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ENTHUSIASM

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 654 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ENTHUSIASM , a word originally meaning See also:

inspiration by a divine afflatus or by the presence of a See also:god. The Gr. h'Oov rtaquos, from which the word is adapted, is formed from the verb EvOovcA-ecv, to be EpO os, possessed by a god (Nos). Applied by the Greeks to manifestations of divine " See also:possession," by See also:Apollo, as in the See also:case of the Pythia, or by See also:Dionysus, as in the case of the Bacchantes and See also:Maenads, it was also used in a transferred or figurative sense; thus See also:Socrates speaks of the inspiration of poets as a See also:form of enthusiasm (See also:Plato, Apol. See also:Soc. 22 e). Its uses, in a religious sense, are confined to an exaggerated or wrongful belief in religious inspiration, or to intense religious fervour or emotion. Thus a Syrian See also:sect of the 4th See also:century was known as " the Enthusiasts "; they believed that by perpetual See also:prayer, ascetic practices and contemplation, See also:man could become inspired by the See also:Holy Spirit, in spite of the ruling evil spirit, which the fall had given to him. From their belief in the efficacy of prayer WV?), they were also known as Euchites. In See also:ordinary usage, " enthusiasm " has lost its See also:peculiar religious significance, and means a whole-hearted devotion to an ideal, cause, study or pursuit; sometimes, in a depreciatory sense, it implies a devotion which is See also:partisan and is ,See also:blind to difficulties and objections.

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