I’ve been explaining the vast upside to thumos, emphasizing how it’s essential to spiritual growth and to a life well lived for all, and especially men.  But as you’ve probably sensed by now, this animating and spirited quality that’s tightly connected to our will and our willingness also has the potential to misfire and go bad.  In fact, this is one of the most strenuous concerns on which I receive feed back during conferences.  “Aren’t you worried that guys will get out of hand if they tap into this thumos you talk about?”

Yes, I am concerned about thumos getting out of hand, and I take steps to curtail this possibility.  But—and here’s where things get interesting—I’m equally worried that men won’t tap into it at all.  That likewise causes destruction, but because the damage isn’t as obvious or apparent we tend not to think much about that side of the equation.  This is one of the blind spots of Defensive Spirituality; we develop it when we adhere to the mindset that avoiding risk and remaining inconspicuous is somehow more “Christian” than actually risking a mistake.

Thumos is like gasoline.  It can help get an innocent victim to a hospital in order to save her life.  It can also take that same woman’s life if someone hits her with a Molotov cocktail filled with gasoline.  Its benefit and detriment depend in large part on how it’s refined, handled, and applied.

Let’s take a look at the positive aspect, what I call noble thumos.  And then we’ll look at the negative, what I call shadow thumos.

Noble thumos is redemptive, heroic, sacrificial, and tethered to the extension of love, and once again, to transcendent causes larger than our own ego and appetites.  It’s service-based, the superior but paradoxical form of leadership that Christ calls us to embrace.  We’re used to hearing how Jesus wants us to be servants, but our contemporary understanding of servanthood gives us the wrong impression.