A sense of self-mastery, of being able to withstand the emotional storms that the buffeting of Fortune brings rather than being "passion's slaves, " has been praised as a virtue since the time of Plato. The ancient Greek word for it was sophrosyme, "care and intelligence in conductiing one's life; a tempered balance and wisdom," as Page DuBois, a Greek scholar, translates it. The Romans and early Christian church called it temperantia, temperance, the restraining of emotional excess. The goal is balance, not emotional suprresion: every feeling has its value and significance. A life without passion would be a dull wasteland of neutrality, cut off and isolated from the richness of life itself. But, as Aristotle observed, what is wanted is appropriate emotion, feeling proportionate to circumstance. When emotions are too muted they create dullness and distance; when out of control, too extreme and persistant, they become pathological, as in immobilizing depression, overwhelming anxiety, raging anger, manic agitation.

love

Anji said

The word is "sophrosyne".

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langebleu said:

And now it makes perfect sense

Anji said:

the keywords here are sensical and on-topic.

neither of these are being used in any way on this thread, so...pa-chink!