Finally, enthusiasm

VERONICA GUARISCO, 2D

From 10.05 of the 8th June onward (maybe even sooner for the luckiest people), the enthusiasm caused by the beginning of summer holidays will surmount every student’s other emotions: stress, tiredness, anxiety, boredom will (hopefully) remain as a distant memory until next September. So far, so good. But would you be able to define this word, and have you ever wondered what “enthusiasm” means exactly? To prevent your brain from overheating, now that we can (partially) avoid it, I’ve carried out some research, or rather, I typed the 10 letters and then copied and pasted the etymology up here. Indeed, the noun comes from the Greek word enthousiasmos, from ἐν (en, “in”), θεός (theós, “god”) and οὐσία (ousía, “essence”), meaning “inspired by [a] god’s essence”. It may come as a surprise to many people, when they first look up the word enthusiasm, to see that its original meaning has to do with passion for religion, rather than passionate or eager interest in general. A brief explanation of the word’s origins should clear this up, considering that enthusiasm entered the English language around the beginning of the 17th century. Applied by the Greeks to manifestations of divine possession, by Apollo (as in the case of the Pythia), or by Dionysus (as in the case of the Bacchantes and Maenads), the term enthusiasm was also used in a transferred or figurative sense. Socrates, for instance, affirmed that poetic inspiration is a form of enthusiasm. From this originated a 4th Century Syrian sect that was known as the Enthusiasts. They believed that “by perpetual prayer, ascetic practices and contemplation, man could become inspired by the Holy

Spirit, in spite of the ruling evil spirit, which the fall had given to him”. During the years that immediately followed the Glorious Revolution, “enthusiasm” was a British pejorative term for advocacy of any political or religious cause in public, i. e. (id est = that is) fanaticism. Such “enthusiasm” was seen in the time around 1700 as the cause of the previous century’s English Civil War and its attendant atrocities, and thus it was an absolute social sin to remind others of the war by engaging in enthusiasm. The Royal Society laws stipulated that any person discussing religion or politics at a Society meeting was to be summarily ejected for being an “enthusiast.” During the 18th century, popular Methodists such as John Wesley or George Whitefield were accused of blind enthusiasm, a charge against which they defended themselves by distinguishing fanaticism from “religion of the heart.” In short, it was originally used in a derogatory sense to describe excessive religious zeal, but today both the religious and derogatory connotations are gone from enthusiasm: only the zeal has survived. In modern usage, enthusiasm refers to intense enjoyment, interest, or approval expressed by a person, often related to playfulness, inventiveness, optimism and high energy. Giving the above, that of enthusiasm is not a mindset that is reduced to mere participatory excitement. It’s something much deeper, powerful and massive, the awakening of a force that dominates us through which there is no goal that is not at hand, no obstacle that cannot be broken through, no collectivity that cannot be overwhelmed and involved. It is the active, centered and smiling mood of the mind that opens to the endless fullness of dreams. All this is to greet you: have a great summer my dear readers, I can’t wish you anything better than days full of enthusiasm!