Ethos

Ethos (N) [ee-thos]: the distinguishing character, sentiment, moral nature, or guiding beliefs of a person, group, or institution.

 

That is the Webster Dictionary’s description of ethos. Another beautiful Greek word out there that really can’t be fully described in one word, or even a sentence. The dictionary can briefly touch on the outline of the definition, but ethos is truly felt on the inside and is a very personal word. Your ethos is your spirit, your core, your beliefs… what you hold incredibly close and dear to you. Your ethos is how you want to be remembered down the road. How do you want people to remember you? If someone was to look into the very core of you what you want them to find written across your heart?

If someone were to look into my very core I would want them to see that I want to live each day full of passion, love and realness. I never want to take any moment for granted. We all must live each day with passion, KEFI, and share love. We all have something, or even more than one thing, that we are so fiercely passionate about. Those things that define us, and make us who we truly are as a unique person. Some people around us might not know about these things, but we do and we hold these passions and morals rooted deep inside ourselves. Sometimes they can be so deeply rooted they are our secret and so surprise others around us when they discover them. Often enough though the people close to us will discover and learn the real us and we will learn about the real them because I believe like-minded and like souled people sync. You find those people that you just connect right away with. The ones you feel right around, and can truly be yourself around.

Believe and deeply root yourself in love. Love is the greatest of all things. If we root our ethos in love it opens so many doors to other beautiful emotions and feelings. It opens the doors to accepting people for who they truly are and not judging them for their differences. It opens the door for kindness and patience with everyone that crosses our path. I just picture a heart, core, or ethos so full of love that it glows. You glow from the inside and share your light with those around you. You don’t need to explain your actions or what you truly believe in. I believe our actions and how we live our every day life, that shows people what we truly believe in. I’ve met a few people who were so fully and deeply rooted in love you could see it in their eyes. You could see it in their smile, the way they interacted with people… they never applauded themselves or tried bringing attention to themselves, they just glowed. We all should strive for that I believe. We don’t need to always try and bring attention to ourselves, sure it’s nice to be noticed and acknowledged by others around us, but wouldn’t we want to be noticed for our actions and how we are living out our beliefs instead of us just saying, “hey look at me, look at what I just did!”

My pastor every Sunday gives such beautiful and heartfelt sermons. It’s never like, “you’re doing this and this wrong. Or. You have to live this way and tell other people to live this way too.” NO instead the message he so passionately shares is that we must simply love. Our actions and our love to those around us IS our message. Our way of sharing our beliefs. We aren’t forcing our beliefs on others, but at the same time we ourselves are confident in our beliefs and just share pure and unconditional love. Agape love, Christ love. Now these beliefs don’t have to be spiritual, they can truly be anything you put your heart into completely. Your moral code. We all have such different beliefs and many of us have different passions and morals, but that is what makes us all unique and keeps the world from being a dull place. It keeps the world alight and going. We are all lights even if we don’t know it. If we are strong in our beliefs and spirit we light the way for others. Others who may be afraid to let their light shine. They are passionate about something, but might think the world could care less. I say let that light shine. Become just a glowing shining person who shares their beliefs through their actions.

When you think of something precious or something you hold very dear and personal to yourself, often you want to hide it away from prying eyes, and keep it safe. You want to cultivate it and share with the people you know will care and will acknowledge how precious that thing is. You don’t want to loudly share it with the world, but you do want to share. You want to show how it makes you strong. How you persevere and work harder for the things in life. How it is often your guiding light, your north star. It is so incredibly hard to explain ethos in one word or even a couple words. It’s an action, it’s a lifestyle, a feeling, a belief, and it’s inside each and every one of us. It is something so personal and precious to each of us. The metaphor I think of with ethos is entering a dark and huge cave and in the very middle there is a shining light just glowing and gold, warming up the whole cave.

Don’t give up your beliefs and morals you hold so close to your heart if for some reason someone has different beliefs and laughs at yours. Instead be strong and proud in what you believe is true. Always be on the path of discovering the truth. Always be on the path of bettering yourself and sharing your light and love with those around you. Lead by example of your actions, not by telling people, “this is how it must be done.” There is that fine line of wanting to share something you are so incredibly passionate about and then over sharing. Don’t force your beliefs on someone else and label them as wrong. We all have different view points and lives, and to each their own I believe. Instead cultivate your beliefs, your morals, your love, and let them shine out from within you. You are so incredibly and uniquely made why smother that to conform to the world around you. Instead persevere in what sets your soul on fire. Walk with a purpose everyday firm in your beliefs. Share love and live out your beliefs through your actions. Let that light shine bright! Xo

S’Agapo

Picture by Michael Holt