The fundamental fact that I acknowledge and affirm in Thumotics* is that we are alive. We have thumos, spirit, that which makes alive.
Everything else I present with regard to Thumotics emerges from the fundamental fact that we are alive rather than not.
Being mindful of being alive moves me to a state of wonder: Wonder of wonders! I am alive! You are alive! We are alive together! I want to constantly live in this state of wonder.
Since I do not know why we are alive, being alive is a great mystery to me: Mystery of mysteries! I am alive! You are alive! We are alive together! I want to constanlty live with this sense of mystery.
Descartes declared, "I think, therefore I am." I declare, "I am alive, therefore I pulse, breathe, hunger, thirst, see, hear, smell, touch, taste, feel pain and pleasure, emote, desire, imagine, think, speak, choose, move, and take action. The only reason I exist and can do anything, is because I am spirited and alive. Everything flows from being alive rather than not.
Since I am alive rather than not, I feel the drive to remain alive. This drive inheres in spirit. It propels me to do whatever I need to do to live. I am always answering with my actions the question, "What will I do to remain alive?"
I am not alone. I am alive because of others: my parents and ancestors before them, but also because of farmers, physicians, scientists, law enforcement officers, military personnel, and countless others.
I live with you and all other living beings who are also driven to remain alive. So, I am always answering the question with my actions, "How will I live well with others?" How will we treat each other and all other living beings with whom we share this planet we call Earth?
*Thumotics is an umbrella term based on the Ancient Greek word for spirit, thumos. It includes thumology, thumotherapy, thumotic spirituality, and thumotic theology.
