What does Eudaimonia mean to you?

A Literary Impulse & Paper Poetry Collaboration Prompt

Image Courtesy: Editorial Literary Impulse

One thing we all seek or think we are seeking is happiness. Happiness. Isn’t it a strange word? Because even if run and run after it, we are never able to understand it. Or do we?

Come to think of it, perhaps, this is one of the biggest reasons we write — We want to understand what Eudaemonia is, for us. What is it, for you?

Of course, you can google all you want. You can read hundreds of essays. A Greek word made famous by Aristotle, who was an earthbound philosopher and polymath, Eudaemonia might be one of the most important words in the lives of humans, some of whom run after fame, some after comfort, and some after power. We are all different. But not so different. We are all on the same boat, which cannot be overturned by mere words-one of them Eudaemonia.

Then why do we need to define what is happiness for us? — is a question I don’t want to answer. Perhaps this is what I’m seeking. Though this prompt, which comes and goes, and brightens the day of mere mortals like me, who want to live a comfortable life. Yes! That is Eudaemonia for me — a walk in the lap of nature. A meditative conversation with the self. And an end of suffering.

And that’s what I ask of you.

Think about it. What does Eudaimonia mean to you? Tell us.

Via words or images or graphics or videos. Do not limit yourself. Be Explosive in your creative renditions. Make us feel what happiness means to you. Do not hold back. This is not just a theme prompt, which might make you a published writer. This is a chance to really understand an important part of yourself.

But before that look into what Aristotle means by Eudaemonia —

“Happiness (eudaemonia) is the activity (being-at-work, energeia) of the soul (psuche) rationally (logos) according with human excellence/virtue (arete) that is pleasurable (hedone) and complete (teleios) and resists fortunes/misfortunes (tuxhe), since humans are special in being discursive (having logos) and naturally political.” [Src. — Joe Sachs’s translation of Nicomachean Ethics]

Let me be more lucid. English style. Let me leave out Greek for now. Pointwise. Like the great empiricists — the famed English Spirit.

The Greek word is ‘Eudaimonia’ but it is spelled ‘eudaemonia,’ in English, derived from Greek: εὐδαιμονία [eu̯dai̯monía]). It is often associated with the word ‘happiness,’ but is more profound in the Greek culture.

In Aristotle’s view, it is a state of serene and permanent happiness, attained through our objective form and actions, for leading us to a sense of good, underpinning well-being happiness. This is a rudimentary idea. A simple version for us modern readers, but does its job. Going further —

It is not a momentary exaltation of the senses, instead of having a good indwelling spirit or being in a contented state of being healthy, happy, and prosperous. ‘Eudaimonic happiness & well-being’ can be achieved through experiences of meaning and purpose.

Now, the rules. They are important.

Submit poems, short fiction, Creative Non-Fiction pieces, Philosophical Essays, Images (with descriptions), or Videos that explicate on the word — EUDAEMONIA. Ramble. But also make a point. Make us understand what it means to you. Look at Aristotle’s definition. You can focus on any which word. You can talk about the relationship between hedone and psuche. You can talk about energeia. You can write long/short poems on a simple moment that meant happiness to you. This is what we will mostly get. And this is perhaps what we look for. Your moments of happiness. How did you feel when you proposed to a person, and they accepted? How did you feel when you were on a trek, and you found a bear near a sparkling lake? How did you feel when you were on a train and someone stole your bags? Do not limit yourself. Be philosophical. Be theoretical. Talk Greek and Latin with us. Make us aware of the new nuances of this wonderful word. We will read you. We will thank you.

In the immortal words of Cromulons (from RICK AND MORTY MULTIVERSE)—

SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT! I WANT TO SEE WHAT YOU GOT!

This prompt is a joint effort. Between Literary Impulse and Paper Poetry. So you can see we are serious. Not as serious as you might fear. He He.
You can submit to either of the two publications. Choose what fits your writing style the most. If you like both, you can submit one for each- LI and PP.
Paper Poetry is a wonderful publication that seeks handwritten words. Along with the words on screened canvas, Paper Poetry encourages writers to express in the coalition of ink and papers, in the form of poetry, prose, journal, notes, or arts and drawing. As we are covered in the autonomous aspects & tracked motions of life, Paper Poetry believes that handwritten words on paper still is essential to spread our literary wings and to speak in scribbles. Please explore the following words of Suntonu Bhadra, from paper Poetry in this regard — Paper Poetry — Starting Journey. An invitation to the Readers and… | by Suntonu Bhadra | Paper Poetry | Medium
Literary Impulse is a quarterly journal whose HIRAETH themed prompt is considered a success, which is what we intend to do with this theme prompt as well. A total of 15 [FIFTEEN](we are selective, Sorry) pieces will be selected — 10 poems and 5 prose, and they will be published as an ebook in GumRoad. We would ask the selected authors to remove their pieces from Medium before publishing them as an e-book, a standard procedure, details of which will be explained later. Though you can always shoot us an email. [[email protected]].
The selection for the anthology will be done from both- the Paper poetry entries as well as submitted to Literary Impulse. We will use grades of Editors of both the zines.
We might select one or two of them for our upcoming Summer’21 Issue edition as well, for which the authors will be paid a nominal semi-pro amount.
The submissions will be published on a rolling basis in both -Literary Impulse and Paper Poetry.
Every submitter for EUDAEMONIA Anthology would be given a coupon code via email, which they can use to purchase a copy of Hiraeth Anthology for 99 Cents. We encourage you to do so, for this will also give you an idea of what we are seeking.
Every submission should have the following elements. Only then they will be eligible for Anthology Selection-

A Kicker of — “Literary Impulse & Paper Poetry “Eudaemonia” Prompt Submission”

Mandatory tags of “Eudaimonia LI PP”, “Literary Impulse”, “Genre-(Poetry, Fiction, CNF, Nonfiction, Photography)”.

At least five writers tagged.

The following image pasted at the end of the piece with the following words — “FOR DETAILS CHECK [What does Eudaimonia mean to you?]”

10. As soon as you make the submission on Medium, please email us to “[email protected]” which has a two-line bio of yours, the link to your draft, and links to your social media handles (specifically Twitter) so that we can feature you.

11. The anthology will be published in the month of May. It will start from February 01, 2021, and go till March 14, 2021. So you have a total of forty-two days — 42 — The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.

A lot of time. Though, we will ask you to submit as soon as possible because, as you must have noticed, we accept pieces on a rolling basis. So it might happen that we close the prompt before time when our Anthology gets ready.

12. Now pick up your pens and make us happy with your thoughts/musings on happiness. It is Spring after all. A symbol of Eudaimonia across cultures and time.

— -Rahul S.(Editorial Literary Impulse)

Medium Editors — Priyanka Srivastava Somsubhra Banerjee

We are inviting the below writers to contribute with their amazing writings to the above theme, if and when possible :

Paroma Sen William J Spirdione David Rudder James G Brennan Upasana Sharma Ruchi Thalwal Dennett Amy Marley Jessica Lee McMillan Enne Baker Shalini C Lubna Yusuf Gabriela Marie Milton Sanka Rathnabarana Imad Era Garg Aparna Das Sadhukhan Joe Barca Daniel A. Teo Amy Jasek