The essential issue comes down to tension between technological civilization and primal vigor. This was understood by the Hellenes, who contrasted the unrestrained barbarism of the Scythians with the effete subjection of the Persians. Of the two the Greeks considered the Scythians to be the better, but they themselves aimed to strike a balance between savagery and civilization, retaining the strengths of the former whilst accessing the benefits of the latter.
Our own society has gone too far down the path of civilization; the resulting biological deracination is the source of our physiological and spiritual ailments. We have forgotten that "mens sana in corpore sano". One trains one's body so that one's mind may be healthy; one trains one's mind so that one's body may be strong. Our aim should be athletes who think like philosophers, and scientists who look like Frazetta.
The essential issue comes down to tension between technological civilization and primal vigor. This was understood by the Hellenes, who contrasted the unrestrained barbarism of the Scythians with the effete subjection of the Persians. Of the two the Greeks considered the Scythians to be the better, but they themselves aimed to strike a balance between savagery and civilization, retaining the strengths of the former whilst accessing the benefits of the latter.
Our own society has gone too far down the path of civilization; the resulting biological deracination is the source of our physiological and spiritual ailments. We have forgotten that "mens sana in corpore sano". One trains one's body so that one's mind may be healthy; one trains one's mind so that one's body may be strong. Our aim should be athletes who think like philosophers, and scientists who look like Frazetta.