Some of the 50 things are of a more thinking nature rather than doing activities. Philotimo is one of them.
Philotimo is a Greek idea which I had heard about briefly in passing but wanted to explore in more detail. Here is a brief introduction to philotimo with more thoughts to follow in further posts.
It’s a word that is said to be fairly untranslatable into English without at least a long explanation. This is similar to some other Greek words which seem to encompass a range of ideas – for instance kefi (κέφι) which embraces having fun, joy, happiness, mojo, feeling good, passion amongst other things all rolled into one. So, perhaps this year of 50 things is about keeping my kefi alive.
And so to Philotimo.
Literally it means love of honour but it covers a range of values such as:
~ Pride in yourself, your family and country. Good citizenship, duty, doing the right thing.
~ Integrity, dignity, respect, honesty, decency
~ Compassion, humility, empathy
~ Personal sacrifice, beyond our own self interest, self development
While these values can be seen individually as general human ideals, philotimo is a uniquely Greek concept, passed down through the ages since ancient Classical Greece, used in New Testament times, Orthodoxy and modern Greece. It is something of an undercurrent that unites Greeks across place and time.
As far back as the 7th century BC the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus said “Philotimo to the Greek is like breathing. A Greek is not a Greek without it. He might as well not be alive.”
St Paul in his letters to the Thessalonians also encourages people to live their lives with philotimo.
The virtues of philotimo have also been embraced by the Greek Orthodox church. The monk Paisios on Mt Athos referred frequently to the spirit of philotimo and the American Orthodox priest Fr Stephen Freeman describes it spiritually as the intense feeling of deep appreciation and gratitude for God’s gifts and as the deep seated awareness in the heart that motivates the good that a person does.
More recently even Barack Obama in a speech described it thus ~ love to family, community, country, to have obligations to each other, and a sense of right and wrong, a duty to do what’s right.
Perhaps a modern day illustration of philotimo in practice is that while some European countries are building fences to keep out refugees, individual Greek people are helping the refugees as they come ashore on the Greek islands after perilous journeys.