MEN are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things. Death, for instance, is not terrible, else it would have appeared so to Socrates. But the terror consists in our notion of death that it is terrible. When therefore we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved, let us never impute it to others, but to ourselves; that is, to our own principles. It is the action of an uninstructed person to lay the fault of his own bad condition upon others; of one entering upon instruction to lay the fault on himself; and of one perfectly instructed, neither on others nor on himself.
EPICTETUS. MANUAL. 5.
If we are consciously doing everything that we can, we can no longer blame ourselves for the outcome. We do what we can and then let it go. BUT, we must be actively doing everything that we can. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is the Stoic practice of correctly understanding (i.e. making proper use of) Appearances. It is important to see things (events etc) for what they really are, divorced from a value judgement. Then, understanding what 'it' is, place the correct value.
ReplyDeleteWe are disturbed, not by the things that happen to us, but by the opinions that we form concerning them. First see the thing for what it truly is. Only then, when we understand it, can we say that is a good thing, or that it is a bad thing. The uninstructed blame others for their pain. The instructed blame themselves. The free blame neither.
ReplyDeleteWe all greet circumstances with our particular filter that we wear. We need to look at the circumstance, situation or thing to see it as it really is. Then, once we understand it, we can determine if it is a good or a bad. We can act on everything that is within our control and then let the rest go without blame or condemnation.
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