On Vagrancy

A subject to which few intellectuals ever give a thought is the right to be a vagrant, the freedom to wander. Yet vagrancy is deliverance, and life on the open road is the essence of freedom. To have the courage to smash the chains with which modern life has weighted us (under the pretext that it was offering us more liberty), then to take up the symbolic stick and bundle and get out!

To the one who understands the value and the delectable flavour of solitary freedom (and true freedom depends on solitude) leaving is the most courageous and most beautiful.

An egotistical happiness, possibly. But for him who relishes the flavor, happiness.

To be alone, to be poor in needs, to be ignored, a stranger and at home everywhere, and to walk, great and by oneself, toward the conquest of the world.

The healthy wayfarer sitting beside the road scanning the horizon open before him, is he not the absolute master of the earth, the waters, and even of heaven itself? What housedweller can vie with him in power and wealth? His estate has no limits, his empire no law. No work bends him toward the ground, for the bounty and beauty of the earth are already his.

In our modern society the nomad is a pariah "without known domicile or residence." By adding these few words to the name of anyone whose appearance they consider irregular, those who make and enforce the laws can decide a man's fate.

To have a domicile, a family, a property or a public function, to have a definite means of livelihood and to be a useful cog in the social machine, all these things seem necessary, even indispensable, to the vast majority of men, including intellectuals, and including even those who think of themselves as wholly liberated. And yet such things are only a different form of the slavery that comes of a regulated and predictable contact with others.

I have always listened with admiration, if not envy, to the declarations of citizens who tell how they have lived for twenty or thirty years in the same section of town, or even in the same house, and who have never been out of their native city.

Never to have felt the torturing need to know and see for oneself what is there, beyond the mysterious blue wall of the horizon, not to find the arrangements of life monotonous and depressing, to look at the white road leading off into the unknown distance without feeling the imperious necessity of giving in to it and following it obediently across mountains and valleys!–all this fearful need for immobility resembles the unconscious resignation of the beast stupefied by servitude, offering its neck to the yoke.

There are limits to every domain, and laws to govern every organized power. But the vagabond possesses the whole vast earth that is bounded only by the imaginary horizon. And his empire is intangible, a realm of the spirit where he has his enjoyment and dominion.

- Isabelle Eberhardt, 1900, Algeria.

Arete (ἀρετή)

I have found my favourite word (except for Jézus – the Hungarian word for Jesus and szeretet the, also Hungarian, word for love). The word is Arete (ἀρετή). It is a Greek word used widely in philosophy and other Greek writings. It is an amazing word. Something to aspire to and something to pursue. I will be so bold to say that the meaning of life is Arete.

Arete is normally translated as "virtue", although it actually means something closer to "being the best you can be", or "reaching your highest human potential". The person of arete is a person of the highest effectiveness; they use all their faculties: strength, bravery, wit, and deceptiveness, to achieve real results. It means moral excellence and perfection. Arete in itself is also goodness and gracious acts.

My favourite thing about the word is just how much it says. Arete is the essence of perfection, the virtue of being, the telos or completeness of being... it is the essential and ultimate expression of the person and the mind. When you think of virtue in general terms you are normally led to a kind of moral virtue, but arete as more a way of describing quality, is so much more. It encompasses the whole caboodle.

In modern times we find ourselves pursuing either happiness or purpose. Those are the basic things we seek as humans, we can lump people into seeking either one or the other as their life mission (or using it as a meaning of life). We live with a purpose or to find happiness, nothing wrong with either one.

Happiness as a meaning of life is not talking about the short term pleasures life sometimes has to offer or the superficial happiness, but the happiness that can be found in achieving your long term dreams. This means that your ultimate goal is to maximize your long term happiness by taking actions that you think will get you there in the long run. This is not a bad life philosophy to have as a whole. Most people will in their search for happiness at least contribute something of value to the world. The problem is that happiness can often twist on itself when you make it the goal of all your actions. And then getting what you think would have made you the happiest person (dream job, perfect spouse, etc) just leaves you unhappier and emptier than before.

The other popular life philosophy is purpose or to provide a service to others. This is basically to live with a purpose of helping others as a means of achieving the meaning of life. Some people might argue that these miss out on happiness for themselves, but if you look at amazing people like Mother Theresa and Corrie Ten Bloom, etc. and see the joy they received from helping others you begin to get what Rabindranath Tagore meant when he said “At first I thought life was joy. Then I learnt that life was duty. Finally, I acted and, behold, duty was joy.” Thus serve and you will be happy. The only problem with the purpose life philosophy is that it kind of loops unto itself, i.e. the meaning of life comes from having a purpose; therefore your purpose in life is only to have a purpose, now is there a purpose to your purpose? Serving and purpose is an amazing viewpoint to have, but it does leave some wanting more.

Now take the concept of arete as a meaning of life. Excellence in all things, being the best you can be. Is it not in itself a better view of life than purpose or happiness? Arete also covers the idea that there is excellence in everything. Thus pursuing excellence, whether it creates happiness for yourself or service for others is your ultimate goal. Thus both major life concepts are mere by-products of the general meaning of life. The problem comes in in describing the level of excellence or quality to attain. Thus I do not know the complete secret to life, however if you decide to pursue arete it clarifies a lot of things. Like instead of focusing on just your total happiness or your total service, you focus on the quality of what you do. A painting can be arete, pure excellence. It might not be your life purpose or provide long term happiness, but the painting in itself can be arete.

Arete is used in the original Greek texts in the Bible as well and is translated to various forms of the word; praise, virtue, excellence, excellencies and moral excellence. For example:

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence (arete) and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” Philippians 4:8

I believe the meaning of life is Arete. To be the best at all things that you possibly can be...