Earlier times may not have understood it any better than we do, but
they weren't as embarrassed to name it: the life force or spark
thought close to divine. It is not. Instead, it's something that makes
those who have it fully human, and those who don't look like sleep
walkers...It isn't enough to make someone heroic, but without it
any hero will be forgotten. Rousseau called it force of soul; Arendt
called it love of the world. It's the foundation of Eros; you may call
it charisma. Is it a gift of the gods, or something that has to be
earned? Watching such people, you will sense that it's both: given
like perfect pitch, or grace, that no one can deserve or strive for,
and captured like the greatest of prizes it is. Having it makes people
think more, see more, feel more. More intensely, more keenly,
more loudly if you like; but not more in the way of the gods. On
the contrary, next to heroes like Odysseus and Penelope, the gods
seem oddly flat. They are bigger, of course, and they live forever,
but their presence seems diminished...The gods of The Odyssey
aren't alive, just immortal; and with immortality most of the
qualities we cherish become pointless. With nothing to risk, the
gods need no courage.