winning something big, like the Super Bowl.

Don Drew: 5:10

For years now, we've had a lot of difficulty, I think, both culturally and psychologically defining exactly what it is that constitutes happiness in a person's life. Sometimes what we expect happiness to be is culturally bound. For instance, here in the United States, high levels of materialism and consumerism drive our culture in many ways. So, the idea of getting happiness from having and acquiring things is pretty dominant.

David Lowry: 5:38

Let me ask you a question, Don. If you're a poor person, but you're In a state of happiness and flourishing, how is that different from a wealthy person who's experiencing the same thing, feeling like I'm happy and I'm flourishing? Is the richer person happier? And is there a degree where that person has more than the other person as far as the emotion and feeling of well being is concerned? And the answer is not really. When you are in that state where you're happy, it doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor, you're experiencing the same emotion. So when we get to that happy place, it's the same for all of us.

Don Drew: 6:16

It's really something that's internal. I think one of the traps we fall into is we think that if the conditions, or the money, or the other person, the way they're acting, or name any number of different conditions, if that's right, or when that's right, then I'll be happy. And we find that never happened. So we've got to start inwardly. And I think that's a big part of what Aristotle was trying to tell us.

David Lowry: 6:40

Happiness is a thing that comes within. And sometimes when we get all those things that we want we discover, but I'm still not happy. I'm still not flourishing. We want more and more and more. And we think maybe I just need to try something else. We get into this spinning cycle of trying to chase after things and it's not doing what we need to do. But hold on just a second because not only did Aristotle say happiness was the deal, he's going to tell you how to get there. And that's the fun thing to talk about today.

Don Drew: 7:11

Yeah. One of the things I think he said was that human conduct is goal directed. What did he mean by that? What constitutes being goal directed happiness?

David Lowry: 7:20

Even when we're not thinking about it, most of us instinctively want to do things that bring us pleasure and instinctively don't cause pain. In other words, most everybody I know wants to have a happy life and not a painful life.

Don Drew: 7:35

As I think about that, I'm thinking about how a person might do dysfunctional things in some effort to meet some need they have. And I think this is almost a definition of some kind of a psychological difficulty or problem a person is having. Quite often we do what works for us, right? And it may be misdirected. It may not be leading us toward happiness, but it's helping us somehow get other things we want. And we get our own internal wires crossed. These goals that you're talking about from philosophy, are directed quite intentionally towards things that are good and helpful to the individual.

David Lowry: 8:12

Yes, he'll call them ends and means. Some people will say, I want money. But it's not the money they want, but what the money can do for them. Money is an end to some other thing they believe will make them happy. Maybe it's owning a piece of land or having a nice home. We have to begin thinking is that really the thing I want, or is there something I want, and maybe there's a way of getting that that doesn't require the other thing. It sort of reminds me of this story about a fisherman who's got a boat. You heard that story?

Don Drew: 8:45

Yes, and he goes out and he fishes every day and he catches the fish and he brings them back and he grills them on the beach. And one day a wealthy man comes by, tries the fish and says, man, this is the best fish I've ever had. You know what? I can help you get another boat or two and you can put a fleet of boats out there, catch two, three times the fish you're catching right now. You'll make more money. Then you can buy even more boats and hire more people. You'll have wealth, can build your house on the beach, and have this wonderful life and so forth. And then when you get to be old enough, like me, you can retire and just sit around and relax and fish. And the fisherman looks at him and says, I think I'll just stay where I'm at. He's already got it.

David Lowry: 9:28

I've already got this. I go home when I want to, I fish when I want to, I eat fish when I want to. Sometimes we don't have to have money to do the thing we really want. I've met people in the mountains where I like to go and maybe they don't have the biggest place, but they're living in the mountains, the ones that they love. And they say, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Some of our goals to get happiness are more noble and valuable than others, but all of them can move us towards this flourishing that we want. The journey is part of it, right? So the ends and means that Aristotle talks about, isn't when I get all of this, then I will have happiness. You're getting happiness all along the way if you'll pay attention to the journey. Sometimes it's the acquiring of things along the way. It's the learning of a new skill, the reading of a new book that opens your mind and suddenly, you're ready for the next big thought.

Don Drew: 10:22

One of the challenges that comes from this ends-means discussion is that a lot of folks have excused awful means in order to achieve what they perceive to be a good end. Aristotle has a counter for that. He gives us some general characteristics of happiness and the kinds of things we should be doing in order to be on the right path towards happiness and flourishing.

David Lowry: 10:44

He says that we shouldn't want it just because we want stuff. If that's the end of it, it'll probably be fairly disappointing when the stuff breaks or we don't have it anymore. But happiness is something you have forever. Don, I know your kids and my kids are all raised. But the moments we had all that fun together, you never lose that, right? I don't know where all the clothes went, where the bicycles went that I bought for them. I don't know where that trampoline is that I had for them at one time, but I do know where the happiness is. It's in our hearts and in our relationship with each other. You never forget that.

Don Drew: 11:18

I had lunch with my son. He's 38 years old, had lunch with him earlier today. And we actually talked about some favorite things from his childhood and so forth. Not once did he mentioned something that he got.

David Lowry: 11:29

You can plan for your happiness. Aristotle says, you're going to have to use your brain. It's a rational exercise. He says, one of the greatest things that you have is your ability to reason. And reasoning is what will lead you to happiness. In other words, there are several things that we do to plan for happiness.

Don Drew: 11:47

Happiness results from a rational life focused on the pursuit of excellence.

David Lowry: 11:52

Aristotle calls it Arete. A R E T E. He says that's excellence. Excellence at what you do. So if you're a guitar player, you play with excellence. If you're a teacher, you do the job with great flourish, right?

Don Drew: 12:06

You're reminding me right now of, what was it? Bill and Ted's excellent adventure. I think I came out in the 1990s, and they were always saying be excellent, right?

David Lowry: 12:14

Be excellent. Don and I just pointed out that some of our happy moments come from the memories we have of our children and the fun times we had together. In a sense, that's prosperity. If you think about it. There are things that make you prosperous because of their beauty and the wonderful memories you have. And then there's some things that make you prosperous because they create a situation where you control your environment and give yourself the time to do what you need to do or enjoy life for comfort and security. Let's talk about external prosperity.

Don Drew: 12:50

So, what prosperity is for me? Let me just start here and say that, the older I get, the things that mean the most to me are maintaining relationships with my friends and my family. That is something that feels good both from a mental and physical security standpoint. It makes me happy. It brings me a great deal of joy. I've been very blessed in terms of money and I don't know if I have much status or power, but those kinds of things have worked well for me. But that won't necessarily be the case in all of our listeners.

David Lowry: 13:23

You do need circumstantial security, we call it. It is good to have some money. Now, how much money do you need? Well, enough to live as comfortably as you can to pay the bills so that you don't worry about whether or not something's going to be taken from you. You need a roof over your head. And it's nice if you have something to carry you from place to place, a nice car and decent clothes to wear and things like that. My wife and I once had a fairly big home and we downsized because frankly, we wanted a home that was small enough for the two of us to manage without feeling like we were just working the home all of the time. Just a nice, comfortable place to live, right? it varies from person to person.

Don Drew: 14:08

Yeah, I get that. Well, what about internal goods?

David Lowry: 14:11

I loved what you said earlier about family and friends, and we all need peace of mind. If I were to give advice that I didn't get when I was younger, I would say don't do things that's going to rob you of your peace of mind. There could be a temptation come your way, and you ought to say, can I really live with doing this thing? Is this going to haunt or rob me of my peace of mind? Don't sacrifice integrity, ruin your relationships, burn your friendships. Think of things that bring happiness and peace of mind and make sure you're doing those.

Don Drew: 14:48

David, a few minutes ago, you mentioned the Greek word, Arete, the word that's used for excellence by Aristotle. There's two different types. The first type is what's called intellectual excellence, and it's going to focus on two primary qualities. Number one, the rationality, the quality of your rationality, the quality of your thinking. And the other part of that one is non rational excellence, such as paying attention to bodily health, physical conditioning, and so on. What's the second one?

David Lowry: 15:16

The second one is moral excellence. That's where you act in accordance with your reasons. What are your primary values? So, let's say that your primary values are respect. If respect is important to you and that you show respect to others, make sure you are doing moral things that show respect to others and include it in your daily things. Don, it could be something as simple as walking down the street and you see a person some people wouldn't speak to because maybe they're asking for money, but instead you greet them and say good morning and treat them just like any other person because respect is important to you. It's one of your values. It's one of your virtues, you might say. And it's your moral excellence. My family believes it's important to help people have food to eat. So, Don and I, several years ago, built a blessing box, which we installed near a church, to share with people who have food insecurities. When we go to the store and buy groceries, we also spend a little extra money to buy things to put into that box. What we are doing is following up the moral reasoning and excellence that says it's important to help those who are in need, especially those who are hungry.

Don Drew: 16:32

And one of the biggest challenges I believe that comes from this discussion of morality has to do with our definition of whether something that we call moral has good or negative outcomes. And we beat each other up sometimes over this. Okay. So on the one hand, I might say yeah, David, we've got a blessing box, we are concerned about people in the local community don't have enough food, so we're doing what we can to help with that. Others might look at that and say, Well, you mean to do well, but you're not feeding everybody. First person there gets everything that's in the box, which happens from time to time, right? So there's an unfairness, if you will, in all of that. How does Aristotle play into this with his rationale?

David Lowry: 17:15

I don't have Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics beside me here, but I believe Aristotle would basically say that while we can't solve all the world's problems, what we can do is live in our moral reasoning. It is true I can't feed the whole world with that little blessing box, I'm still trying to live out my values.

Don Drew: 17:34

So, what we're arriving at is they need to be true to your own rational, moral thinking, which is how we also develop what Aristotle would talk about as virtues, which is really important. How then are excellent virtues required? How do we get these virtues? In early life, if we're fortunate, we have a lot of great moral training from our family or whoever's raising us and so on. But it also takes practice, practicing right thinking, practicing moral action and so on.

David Lowry: 18:04

You're absolutely right. It's practice. He calls it practice. You actually practice your morals. If you say you are a person who believes in respect, then you've got to incorporate that in your behavior as often as you can. People ought to say, when I think of so and so, I think of a respectful human being. They are always showing respect to people. They should give you instance after instance of it because you're demonstrating that virtue, if you will when people are around you. Aristotle has what he calls a golden mean. You've heard about the walking the center path, if you will. Let's say that, you want to be respectful to people? On one side of the road is disrespect. You don't care about anybody's respect. And then on the other side of it you're being obsequious, a doormat. Yeah. You're just being a doormat or you're praising everybody for stupid stuff and it's insincere. Mm-hmm So we have to fine tune each virtue so we're not overdoing or underdoing it, but it makes sense the way that we're doing it.

Don Drew: 19:06

Yeah. So, according to Aristotle, the mean, which means the middle or the average, okay, with the center path, if you will, let's just take a look at a couple of these examples. For instance, we pretty much universally see bravery as a virtue, right? And it's what we would expect from somebody. If they're deficient in their bravery, they act cowardly. We consider that a vice, right? That's a problem. That's one direction. And then if we go the other way, if somebody is so brave that they act rashly, which means without rationality, in other words, just being brave without thinking about it, okay, it's no longer bravery, it's rashness, it can be very dangerous, right?

David Lowry: 19:48

Being truthful is another one. We all want to be honest in what we say. We want to say things that are true and not false. But some people are very self deprecating about the truth. Oh, no, I couldn't do that. I'm really not good. When really they're very good at something. So there's an intellectual honesty that we own up to. Yeah, I can do certain things really well. On the other hand, we could be boastful and overdo it. So, going one way or the other can make it a vice in Aristotle's world and ours as well.

Don Drew: 20:19

Yeah, that's really great, David. Let's talk about Aristotle's cardinal moral virtues.

David Lowry: 20:25

When you think about a flourishing life, to tie a neat bow on everything. Aristotle is basically saying, if you want to be happy, you got to use your reason, think about the things you're excellent at, and you got to do them. Use that to help you acquire money and prosperity you need, maybe the social standing you need./ Develop your friends. And then he says, you need to live your values. And he's going to suggest four of them. The four that he lists are temperance, which is restraint and self control. Prudence, which we would translate as wisdom being wise. Justice, which is being fair to people. And fortitude, which is courage, endurance, and grit and that sort of thing.

Don Drew: 21:12

So he identified these four as being the virtues that are important for everyone to have. We can have others in abundance and so on, and we're all different but these four we should seek individually as good citizens of society.

David Lowry: 21:26

I'm on team Aristotle on this one, because I want to be around people who are just and fair. I want to be around people who have self control. I want to be around wise people. And of course, I like to be around people that when times are tough, they know how to meet it, wisely. And I think that is a great thing for living a peaceful life as well.

Don Drew: 21:46

I just want to send a thank you out to Aristotle, wherever you are. Thanks for all that you gave us. We really appreciate it. And thanks to our listeners for being with us this week on Peaceful Life Radio. We hope you have a great week and we'll see you next week.