Think Areté -- The Manifesto

Hi, this is Brian with the final mini chapter from a philosopher's notes. This one's called Think Arete, the manifesto. What would you do if you weren't afraid? Okay, so what exactly are you waiting for? This isn't a dress rehearsal. Wake up. Here's the deal. What we can be, we must be. Period. There's no getting around that one. So turn off the tv, put down your drink, get off the medication, quit numbing yourself. The pain's not going away. Not until you think Arete. Think Arete. Yep, Gandhi got it, Einstein got it, Benjamin Franklin got it, Bono gets it, The Dalai Lama gets it, Oprah gets it. And the Greeks definitely got it. Get this, guys like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle said that if you want happiness, you better live with arete. A word that literally means virtue or excellence, but has a deeper meaning. Something. Something closer to living at your highest potential. Moment to moment to moment. Arete. It was one of the highest ideals of Greek culture. It should be one of ours. Tragically, it's not. We seem to be more interested in resumes, accolades and 401 s. Speaking of retirement, who came up with that? Work our asses off doing something we're not passionate about so we can accumulate enough money to pay the bills from our stress caused illnesses while we bitch about what we should have done when we were still young. Hmm, can't quite figure that one out. Seems like it makes a bit more sense to go ahead and dare to live now. Why not Think, Arete? Live at your highest potential. Moment to moment to moment. Not in the mood? Fine. Then live with regret, anxiety and disillusionment. Your call. Think about it. When do we feel most alive? Exactly. When we're being ourselves, our highest selves. You want happiness? Think Arete. Live, love, smile, hug, laugh, dream, do. Create. Have fun. Be intense. Be audacious. Be unreasonable. Act impeccably. Breathe. Be you. Be different. Be patient. Get paid to do what you love. Dance in your underwear on your way to work. Why not ditch the tie? Escape the cube. Leave the eight to five. Trash the resume. Ignore the critics and the cynics. Burn the corporate ladders. Laugh at the ceilings. Quit the bitching. Open your mind. End the laziness. Overcome the fear. Transcend the conditioning. Why not move the world? Change the world. Push the human race forward. Whatever you call it, go out and do it. When? Now? Not when you have enough money? Or once you do this or do that? That's nonsense. It's not going to be easy. But go out and live your dream. Now. You deserve it. And if that doesn't move you, the world deserves it. Think Arete. There you go. Think Arete. As you can tell, I get pretty excited about this one. Think Arete. Live with virtue. Strive to do your best. Moment to moment to moment. That is the key to happiness. It's what the classic Greeks taught us. It's what the modern day psychologists teach us. It's what we know to be true. So let's live with virtue. Let's strive to live our highest ideals consistently. With that, I wrap up this quick look at a philosopher's notes. I'm honored to have shared this with you. If you listen to all 100, really appreciate it and I hope you loved it and I'm looking forward to sharing more with you in the weeks and months and years and decades ahead. Sending you lots of love and appreciation. And here's to living with virtue in thinking arte have another awesome day, week, month, year, decade, lifetime. Looking forward to hanging out and playing together in the future. See you.