Ethos Pathos Logos

A man walks up to the pearly gates and the Lord looks down on him and says, “We don’t know of anything particularly good or bad you have done in your lifetime, so tell us a story that will persuade us in a certain ... direction.”

The man looks up, nervous and shaking, “ Well, uh, here's a story. One day, when I was driving down a rural highway, I saw a gang beating up on a child. I immediately pulled over. I popped my collar, put my sunglasses on and ran out at them, yelling, 'Hey you bullies, if you want to hurt him, you’ll have to go through me first.’”

The Lord smiled down and said, “Very good, very, very good, when was this?”

“About 5 minutes ago.”

Persuasion is designed as a way to change our thinking, which, in turn, thus changes our beliefs and finally, thus our lives. We do this with using ethos, pathos and logos.

Ethos is the ethical appeal where we convince an audience of our credibility and/or character. It's not the Universe you're convincing. Neither is it not the Law you're convincing...it's yourself.

Pathos is the use of persuading audience through an emotional appeal, to make the audience feel what we want felt. Pathos is the Greek word for “experience,” using meaningful language, emotional tone, and emotion to evoke examples and visualizations in the mind of the audience. Again, it's not the Law you're convincing....it's you.

Logos is the technique used to convince an audience by the use of logic or reason, citing Truth, analogies, descriptions, and authorities on the subject or mystics of the subject discussed, by constructing logical arguments to persuade the audience to your belief. Logos is the Greek term for “word” or “that by which the inward thought is expressed" or "the inward thought itself." Logic is a great way to persuade oneself of the need to change thought, feeling and belief.

Whether you use ethos, pathos, logos or all three; your audience is not the Universe, your audience is not the Law...your audience is YOU!

The Power of Decision tells us:

The creative process awaits your decision and your calm acceptance of the necessary work on your part following the decision. Idea follows idea as you proceed in the work of bringing to pass that which you decided would now be.  ~Raymond Charles Barker

This decision comes through self-persuasion, not manipulation. Manipulation is coercion, through force, to get someone to do something that is not in their own interest. We are not of the philosophy that forcing is useful. In fact, it is a negative tactic that usually attracts negativity, not resolution; and this is something that is, of course, not in our own interest.

Persuasion is the art of getting ourselves to think things that are in our own best interest, different than those old mental habits that no longer serve our True selves. Sometimes that means getting out of our lack and limitation comfort zones. Let me tell you a story:

One cowardly person came to his sensei, his teacher of martial arts and asked to be taught bravery. The master looked at him and said, “I will teach you only with one condition: one month you will have to live in a big city and tell every person that you meet on your way that you are a coward. You will have to say it loudly, openly and looking straight into the person’s eyes.”

The person became quite troubled, as this task seemed very scary and uncomfortable. For a couple of days he was very depressed and frightened, but to live with his cowardice was so unbearable, that he finally was able to persuade himself to travel to the city to accomplish his mission.

At first, when meeting the passers, he cowered, lost his speech and couldn’t make contact with anyone. But he knew he needed to finish the master’s task, so he made the decision to overcome himself. He took a deep breath and when he came up to his first passer, trembling he told him about about his cowardice. It seemed he would die from fear and shame. But with each passing day, his voice sounded louder and more confident. Suddenly, there came a moment, when the man caught himself thinking that he’s not scared anymore, and the further he continued doing the master’s task, the more logical it seemed and thus the more convinced he was that the fear was abandoning him. After a month had passed, the person came back to the master, bowed to him and said, “Thank you, sensei. I finished your task. Now I’m not afraid anymore. But how did you know that this strange task will help me?”

“The thing is,” the master answered, “cowardice is only a habit. And by doing the things that scare us, we can destroy the stereotypes and histories and the past to come to a conclusion like you came to. And now you know that bravery is also a habit. And if you want to make bravery a part of yourself, you need to move forward into and through the fear. Then the fear will go away, and bravery will take its place. 

We don't have to persuade the Law to receive a graceful life. We don't even have to persuade the Law we want a graceful life. We have to persuade ourselves we have a graceful life!

Persuasion is clearly a sort of demonstration, since we are most fully persuaded when we consider a thing to have been demonstrated.       ~Aristotle

We demonstrate our desires, when we require them to show up in our lives!

But how, you may ask? How do we persuade ourselves? It's as easy as one, two, three....

1) Remembering who we are...

2) Feeling the feeling of living the life...

  Role playing, like you did as a child. Fully involved in telling the story and living the story, using your imagination to experience and feel the story in mind, heart, and soul.

3) Understanding, seeing, and accepting the logic of how the Universe works on your desires, requirements and ideas, (f)actualizing them into your life.

Think of a belief you want to change and answer these questions from INSTANT INFLUENCE by Dr. Michael Pantalon.

1. How ready are you to change, on a scale from 1-10, where 1 means “not ready at all” and 10 means “totally ready”?

2. Why didn’t you pick a lower number?

3. Imagine you’ve changed your thinking. What would the positive outcomes be?

4. Why are those outcomes important to you?

5. What’s the next step, if any?

Now, I don't want to know what you are “supposed” to do, I want to know what are you going to do. You see, to persuade is to imagine it, to feel it, to see the logic in it as a part of your life....and then to bravely be it.

Bravely step out of your comfort zones and persuade, through ethos, pathos and logos, your new direction in magnificence to fruition.

Affirmation

This Is What I Know...  

I trust the vibrant power in my heart to tap into the manifesting Law, bringing joy into my life.  The evidence is tangible and the authority is solid. I am passionate about these best practices in my life:  revealing the Divinity within me, vibrating at the speed of this Divinity in all I think, feel and do, and busting through any beliefs that no longer serve me or the greater good.                       

I Soar and Zoom Into Graceful Living!