Man's Constituents: Karia

     The heart has caused more pain and more joy than any other part of history. It is responsible for erecting great empires, but it is also the cause of morale to falter, the army to fail, and that same empire to disintegrate into the past.
     Kardia, the Greek word for heart, encompasses its full range of potential. Like all the gifts of mankind, the heart is a two-edged sword. Its passions force us to sculpt masterpieces and preform works of wonder. Its drive gives ambition to achieve greatness in ourselves and, further, to inspire others. The soul may stir, the mind plan, but without the heart's energy, no designs would ever be accomplished. The heart is the energy plant of the human body. Its desires coerce our actions.

     Egyptians mythology held that the heart controlled the thoughts since it was responsible for driving passions. After death, the heart was weighed against a feather of the goddess Isis to determine if the heart was weighed down with guilt. This guilt ranged from mistreating others or desecrating a temple to exploiting those socially below you and misusing your resources.
     If these people held the heart's power to such high importance as to have their entire life judged by it after death, modern man should recognize the power that the heart possesses is key to reaching the full potential of life.

     What's a man to do? Use these necessary and valuable components of life to be all he can be.   
1.) Motivation comes from the heart.
2.) Planning develops from the mind.
3.) The sum of these actions are compiled in your soul to forge the individual you are becoming.

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Agatha Tyche

Man's Constituents: Nous

     The mind is the most powerful tool man possesses. Without it our lives become purposeless struggles of self-preservation and reproduction. Using it, however, allows man to beneficially interact with others, improve his surroundings, and draft lofty ideas for the future by integrating knowledge gained from the past.
     The Greek word for the mind, nous, speaks of the cognitive ability to process, direct, and control our actions. The mind gives us our reason - both of logic and causation for action. Thinking, planning, considering, examining, and deciding are all critical components of every day life rendered impossible without a mind. The mind is curious, constantly exploring. To contain it with endless fixation on worthless things or to go periods of time without using it at all is a waste of our great gifts and abilities.

     Aristotle, the great philosopher, was well acquainted with his main control center. Theories on social interaction, inanimate objects, natural forces, and the purpose of life - all were processed by his analytical examination.

"The energy of the mind is the essence of life." ~Aristotle

     As the second part of a man, no one can afford to neglect his greatest asset and the only thing that can't be taken away - your mind. Within yourself, you can go on endless adventures, locate hidden fortunes, rule a nation, defy physics, and explore suggestions for improving the real world around you. Citizens of the Hellenistic world became masters at pushing the boundaries of their minds. The modern Western world almost seems content to let those boundaries contract around him (with several notable exceptions). Constantly push, explore, and expand your mental powers.
     Some thoughts are best left unspoken. However, without a voice, your mind remains incapable of impacting the world.

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Agatha Tyche

Man's Constituents: Pneuma

     Man is a single entity devised and expressed through several elements. The ancient Egyptians believed in seven parts of a man. Each piece played a role both in life and in death. Some were merely physical, some spiritual, others odd mixtures of both. All parts existed and reflected the uniqueness of the individual. This was the first civilization to take a long, hard look at what it took to be who you are, how it impacted others around you, and your life after death.

     The first of the modern Western components is the soul, pneuma. The soul is an eternal reflection on life’s actions. The Greek means “breath” or “to blow” and angles perspective to the energy and liveliness of the soul. The soul is the spirit of life that provides the substance from which life is derived.

     The soul will live for eternity and speaks of the greatness and goodness or wickedness and selfishness expressed during life. Life is the loom that weaves what the soul becomes, every stitch revealing the character of the craftsman.

     A man must be certain that he is creating a piece that will be suitable in the conditions of his afterlife. Picturing life after death as a ship tossed on a sea, it would be foolish for a man to craft a scarf; sails would be much more appropriate. Our decisions in life are reflected in our judgement in death. Pick your convictions and consistently follow them. Achieving goals is more admirable than drifting aimlessly through life and will reflect poorly on you once you've passed through life's opportunities.

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Agatha Tyche

Fortune

Luck. Chance. Fate. Fluke. Odds. Statistics.
     Since ancient times, people have felt that coincidental circumstances bring about life's events from the mundane to the extraordinary.
Good fortune, blessings, God's will, godsend, karma.
     Religion has played a major part in the perception of events'occurrence. Similarly, gambling has produced its own following of bystanders willing take a risk on the turn of the wheel, a streak of luck, or a gut feeling.
     Whatever inclines a person to believe that the luck of the draw is involved in his life, the historical component in fortune is an overlooked portion of Western culture. The Greeks' Fates evolved into the Roman goddess, Tyche, who was often depicted blindfolded because of the random nature fortune seems to be dispersed through life. She became a prevalent goddess in many occult practices. It was with Tyche's power that love potions, astrological predictions, and other fortune tellings were performed. Interestingly, this perception was not overruled by Christianity in the fourth or fifth century. "God's will" replaced Tyche's predictions, but the belief that a deity controls the random oddities of life persisted.
     Fate, the unchangeable outcome of an event or life, differs from fortune. Fate was seen as set in stone in the early Greek culture exemplified in The Odyssey and The Iliad. However, the Hellenistic world, Rome, and early Christians had a more fluid notion of altering fate with prayers. The medieval world believed that fate could be changed by our actions. Shakespeare's MacBeth, fated to become king, could choose his path to kingship with patience or murder.

     Thus, fortune persevered over cultural and religious changes for millenia. Even today luck is regularly called upon in both religious and secular settings. Regardless of use and context, why is believing in chance, karma, or  luck beneficial? What can we learn or hope to understand by placing our understanding in the idea of odds? Why? Taking an analytical look on human perception . . .
     Bad things happen in life. Inconveniences occur all the time. To prove this fact, go into any room in your house or office and bounce a ball. Soon, the ball will bounce the wrong way and end up hitting something it shouldn't hit or rolling under the one item that is bolted to the floor. The odds of that ball only hitting things that can't be damaged dramatically increases with the cost of that item. Think I'm making this up? Perform the experiment keeping track of where the ball goes in relation to its difficulty to retrieve.
     Belief that luck can interact with our lives teaches people perseverance. "It didn't work out this time. I'm just going to have to buckle down and grind this out again." This is the cause of many people's anger and irritability about life. If you try enough times, eventually, you'll succeed.
     In a religious sense, placing fortune in a deity's hands puts a perspective on man. We learn to respect the limitations of man's control on his own life and the power of man as a species. Thus, we place our desired powers in the hands of a deity to fulfill our ambitions.
     The last lesson we can learn from man's dependence on luck is hope. Hope constantly drives men forward. Why would any person buy a love potion? In hope that is would achieve the desired affect. Superstitions generally play upon the hope of a believer. American sports' superstitions take on absurdity with dirty clothes and odd rituals. Hope pushes a man farther than he thought he could go to achieve the impossible, or if you will, the improbable as his fortunes are played out.


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Agatha Tyche

Mythology to Modernity

Have you ever looked up while reading a book or writing notes and met the eyes of a girl across from you? Your heart does that little skip-jump as your breathing sharpens. You immediately hope that she finds you attractive. Then with great fear and hesitation you consider that maybe your hair is messed up, your shirt is on backwards, or someone is giving you bunny ears. She looks away and you conclude that she was just glancing around the room when you happened to look up and that you not remarkable or especially noticeable. However, she is remarkable.
Every woman is a goddess.

All women have their special brand of beauty. Superficiality is usually the easiest trait to find but rarely the most valuable treasure. Hidden inside, each woman possess a priceless gem. A delightful eagerness for life, undaunted adventure, charming wit, remarkable interests, or inspiring character, all these lend themselves for admiration. Each is unique with the exact combination that makes them attractively who they are. Each is pricelessly beautiful.
Because of this unparalleled beauty, all women deserve the attention of men. Perhaps not the special, amorous attention associated with many duel gender relations, but recognition of her beauty should occur. An authentic conversation, more than the weather or her current mood, will usually turn up a sparkle, a single  gleam of her gem. This prized stone cannot simply be pulled forcefully out and examined! No, it must be worked free and carefully praised. All women have this gem though size, shape, color, and type can vary more spectacularly than any rainbow.
The revealed charm and prized beauty enable any woman to turn a man's head. However, this is a two-sided phrase and not in a physical sense. The first angle is force. Some women, characterized as controlling, use brute force to shake a man's foundation and construct insecurities that enable her views to flourish and dominate. She uses the power of womanhood to dictate a man's movements to conform to her will though commonly in disguise. From a man's view, a more agreeable method is subtly. This women uses suggestion, possibly enticement, to tilt a man's position to or fro. She can incline him in the more desired direction and is satisfied when he reacts, seemingly, of his own accord. Silver tongued, this is the type of women ancient mythologies characterized in their stories and gave her supernatural powers. She is not supernatural, merely a woman, and commands a respect of her own.
Holding these special qualities in mind: beauty, attention, and strength, man needs to concede his love for womankind as a whole. We should cherish and adore the women put in our lives because of the specialty each possesses. All are created in God's image and are, thus, heiresses to His kingdom. They are all actual, physical princesses deserving of our respect and care. Treat women like the princesses they are; very few have ever complained of it.
If a woman is not treated like a goddess, woe to man. A woman's wrath rages as the storm. It possesses uncharted energies and fierceness. While it may appear to slow, she is merely charging for a second blow with pent up forces. The end is unknowable. A woman's anger knows no bounds. The bitterness and resentment of a single woman has been known to completely destroy a man's entire life. Nor can this disturbance be easily settled. Like the oceans after a storm, only time can reduce the ferocity of the waves.
However, without women, society itself turns on end. The most recognized examples of this, the early American frontiers, show men living free and lax lives. Filth, foulness, laziness, and drunkenness abound. Once women entered the scene, settlement and regularity occurred. (Personally, I've concluded this has something to do with each paragraph prior to this. A woman's beauty attracts the men, her charm encourages men to give continuous attention, and she can "suggest" specific changes. These combined, a man must regulate his life to please and praise a woman.) Thus, the absence of women means the utter collapse of society itself.
Women are beautiful creatures that possess powers outside the limited, focused boundaries of a man's mind. Full recognition to each individual should not be above our doing. Chivalry should not die even as women gain their sought equality in society because they are inherently the focus and motivation behind a man's goals.

All women are goddesses.



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Agatha Tyche

A Small Bang

     The beginning is multiplicitly the easiest and hardest thing to achieve. It sets the boundaries and establishes the foundation that all future work will  rest upon. As the guilds of medieval Europe enforced, the masterpiece marked the beginning of a man's independent career to which all his other work must either match or surpass. The beginning remains, nonetheless, the first stone placed which opens up the full range of possibilities. Alternatives are viable and characteristic distinctions are, as yet, undefined. The enthusiasm of the outset holds the enticing mystery of freedom, openness, and allowance. Thus, I will start at the beginning as all things must.

     Two things should prompt a man forward through life. 


     The first sets the limits for that life and is recognized as the provider and arbitrator between a man and his woes. The deity of a man's life, that eternal being lending encouragement and support while supplying tests and obstacles to challenge even the strongest and bravest, this God deserves a hat-tipped his way. Pia pium, godliness, reflects the purpose of existence and the path that is traversed over a lifetime. However, even as we strive to become more godly in word, thought, and action, these words, pia pium, reflect a much deeper meaning in conduit. Holy. Pious. Honest. Patriotic. Dutiful. 
     Each of these words describes a small, yet necessary, cornerstone to the foundation of the phrase and is a part of its origin from the beginning. Holiness, to be set apart for a sacred purpose, defines a man's life as distinct, unique, and purpose-filled. Piety, religious steadfastness and conviction, cherishes religious and traditional ideals within. Honesty, truth and integrity, praises a man who confronts the reality before him, unwavering regardless of challenge. Patriotism, the love for and recognition of your community and culture above that of yourself, requires fine-tuned priorities to develop the rightness of emotion and reason in every aspect of life. Patriotism ties closely with duty. Duty, to do what needs to be done even when obstacles extract high costs, is nearly synonymous with sacrifice. 

"The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training - sacrifice. In battle and in the face of danger and death, he discloses those divine attributes which his Maker gave when He created man in His own image. No physical courage and no brute instinct can take the place of the Divine help which can alone sustain him. (Gen. Douglas MacArthur)"

     Although not a technical derivative, the perfect word to summarize and define pia pium is sacrifice. God sacrificed to give you life, physical and immortal. Following religious, national, and cultural ideals always involves sacrifice of self. Duty, a higher calling, often involves the sacrifice of life. Duty for family, a father's love. Duty for country, the defense of those you love against a great threat. Duty for religion, involving ostracism from society and potentially martyrdom. Sacrifice is one of the highest callings of a man's life.
     The second supplies the internal motivation for a man to prioritize and achieve. A strength hidden not only within his physical form a but also within the character of the man himself. This is what pushes a man forward through depression, the desperate charge, ultimate ruin. This is the gut-wrenching urge to never quit, never be subdued, and to maintain control over his surroundings. Virile agitur: manliness. A more accurate translation is "the manly thing is being done." A true man cannot sit by and watch the world change around him quietly. He constantly reacts and exerts himself in a way that is distinct and forceful. Suck it up and do what needs done. Period.


     Two things should direct a man forward through life: Godliness and Manliness.


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Agatha Tyche