It is obvious to any thinking person that we need a different way of life from the one we have adopted as the “Western way”, one that will lead us to a new point of reference that will mark the course of our lives. In Ancient Greek tragedy, at the climax of the drama, when the problems and the conflicts experienced by the protagonists led to a dead end, the “deus ex machina” would unexpectedly appear to provide a solution.

We turn to Philosophy from ancient times to the present day, with the help of Psychology and Tradition in the search for another way of life. The “Ef zin” (Welfare) program is based on Ancient Greek Philosophical Thought and is identified with the human being living according to the virtues. (Aristotle, N.E.1098a). The “Ef Zin” refers to true well-living achieved by cultivating the Virtues of the soul in contrast to false well-living as a result of seeking meaning in life by investing exclusively in material goods. Through the process of self-knowledge, “know thyself”, the Virtues of the soul are cultivated (Alcibiades 132c-133c).

The virtuous life, “ef zin”, is a mixed life. (Plato, Philebus). Eudaimonia is the ultimate goal of “ef zin” and the culmination of a journey that begins with “know thyself” and does not concern us in the present. We are concerned with the journey, as Cavafy tells us in “Ithaca”. The path to eudaimonia, achieved through “know thyself,” begins when I ask myself questions and I have queries about everyday issues. To get to know myself, to cultivate the virtues that are embedded in my nature.

Virtues move the soul to its depths, to the subconscious and the unconscious, as Carl Jung’s depth Analytical Psychology tells us, where our traumas reside as living experiences of the past, as the science of psychoanalysis tells us. Philosophy today is largely disconnected from our everyday lives. It constitutes a field of research addressed to specialists. However, Philosophy was born to enable human to understand the nature around him, to overcome the fears that natural phenomena caused him, and then to understand his own nature, “know thyself” to create communication bridges with himself, with his fellow human beings, and then to actualize his potential.

And “Take the road that is opposite to the usual and you will almost always do well” (Jean-Jacques Rousseau).