BYU-Hawaii Exercise & Sports Science and Health Education professor Dr. David T. Porter delved into the deeper meanings and significance of the Greek word arete — commonly translated as 'virtue' or 'excellence' — in his 2007 David O. McKay lecture on February 13 in the Cannon Activities Center.
The annual lecture series, named in honor of Latter-day Saint President David O. McKay who founded the university in 1955 and was also known as an educator and scholar, has allowed distinguished faculty members to present insights from their respective fields of study and reflections on the gospel since 1962.
Porter, an internationally prominent tennis coach with numerous national titles who joined the BYU-Hawaii faculty in 1982, started by pointing out "three characteristics, among many, distinguish those living in the twenty-first century":
- "The belief that success requires specialization. We observe it in medicine and law, in business and academia. We see it in athletics in earlier and earlier ages."
- "The speed and pace of our lives. We're impatient, and seem to grow more impatient, as technology accelerates quickly in many ways."
- "The attraction for short-cuts... [or] the willingness to accept the shallow or the superficial."
He contrasted this with the wisdom of ancient Greece and the concept of excellence or arete, "perhaps the most articulated value in Greek culture. Aristotle referred to arete as virtue...[which] held a vastly different meaning than it does today." He explained the word virtue comes from the Latin virtus, which derives from vir "meaning man, the masculine sense...the sum of all the corporeal or mental excellence of men: strength, vigor, bravery, courage, aptness, capacity, worth" and others.
"In its earliest appearance in Greece, this notion of excellence was bound up with the fulfillment of purpose or function — the act of living up to one's full potential," Porter said. He added another dimension of it is "the concept of great effort, of doing one's best. It does not require defeating or prevailing over others."
"Arete was the Homeric age's most significant contribution to Western culture. In many ways the Iliad and the Odyssey are tributes to this code of excellence," Porter continued, noting that the mythological Odysseus "was more than an athlete and warrior. He overcame all obstacles and trials in developing honor, glory and excellence."
"Arete, the pursuit of excellence, was a significant part of the paideia, the ancient Greek process of training boys to become men... The paideia sought a balance of physical, mental and spiritual training, all pointing toward arete — excellence, becoming your best, reaching your highest human potential."
"Arete is not about winning, or competition, or a quest for superiority. It is about the intellectual, physical and spiritual excellence," he said, adding that its characteristics could be demonstrated in competition such as the games made famous by the ancient Greeks.
Porter pointed out that the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Greek Corinthians, referred to some of these same concepts that would have been so familiar to them: Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain [1 Cor. 9:24]. "It is in the running that we obtain. In other words, what is keeping you from the pursuit of arete in the gospel arena," Porter said.
And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. "There was sacrifice involved — sacrifice in diet, in rest, in training, in focus, in all things," Porter said. "The Corinthian Saints knew the regimen. But then, Paul brought them back to reality by saying": Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible [1 Cor. 9:25].
I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air [1 Cor. 9:26]. "There is no certainty, no guarantee, and no sure thing in competition; but still Paul fights. He works. He has real intent."
Porter noted that Elder David O. McKay, in a 1928 General Conference address, expressed similar thoughts in these terms:
True education does not consist merely in the acquiring of a few facts of science, history, literature or art, but in the development of character. True education awakens a desire to conserve health by keeping the body clean and undefiled. True education trains in self-denial and self-mastery. True education regulates the temper, subdues passion, and makes obedience to social laws and moral order a guiding principle of life. It develops reason and invocates faith in the living God as the eternal loving father of all.
"Most of our lives are spent doing common things. It is the way we do these common things and how we approach them that determines in large part whether we become someone who owns them or simply rents them for a time," Porter said. He illustrated this by noting a mission is a time of development. "It is not an end. It is a blessing offered to those who qualify, a focused instruction and real in-the-field testing. It should not end or diminish when the two-year 'contest' ends."
"Arete is always preparing for the test, the battle, the competition," Dr. Porter continued. "This is the message of the Greeks — the message of balance, the message of greatness, the message of arete."
Following the annual lecture, Les Steward, assistant to the president of the Polynesian Cultural Center, presented Dr. Porter with a $1,000 honorarium; and Leslie Fife, chairman of the Faculty Advisory Committee, announced that English professor Dr. Randal Allred will deliver the 2008 David O. McKay lecture.