Balance Is a Lovely Word

Balance, it’s such a lovely word. Easy to say, straightforward in definition, it has a nice ring to it. Before being assigned to research Classical Greek and Roman history, 'balance' was a word that came up in my weekly yoga class, or over the radio during grim reports of the American economy. Last night my husband was lamenting over the difficulty of balancing his work and the time needed to train for a community 5k run. Striving for balance is nothing new. It turns out the Greeks in Athens were doing it 2500 years ago! 


Balancing mind and spirit was at the foundation of Greek civilization and considered one of the greatest contributions to the Western world as we know it today. Scholar Edith Hamilton in her book ‘The Greek Way’, writes 

"Rome was able to perceive the balance between the claims of the single man and the majority, between men’s sympathy and their reason. In this one field Rome reached the balance Greece had reached in every field she entered, and Rome has been the lawmaker for the world.” 

The ability to operate this way was unique in it's time (ironically, one could argue that it is somewhat unique in our own time, but more on that later). Remember, the greatest civilization in the East, Egypt, revolved around the way of the spirit. Things that were not seen became more and more the only things of great importance. Depressed by their rulers and in an atmosphere preoccupied with death, the common man looked to the afterlife for security, peace and pleasure. Not so for the Greeks, who indulged in thinking for themselves and fixed man's attention to the whole person, made up of body and soul, mind and spirit. 


Let's take a look at how this and other aspects of the Classical tradition developed and how these traditions present themselves today, in 2011. Below we hear from local elders, our Sages, adding their gift of storytelling, art making, and knowledge of history. Let the fun begin!

Reflecting on the words of Aristotle and Socrates...

Collection of drawings, measurements and research materials produced by elders in the Adult Day Health Program 

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