CHOOSE rather to punish your appetites than
to be punished by them.
EPICTETUS. FRAGMENTS. 108.
WHEN you have shut your doors, and darkened
your room, remember never to say that you
are alone, for you are not; but God is within, and
your genius is within; and what need have they
of light to see what you are doing? To this God
you likewise ought to swear such an oath as the
soldiers do unto Caesar. For do they, in order to
receive their pay, swear to prefer before all things
the safety of Caesar; and will you not swear, who
have received so many and so great favours, or if
you have sworn, will you not stand to it? And
what must you swear? Never to disobey, nor
accuse, nor murmur at any of the things appointed
by him, nor unwillingly to do or suffer anything
necessary. Is this oath like the former? In the
first, persons swear not to honour any other beyond
Caesar; in the last, beyond all, to honour
themselves.
EPICTETUS. DISCOURSES. Book i. §14. ¶1.
"beyond all, to honour themselves"... Wow that is a huge principle to live up to. We often find it so much easier to live to an external set of rules or ideals. Stoicism takes it internal and makes us step up to the plate and live worthy of ourselves, worthy of that potential that lives inside of all of us, the Sage.
ReplyDelete