Remember, then, if you deem what is by nature slavish to be free, and what is not your own to be yours, you will be shackled and miserable, blaming both gods and other people.”
Epictetus, Enchiridion, 1.3
We’ve talked a dozen times, or more, about one of Stoicism’s core principles: don’t concern ourselves with things beyond our control.
Fun fact: when we’re focused on an optimistic future, we’re convincing ourselves that a good future is a fact, but in reality it’s completely unknown AND outside of our control.
Optimism, when unchecked by an appreciation of reality, can cause someone to die of a broken heart because while they’re busy focusing on a future in which they have no control, their opportunities to practice being present slip away, one moment after another. They watch optimism-imposed way-markers pass them by, one after another, on their journey. Their minds aren’t focused on what’s theirs and the present moment, their minds are dwelling in a non-existent future.
Focus on what’s ours alone, and insist that our minds live in the reality-informed present moment, because without reality informing our present moment, it’ll be default-informed, instead, by delusion and false-truths.
(See y’all tomorrow)
Fun fact: when we’re focused on an optimistic future, we’re convincing ourselves that a good future is a fact, but in reality it’s completely unknown AND outside of our control.
Optimism, when unchecked by an appreciation of reality, can cause someone to die of a broken heart because while they’re busy focusing on a future in which they have no control, their opportunities to practice being present slip away, one moment after another. They watch optimism-imposed way-markers pass them by, one after another, on their journey. Their minds aren’t focused on what’s theirs and the present moment, their minds are dwelling in a non-existent future.
Focus on what’s ours alone, and insist that our minds live in the reality-informed present moment, because without reality informing our present moment, it’ll be default-informed, instead, by delusion and false-truths.
(See y’all tomorrow)
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