As a philosopher<\/a> and philosophical counselor<\/a>, I research<\/a> the connection between virtue and happiness<\/a>. In particular, I\u2019ve noticed a connection between sophrosyne and eudaimonia, the Greek philosophical concept for happiness<\/a>, or living well.<\/p>\n Harmony of the soul<\/p>\n For the Greeks, sophrosyne represented excellence of character, moderation and self-control<\/a>. It was connected to phronesis, or practical wisdom<\/a>, and stood in marked contrast with hubris: excessive pride, dangerous overconfidence and lack of self-insight. Heraclitus, a philosopher who lived around 500 B.C.E., taught that sophrosyne was the most important virtue<\/a> of all.<\/p>\n Plato, who taught a century later, discussed sophrosyne<\/a> as the ability to know oneself \u2013 and to know when you don\u2019t know something<\/a>. In \u201cRepublic<\/a>,\u201d he likened sophrosyne to a harmony or friendship between the three parts of the soul: reason, spirit and bodily desires.<\/p>\n At the center of \u2018The School of Athens,\u2019 by Raphael, stand Plato and his student, Aristotle. Plato\u2019s student Aristotle<\/a> argued that sophrosyne allows people to strike a balance<\/a> between self-indulgence and self-denial<\/a> \u2013 like someone who tries to get the right amount of physical exercise<\/a>, neither too much nor too little. Aristotle taught that it was a virtue developed through practice<\/a>, just like training for a sport or learning to play a musical instrument. <\/p>\n Sound-mindedness, in short, is not inborn but must be learned.<\/p>\n Discipline and discernment<\/p>\n I believe sophrosyne is still essential for the good life, the life of eudaimonia<\/a> \u2013 happiness and human flourishing. It\u2019s not a transitory feeling, but a sense of being your best self. This involves a kind of satisfaction that is not possible without self-knowledge and self-control. <\/p>\n What\u2019s more, it requires the ability to discriminate between the good and the bad, the true and the false \u2013 capacities that are not inborn, but learned through steady practice. Without sophrosyne, it may not be possible to discern what is good for yourself or others. And even if you could, without sophrosyne you might lack the will<\/a> to follow through. <\/p>\n If anything, these qualities might be even more important with the rise of artificial intelligence and social media. In my counseling practice, I\u2019ve worked with people like \u201cBrian,\u201d an idealist who wanted truth and justice to win out over evil and oppression.<\/p>\n The problem was that he didn\u2019t know how to vet his sources. As the COVID-19 pandemic raged, Brian fell down a conspiracy theory rabbit hole. He was certain that the condensation left in airplanes\u2019 wake were \u201cchemtrails,\u201d a government brainwashing plot<\/a>, and fumed against the \u201cNew World Order.\u201d Thinking he knew it all, he was no longer open to reasoned dialogue. <\/p>\n Sound-mindedness helps us keep perspective in the sea of information online. But if Brian is an example of the loss of sophrosyne, another person I worked with, \u201cLee,\u201d shows how we can develop it. Lee spent quite a bit of time on social media, but she began to wonder how it was affecting her. She slowed down, took more breaks and started paying more attention to what her mind was doing and to how she was feeling. <\/p>\n As Lee became more self-aware, she realized she was wasting her time. She no longer connected to the reasons she had used social media in the first place. \u201cConsuming social media was making me uneasy. It was like pigging out on junk food,\u201d she told me. \u201cNow I read more books, prepare food and walk during the time I had been spending on social media.\u201d <\/p>\n Ripple effect<\/p>\n For the Greeks, sophrosyne was an ideal second to none. In the 1960s, though, Plato scholars Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns<\/a> lamented that it was no longer \u201camong our ideals.\u201d That seems all the more true today \u2013 and the wider consequences are easy to see. <\/p>\n First, there\u2019s the increase in incivility<\/a>, in all its 21st-century forms \u2013 from road rage<\/a> to cyberbullying<\/a>. After the isolation of the pandemic, there\u2019s even a new term for general social incivility: \u201csocial jet lag<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The decline of sophrosyne can also lead to screen addiction<\/a>, diminished attention span<\/a> and ability to focus<\/a> \u2013 factors that can, in turn, undermine civility. Civility takes sustained awareness of oneself and others.<\/p>\n The consequences go beyond our friends, families and co-workers to democracy itself<\/a>. If sound-mindedness suffers, excessive pride and overconfidence hurt our ability to engage in reasoned dialogue<\/a> and to respect other people\u2019s differences.<\/p>\n Timeless virtue<\/p>\n There are a number of factors, I\u2019d argue, that have led to the loss of sophrosyne, including a decrease in funding<\/a> for education<\/a>, more teaching to the test<\/a> and greater economic<\/a> inequality<\/a>, which leaves less time and energy for things like personal development.<\/p>\n Another is the decline of mentoring relationships<\/a>, which the ancient Greeks<\/a> considered central to intellectual and moral development<\/a>. A true mentoring relationship involves both instruction and leading by example. It\u2019s about character, not success defined by wealth and status. Today, it appears that mentors have largely been replaced by celebrities<\/a> and hero culture<\/a>, with the rich and famous held up as examples worthy of emulation.<\/p>\n I believe the first step toward recovering sophrosyne is to recognize its importance in the good life. The second is to acknowledge its decline. The third is to understand the factors that have led to this decline. <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/file-20260604-57-84egzd.jpg\")
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