Exploring Eudaimonia

According to the Encyclopedia Britanica:

>Eudaimonia, also spelled eudaemonia, in Aristotelian ethics, the condition of human flourishing or of living well. > The conventional English translation of the ancient Greek term, “happiness,” is unfortunate because eudaimonia, as Aristotle and most other ancient philosophers understood it, does not consist of a state of mind or a feeling of pleasure or contentment, as “happiness” (as it is commonly used) implies. > Eudaimonia is an activity (or a range of activities) rather than a state, and it necessarily involves the exercise of reason. > For Aristotle, eudaimonia is the highest human good, the only human good that is desirable for its own sake (as an end in itself) rather than for the sake of something else (as a means toward some other end).

>According to Aristotle, every living or human-made thing, including its parts, has a unique or characteristic function or activity that distinguishes it from all other things. The highest good of a thing consists of the good performance of its characteristic function, and the virtue or excellence of a thing consists of whatever traits or qualities enable it to perform that function well. > Thus, the virtue or excellence of a knife is whatever enables the good performance of cutting, that of an eye whatever enables the good performance of seeing, and so on. > It follows that eudaimonia consists of the good performance of the characteristic function of human beings, whatever that may be, and human virtue or excellence is that combination of traits or qualities that enables humans to perform that function well. > source

It could be said, then, that eudaimonia is the process theory of how beauty unfolds. That beauty which we know is essential for Regenerative Unfolding of Natural Order.

That unfolding that, we sense, that is guided by intention – Guiding Intention.

DOT FROM preview-next-diagram