Here is what Wikipedia has to say about enthusiasm: “(Greek: enthousiasmos) originally meant inspiration or possession by a divine afflatus or by the presence of a God. Johnson’s Dictionary, the first comprehensive dictionary of the English language, divines enthusiasm as “a vain belief of private revelation; a vain confidence of divine favour or communication.” In vernacular English today the word simply means intense enjoyment, interest or approval.”
I think that in addition to the intense enjoyment or interest of modern usage that Wikipedia refers to, it also has the added dimension of meaning, so that enthusiasm becomes intense meaningful enjoyment, or intense meaningful interest, or our enthusiasm for a political candidate would equate to intense meaningful approval.
According to Emerson, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” So if that is true, that greatness in any endeavor requires enthusiasm, then we better make sure we have it before we set off on our journey to greatness. But where do we get it?
Is it something that we discover within us that has just been concealed by the imprint of past experiences of frustration and failure? Or is it something that just appears when the time is right, like an auspicious alignment of the planets? Or is enthusiasm more like a stack of dry wood in the fireplace, just waiting for someone to ignite it with a match? Or is it a psychological disorder, like ADD, and the person with the affliction sometimes gets lucky and achieves greatness? After all, Hitler achieved greatness with his enthusiasm, but his was a greatness of brutality, death, and horror. He definitely had a psychological disorder.
Susan Rabin said “Enthusiasm is contagious. Be a carrier.” That’s a positive thought. But it’s also a scary thought. Look at how many people were infected with Hitlermania in Nazi Germany. Look at how many people were killed in the name of God by enthusiastic religious zealots. How many men became carriers of the contagious HIV virus because of their intense enjoyment (enthusiasm) of gay sex?
Enthusiasm without consciousness wreaks havoc. Slavery in the United States was the result of enthusiastic slave traders and land owners enthusiastic about free labor. Native Americans were decimated as a result of the enthusiastic cry of “Manifest Destiny.”
Stalin was enthusiastic; so was Pol Pot. If a killer becomes enthusiastic, a city has on its hands is a violent crime wave. Enthusiasm in the hands of terrorists leads to more terror; in the hands of bank robbers, more bank robberies.
So what do we do? The only thing we can do, I suppose, is to be responsible. Enthusiasm is power. With it great people can accomplish great things, but if misguided, they can perpetuate great evil and destruction.
This is one of the shortfalls of traditional personal development. It tells people to become enthusiastic without looking at the whole picture. We have more than outer dimensions. We are spiritual beings sharing this planet. We need to attend to our emotional, intellectual, physical, and most importantly, our spiritual dimensions. Without it, our enthusiasm at best will lead to nothing but lopsided growth, at worst, delusion and destruction.
We need enthusiasm. But unless there is the enthusiasm to be a whole person, someone with true perception, with consciousness, with self-giving love, then it is better to leave enthusiasm alone.
Enthusiasm without the proper foundation is like turning over the controls of a jet aircraft to someone who doesn’t know how to fly. Just because he has enthusiasm doesn’t make it right. Knowledge, skill, patience, discipline have to be developed first. To ignore the prerequisites is to invite disaster.
When you have the enthusiasm that comes from connecting to the source of your being, then your enthusiasm is of tremendous benefit on your spiritual journey. Everything you do will have the inner sweetness of love, as everything you do will be an expression of your inner attainment with oneness. This is the enthusiasm that carries you forward on the path to deeper levels of spiritual understanding and perception. This is the enthusiasm that is truly contagious as it is a reflection of our infinite nature.
This is the enthusiasm that enabled Gandhi to galvanize the people of India together to throw out the British Empire. This is the enthusiasm that gave the power to Nelson Mandela to overcome apartheid in South Africa. This is the enthusiasm that made it possible for Martin Luther King Jr. to have segregation outlawed in the United States.
The enthusiasm of Hitler was of a deranged mind. The enthusiasm of Gandhi was of the heart. Dive deep within and find your inner source, the heart of your being, and with that you will discover the real enthusiasm, the only kind that matters.
