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Lost in Translation: How “Virtue” Shaped and Left the Virtuoso
by Eugene Terekhin. In a virtuoso, skill is inseparable from virtue because virtue is a search for inner harmony.
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We have a special treat for readers today. The following article was written by Eugene Terekhin, the man and the mind behind the publication Philosophy of Language.
Philologist, philosopher, translator, and author Eugene Terekhin explores in Philosophy of Language the secret literary theory behind the fantasy worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Owen Barfield who believed that when words are spoken aright, they invoke the invisible reality from behind the veil of the world. He is a voice of much needed wisdom in our day and age, when so much of true art is being eviscerated and trivialized.
He is the author of the following books and I have read three of his books and highly recommend them:
and The New Exodus: Escaping One Man’s War
We urge you to subscribe to Eugene’s insight-packed newsletter filled with the wisdom of the inklings, poets, philosophers, writers and great thinkers by clicking the button below:
This article originally appeared on Philosophy of Languagehere. I’m sharing it with The BoldBrush Letter because in it, Erik has explored an important topic, perhaps the most important topic for creative people.
Editor’s Note: In two days, this post will be locked and is available only to paid members because we don’t want this duplicate content on the open web in a way that might draw traffic away from Eugene’s original post. If you are not a BoldBrush paid subscriber, you can still read the entire post here.
Lost in Translation: How “Virtue” Shaped and Left the Virtuoso
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I searched for the definition of “virtuoso” on Google and found this: “A virtuoso is someone who has outstanding talent and technical skill in a particular art or field, such as music, singing, or playing an instrument.” This definition dates back to the 1610s when “virtuoso” meant “scholar, connoisseur” from the Italian virtuoso, meaning “skilled, learned, of exceptional worth.”
However, the Italian word “virtuoso” comes from the Latin virtuosus and is related to the Old French vertuos, meaning “righteous, potent, of good quality.” Somewhere between the 1300s and 1610s, the “virtue” aspect of a virtuoso was lost, leaving only the “skill” part.
In the medieval mindset, a virtuoso cannot exist without virtue. In modern usage, these two aspects have been separated. In the Middle Ages, virtue was understood in the Aristotelian terms as eudaimonia — “well-being, happiness, inner harmony.” In our day, it is understood as compliance with religious rules.
Aristotle believed that virtue was the path to inner harmony. To be virtuous meant to be in harmony with oneself and the gods and “perform activities inherent in our being.” (Eudemian Ethics). A virtuous person is harmonious and happy, with all their skills, abilities, and talents flowing from that state of inner well-being.
A true virtuoso is someone who is in harmony with himself. It is by virtue of that inner harmony that they become highly skilled in their work. Their skill is the overflow of their virtue — the abundance of inner eudaimonia.
Hence, Eudemian Ethics is the art of achieving eudaimonia by cultivating virtues that enable you to achieve harmony with yourself and others. Virtuoso is someone who practices virtue to such a degree that their inner harmony becomes evident to everyone. It spills over.
In our day, a hiring manager will typically focus on the “skill” aspect of a candidate’s CV during job interviews. They are not interested in signs of inner harmony. We assume that a person’s inner world has nothing to do with their skill. It does. In a virtuoso, skill is inseparable from virtue because virtue is a search for inner harmony.
As Thomas Merton said,
“A saint is a person who has lived their own life, not someone else’s or a projection of what others think a life should be.” Thomas Merton
Eudaimonia is achieved when people live their own lives and “perform the activities inherent in their being.” They become virtuosos because they exist in a state of inner harmony and, by virtue of their eudaimonia, bless the world with their talent. Their inner harmony enables them to see harmony everywhere. They seek it, and they find it.
“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” Michelangelo
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By Eugene Terekhin
A place for the outlaws of poetry and the written word. One of the aims of Poetic Outlaws is to revive the Promethean fire of the dead poets and artists in an attempt, however futile, to elevate the modern soul out of the sludge of the status quo.
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