Why Light Is Thumos: Sunlight, Courage, and the Photographer’s Soul
Check out this big tree that has fallen here in the Centennial Arboretum.
What’s poppin people? It’s Dante.
Today, I’m thinking about thumos and light — and why I believe that light ultimately is thumos, in a way.
What Is Thumos?
Thumos means spiritedness.
Plato, in The Republic, describes thumos as:
- Courage
- Honor
- A sort of indignation
- That deep willpower somebody possesses within their heart
I think about thumos in the context of Achilles in the Iliad — driven by that kind of rage, that fire, that relentless hunger for honor.
The Child and the Forest
“When I think of thumos and spiritedness, I think of a child.”
For me, when I was a boy, I would explore in the forest. I remember climbing trees as tall as these in the canopy. I’d be so high that if I fell, I’d die.
I’d build teepees with sticks, sharpen spears, try to hunt deer. I had this inner thumos when I was born. This call to adventure.
Maybe modern society sucks it out of you as you get older.
But I can tell you — since I was a boy — I had this inner explorer within me.
Light Charges the Soul
Now thumos in the context of light — that’s where it gets interesting.
I look at it practically. Light gives me energy. Fire. Fuel.
When I wake up for the sunrise and let the light pour into my eyes, I’m literally:
- Setting my circadian rhythm
- Rising with the sun
- Sleeping with the sun
- Regenerating my cells
- Recharging my spirit
“Jesus famously says that your eye is the window to the soul.”
So maybe, by letting the sunlight enter your eyes, with no sunglasses,
you’re literally charging your soul.
Courage Is Core
The word courage comes from cor — meaning heart.
And thumos is that exact same thing.
“Courage, I think, is the number one virtue to possess as a human.”
Crossing the Creek
Here I am at a stream. I remember, as a little boy, I’d make bridges with stones to cross these.
And now at 29 years old, I’m doing the same.
Still building, still crossing, still living my childhood dream.
“It requires courage to go out into the open world. To move your body, frankly.”
Because when you’re out there, anything can happen.
A tree could fall and kill you — like the one you just saw down on the road.
Light = Energy = Courage
I believe courage, spiritedness, thumos — it all stems from light.
Not in some mystical woo-woo way.
But in a physical, tangible, practical way.
By aligning with the light —
letting it beam through your eyes —
you wake up refreshed, rejuvenated, powerful.
That physiological power becomes spiritual power.
It gives you the courage to move.
The curiosity to explore.
The fire to conquer.
Soul As Body
Forget the mystical. What if your body is your soul?
“Realistically, when you consider your physical body as the soul, it sets things into perspective.”
So for me, thumos isn’t abstract.
It’s in the sunlight.
It’s in the trees.
It’s in the clean air.
It’s in the movement.
It’s in the testosterone firing from walking under the sun.
It’s in the physiology of it all.
Photography as a Spiritual Practice
“What is our goal as photographers? To follow the light. To wield the light. To draw with light.”
Photography = Light + Surface
Phos (φως) = Light
Graphei (γραφει) = Drawing
We draw with light.
We etch moments into eternity.
“Maybe you can’t live forever, but at least you can make a photograph.”
Let the Soul Live On
By photographing the light — by photographing life —
maybe pieces of your soul can live on.
So practice photography with courage.
With thumos.
“By taking the light and bringing it to flesh… our spirit will live on through the work we create.”
Final Word
Yeah, maybe I shouldn’t put my Ricoh in my pocket… too much dirt out here.
But the message is simple:
Follow the light.