What comes to mind when you see or hear, “The Golden Mean”?
“The golden mean is a philosophical principle that originated in ancient Greece and is concerned with finding a balanced middle ground between extremes. It is often associated with the work of the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BC), who discussed the golden mean in his Nicomachean Ethics.
“The golden mean is based on the idea that virtue is a mean, or middle ground, between two vices: one of excess and one of deficiency. For example, courage is a virtue, but if taken to excess, it becomes recklessness, and if taken to deficiency, it becomes cowardice.
“The golden mean was also a guiding principle in Greek art and culture during the Golden Age. The Greeks believed that the human body was an example of the balance and order of the cosmos. This is reflected in the many statues that depict the balanced contrapposto pose, where weight is placed on one leg.”
Commonly accepted among Ancient Greek culture was an imperative, “Nothing to Excess.” It was demonstrated in its perception of virtue, art, sculpture, architecture, and perhaps most sincerely in personal relationships. Aristotle, for example, described 3 kinds of friendship, those based on pleasure, those based on utility, and those based on virtue.
Thus, A liked to be with B when they had fun, but when it was no longer pleasurable, the friendship ended. A and B liked to be with each other until they were no longer useful to each other. Finally, A wanted what was best for B and B wanted what was best for A. Their friendship never ended.
Regrettably, we have become a nation of excesses, proven by our eating habits, politics, self-regard, spending, indulgence, substance use, suicide, disregard for truth, gullibility, and garbage, to mention a few. We live as if the Golden Mean means “get the gold even if you have to be mean.” ‘The end justifies the means’ way of thinking vigorously consoles liars, cheaters, and immoralists.
By every objective measure, Americans have become extremely less religious. “U.S. church membership was 73% in 1937 when Gallup first measured it. It stayed near 70% through 2000 before beginning to decline.
As of 2024, 47% of Americans are members of a church, synagogue, or mosque. However, church attendance has been declining in the United States for years: 20% of Americans attend church every week, 41% attend monthly or more, and 57% seldom or never attend.”
27% of US adults regularly watch religious services online or on TV. This includes 17% of adults who both attend services in person and watch them online or on TV, a trend starting before the Covid pandemic.
“To worship is to show a lot of love and adoration for something. Religious believers worship gods, and people can worship other people and things too. Worship is an extreme form of love — it’s a type of unquestioning devotion. If you worship God, then you love God so much that you don’t question Him at all.”
President Barack Hussein Obama II, June 28, 2006 (as delivered) said: “Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation – at least, not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.” The Pew Research Institute report the percentage of the US population that is Jewish: 2%, Muslim: 1.1%, and atheist: 4%.
I received the following email from Larry P. Arnn, PhD: “America is at a point where the far-Left openly suppresses conservative speech and political activity. With the help of its Big Tech allies, the far Left denies First Amendment rights to their political opponents and denies access to conservative opinions and important news stories to the American people.” President, Hillsdale College. 9/25/2024.
Most days I spend 45 minutes on my Schwinn Aerodyne stationary bike. Following strict house rules, the Schwinn is kept in a corner of the family room, but the view from my saddle encompasses the TV. Exercise, we know, is good for the body, but the greater benefit may be the renewal of my understanding that virtues are unchanging: right is right and wrong is wrong.
The early episodes of Gun Smoke are pleasant dramatic depictions of justice. The “golden rule” does not and should not and must never mean “those who have the gold do the ruling.” The wealthy among us know the limitations of money, that it can buy a bed but not sleep, and it can buy people but not friends. The wealthy I’ve known are kind, generous people who are unjustly criticized and ostracized. Twenty-four years in the military taught me that the higher the rank, the nicer the officer.
If Alexis de Tocqueville, author of Democracy in America, 1831, made a return visit to American today, he would observe, after weeping tears of disappointment, that America, originally bonded together by its faith in God, is now little more than crumbling crowd of a misguided disjointed miserable believers in self, and worshipers of their unverified political positions to the extreme.
The peace we could know will not flourish in a world contaminated by extreme liberalism, far left, or extreme conservatism, far right political hatred. The challenge is not to compromise but acknowledge we are created in the image and likeness of God who inspired the souls of those who were led by God Almighty to courageously establish one nation under God.
God created one race, the human race, and no mention of race is recorded in the Bible. Our history of enslavement of fellow human beings, an brutal act of greed, is a cardinal cause to repent, regret, earnestly seek forgiveness, and make amends as we are doing.
We also must apply the best balm of the Golden Mean: Nothing to excess. Jesus’s miracle of feeding 5000 men includes the lesson of frugality. Both crime and sin begin in the mind. May we minimize both by cognitions essentially free of cognitive errors and extremes.
Robert S. Brown, MD, PHD a retired Psychiatrist, Col (Ret) U.S. Army Medical Corps devoted the last decade of his career to treating soldiers at Fort Lee redeploying from combat. He was a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Education at UVA. His renowned Mental Health course taught the value of exercise for a sound mind.