Feeling Ambitious

We studied greatness as it concerns wealth and greatness as it concerns pride. The former has to do with spending money and the latter has to do with noble acts. There are extremes to both; deficiency and excess. And we explored the proper application of each as it is commonly understood by normal rational people. This proper application is called the mean, where virtue is found. With these there are also degrees. A person can have enough to just get by all the way up to being considered rich. One can be considered honorable by a few all the way to being considered a great person by the masses. The degree doesn't change the principles of recognizing deficiency, excess and the mean. We should be doing what we ought to regardless of where we are in life.

To conclude the study on pride, we will look at a common form of pride called ambition. This isn't greatness but leads to it. As in other virtues, this not only has a proper application called the mean but it is according to the right sources and done the right way. An overly ambitious person will go after the wrong things or go about it the wrong way to try to seek honor. A lazy person doesn't care about what is noble or honorable. Sometimes the lazy person is treated with more respect because he doesn't step on peoples toes. There is nothing wrong with seeking success, but we despise those who go about it in the wrong way or who want the wrong things. To have the right amount of ambition is admirable and sought after but we don’t really have a word that describes it. What is the right amount of honor a person should seek before he is being unrealistic? We do know that we shouldn't be lazy and we should seek worthy goals.  The right amount of ambition is found between the extremes of being over-zealous and indifferent.

Now on to anger….