I AM at leisure. My mind is under no distraction.
In this freedom from distraction,
what shall I do? Have I anything more becoming
a man than this? You, when you have
nothing to do, are restless ; you go to the theatre,
or perhaps to bathe. Why should not the philosopher
polish his reasoning? You have fine
crystal and myrrhin vases; I have acute forms
of reasoning. To you, all you have appears
little; to me, all I have great. Your appetite
is insatiable; mine is satisfied. When children
thrust their hand into a narrow jar of nuts and
figs, if they fill it they cannot get it out again;
then they fall a-crying. Drop a few of them
and you will get out the rest. And do you too
drop your desire; do not covet many things,
and you will get some.
EPICTETUS. DISCOURSES. Book iii. §9. ¶1, 2.
Wow my mind is frequently if not always under "a distraction". My question is what should life look like... what components do I want my life to have... Do I do away and gradually decrease the rest of my life like superfluous chaff? Some hard questions and possibly hard answers on a wintry Friday morning. Hmmmm...
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