# "Being" as the living experiencing self



## raptor

Hello,

I'm trying to translate the word 'being' in the sense of the self that is living and experiencing the world (preferably in the active sense if possible i.e. not just passively being alive, being 'a living being' or even 'a human being' but also involve the sense of active living, doing, experiencing, etc).

The context is just the phrase "the cultivation of being" which is intended to convey a sense of not only the individual self but also the way the person acts/lives their life, according to (cultivated) principles.

Thanks in advance!


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## Scholiast

Salvete

Hmm. Interesting question. Something tells me this may turn into a lengthy thread.

If this were the Greek Forum, it would be fairly easy to answer, for in the realm of ontology Plato and Aristotle (as well as some pre-Socratics) developed a language which would entirely meet these requirements. But Romans weren't philosophers, and Cicero sometimes had to wonder about how to translate Greek philosophical terms into Latin.

We might have to go to the Schoolmen for _essentia_, which is Aquinas' term for Aristotle's οῦσἰα (_ousia_).

Quid sentiunt commilitones?


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## raptor

Anyone else have input on this question?  Should I just use _essentia_ then?  It seems somewhat close based on the definition on Latin-dictionary.net, but it would be nice to also have the connotations I mentioned above regarding active experiencing, living and working towards a set of cultivated principles.


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## wandle

Could you give an example sentence with the phrase 'cultivation of being' used in the sense you intend?


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## raptor

Well the phrase is being used as a subtitle for a manuscript I'm writing, but here's something along the lines of what I mean:

"The cultivation of each individual's being is paramount in the goal of shaping a peaceful and moral community."

"As a person experiences the world, they change themselves according to their understanding of the context - in order to encourage this development in a moral direction, the cultivation of one's being must be understood as an active and continuous process, much the same as the experience of living itself."

"Cultivating one's being extends to all aspects of oneself: the physical body, the mind, one's personality, one's understanding of principles and the application of such understanding.  It is to develop oneself not only as a moral human or as one devoted to a set of principles: it is to develop the self as an individual, eternally learning and becoming greater than oneself."


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## wandle

That broad sense of 'being' is one for which, as Scholiast points out, classical Latin had no familiar term.

I would suggest the phrase _*mentis corporisque cultus*_, 'the cutivation of mind and body'.

The noun *cultus* can express both the development of character and the care or training of the body.
The phrase _*mentis corporisque*_ embraces all aspects of a human being, mental, spiritual, physical etc. It should not be seen as a limiting expression, but one giving full scope to *cultus*.


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## raptor

What about the terms *anima/animus*, *mos*, *ars*, or *ingenium*?  Just because the physical aspects of the cultivation aren't as highly emphasized as that of the character of a person.

*'Mentis morisque cultus'*?


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## wandle

raptor said:


> the phrase is being used as a subtitle for a manuscript ...
> Cultivating one's being extends to all aspects of oneself


To meet these requirements, that is, to cover all aspects of the self, while remaining brief enough for a subtitle, we need a single phrase which is all-inclusive. That is the point of *mentis corporisque cultus*.

English 'mind' is often thought of as just the intellect. Latin *mens* is far wider than that. It covers any possiblities of human life which we would not call bodily. The one word *mens* may embrace all the potentials corresponding to *animus*, *mos*, *ars*, or *ingenium*, and more besides; or, depending on context, it may mean a single aspect of mind or personality.

The point of joining it with *corpus* is to show that we intend to express the combination of all human potentials. If we leave out *corpus*, that implication disappears and there is then nothing to show that *mens* is intended to cover its full range of meaning: it could be any individual aspect. 

Another point is that *mos* means will, habit, custom, character: this is the outcome of the individual's choices or preferences, the end product of the personality rather than the raw material which could be formed or directed; *ars*, a particular skill or habit, again expresses a result or outcome. Thus these are not natural objects for *cultus*, or cultivation, to be applied to: they are rather the result or product of *cultus*.


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## raptor

Thanks for the detailed explanation wandle!


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## fdb

Scholiast said:


> We might have to go to the Schoolmen for _essentia_, which is Aquinas' term for Aristotle's οῦσἰα (_ousia_).



Lewis/Short has references for essentia from Quintilian and Seneca. I think that is classical enough.


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## Scholiast

Salvete!


> Lewis/Short has references for essentia from Quintilian and Seneca. I think that is classical enough.


And not only that: Sen._Ep. _58.6 there quoted refers the word to Cicero ("Ciceronem auctorem huius verbi habeo").
Thanks, fdb - I still have no convenient access to my books and I am always happy to be corrected.
In the circumstances, raptor may care to think again on this.

Σ


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