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#48189 11/28/01 06:41 AM
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arête : n [F, lit., fish bone, fr. LL arista, fr. L, beard of grain]: a sharp-crested ridge in rugged mountains


#48190 11/28/01 10:42 AM
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Well, if that isn't a bit of going around your elbow to get to your thumb.

From moral probity, to fishbones, to "beard of grain" (whuuzat?--those prickly things that stick out like egret's feathers), to "sharp-crested ridge in rugged mountains" (what's a sharp-crested ridge on a milksop, wimpy mountain?), which takes us back with a leap like a goat to the pinnacle footed by one possessed of arete...

When I look upon a bearded grain,
I see mountain ridges and philosophy.
Such are the travels that I take,
Bootless to all, save those in my company.


Boot regards,
WordWoof


#48191 11/28/01 05:02 PM
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And how might we incorporate more "arete" in our Weltanschauung?


#48192 11/28/01 09:59 PM
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Arete is earring in Spanish.[pirate]


#48193 11/29/01 12:36 AM
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And how might we incorporate more "arete" in our Weltanschauung?...

A sober examination of humility and strength of character could be a starting place...

I've heard more people express changes in how they view the world rather than a view that has remained firmly wedged in place from start to where they are. I don't mean to imply by "start," "from birth." I mean from the start of their adult years to where they are in a later decade or decades. What I think would be interesting to hear, and probably not here on this board, would be the stories of people who feel they have lost values, lost some of their best qualities of character as they have matured, and, in contrast, those tales of people who are more confident that they have matured in qualities they may value.

I've mentioned Boswell's biography of Samuel Johnson on another thread, and will here, too, in light of this subject. Johnson wrote a deeply personal self-examination each Easter, if I remember correctly. These notes he destroyed. These confessions and expressions of how he sought divine grace to lead him toward rectification and improvement I count as a loss to us who may have benefitted from examining Johnson's spiritual growth.

But, to return to weltanschauung. What is included in one's world view? What would be the general features of such a definition? Views on immortality? Compassion? Ego? Courage? Charity? Service? Humour? Marital fidelity? Freedom? Fortitude? Happiness? Family? Health? Religious tolerance? Worship? Virtue? Loyalty? Sacrifice? Synchronicity? Risk?


#48194 11/30/01 05:07 PM
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A "Weltanschauung" means looking at the whole world, including all the things in WW's last paragraph, and more, such as the Greek central theme of "Moderation in all things".
I tried a dozen times but could not achieve a satisfactory conclusion to the above sentence.


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