Notes From The Week #30

What’s good my people. I hope everyone is well. Manchester United won this weekend and it really looks like we’re getting back to a system that will provide us with success. The transformation that Erik ten Hag has overseen in the past 7 months is remarkable. Glory Glory Man United! Let’s get into the notes for this week.

The Necessity of Mentorship

Alexander The Great and Aristotle

In the year 342 B.C. the King Philip II of Macedonia invited Aristotle to teach his 12 year old son Alexander. Aristotle accepted to undertake the education of Alexander and the children of Macedonian nobles in the Temple of the Nymphs near Naoussa. Many of these students would become Alexander’s friends and future generals. Aristotle taught Alexander and his friends about medicine, philosophy, morals, religion, logic, and art. Under Aristotle’s tutelage, Alexander developed a passion for the works of Homer. Aristotle gave him an annotated copy, which Alexander later carried on his campaigns.

From the literature we have of the life of Alexander the Great we see Aristotle’s influence was most evident in Alexander’s personality. For Aristotle there are three conditions for man to become good and important, these three conditions are physis, ethos and logos. Alexander possessed the excellent physis (nature) and the ethos (education)—that allowed him to develop the penetrating intellect (logos) of a man of excellence. Alexander placed honour and self-restraint above everything. In his personal life, he did not indulge in sexual excesses and practiced the same self-control with his consumption of food.

Among Alexander’s political activities, most impressive was the founding of city-states, the most famous one being that of Alexandria in Egypt for which he had a very ambitious vision. Alexander’s founding of cities can be tied almost directly to Aristotle’s ideas on the city. According to Aristotle, the city (as a result of its self-sufficiency) provided the frame that secured human life and allowed its prosperity.

It’s important to state that while a great degree of humility is required from the mentee—the mentee should be sure to acknowledge that there may be elements of the teaching and guidance provided that may not translate directly for them. In other words, it’s important to understand your own context and filter accordingly. Anecdotes of how a particular challenge was overcome by your mentor may need to be reworked to fit the unique expression of your life. This is something that even Alexander had to do. Alexander learned various things from Aristotle, but he did not uncritically obey all those instructions. He realised that ‘he could conquer a world empire from the back of his horse, but he could not rule it from the back of his horse’. From Egypt to the sea, Alexander the Great formed a consolidated bridge among the lands and people.

As we venture on our own odysseys it will be important to have models we can refer to. It is crucial that we have people who can provide wisdom, encouragement and inspiration for us along our journeys. There will be moments where we will feel disheartened, uninspired and tired—its important in those moments that we have a system of accountability to keep us on track.

Pass The Aux

I saw this video during the week and it provides a very helpful framework for assessing and understanding the trajectory of our lives.

Until next week. Peace.