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Germian: Difference between revisions
→Cultural philosophy
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4. “The Discipline of Desire”, | 4. Follow The Three Stoic Disciplines of Desire, Action and Assent | ||
Don't waste time on things you can't control or influence. | |||
• “The Discipline of Desire”, has to do with acceptance of our fate. Don't waste time on things you can't control or influence. You can do your best to avoid things you don't want, but don’t desire what is out of your control e.g. never to die, never get sick, never get in an accident etc. Once something that's outside of your control happens, you make the best of what you got at hand to deal with it. Prepare yourself for the worst possible outcomes based on the true nature of things and hope for the best. Having an idealized fantasy as the expected outcome (desiring something unnatural) is going to crush you every time. It’s ok to prefer that the thing you desire won't turn bad, but know it is in the realm of possibilities that it will. Play by nature’s rules, and don’t desire the outcome to be anything outside of the realm of possibilities. | |||
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Mastering impulse to act and impulse not to act. This is a gentler form of desire and aversion. We are to appeal to different roles we have. These form a hierarchy. | Mastering impulse to act and impulse not to act. This is a gentler form of desire and aversion. We are to appeal to different roles we have. These form a hierarchy. | ||
# 1. Universal role as a human being. | |||
At the top of the list is health and taking care of ourselves. The next thing we do is to appeal to our particular talents, and cultivate what we're best at and most interested in. This is going towards your nature. To go against your nature would be to pursue things that you're not really interested in. | At the top of the list is health and taking care of ourselves. The next thing we do is to appeal to our particular talents, and cultivate what we're best at and most interested in. This is going towards your nature. To go against your nature would be to pursue things that you're not really interested in. | ||
# 2. Appealing to our specific relationships with other people. Am I a parent, a partner, a friend? | |||
An example that Epictetus uses is a father who is not able to care for his sick daughter. He runs away from his daughter, he leaves the house, he can't handle the fact that his daughter might die. | An example that Epictetus uses is a father who is not able to care for his sick daughter. He runs away from his daughter, he leaves the house, he can't handle the fact that his daughter might die. | ||
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The idea here is that this is not someone who has mastered desire and aversion. He thinks death is a bad thing, he's afraid of his daughter dying, he hasn't come to terms with what his ultimate value system should be under the Stoic picture. And because of that, it is interfering with his capacity to fulfill his obligation to other people. He's not able to fulfill his obligation as a father because he's still afraid. | The idea here is that this is not someone who has mastered desire and aversion. He thinks death is a bad thing, he's afraid of his daughter dying, he hasn't come to terms with what his ultimate value system should be under the Stoic picture. And because of that, it is interfering with his capacity to fulfill his obligation to other people. He's not able to fulfill his obligation as a father because he's still afraid. | ||
# 3. Preference | |||
If it doesn't go against reason, if it doesn't go against your interests, if it doesn't go against your relationships with other people, you are free to choose whatever you prefer. | If it doesn't go against reason, if it doesn't go against your interests, if it doesn't go against your relationships with other people, you are free to choose whatever you prefer. | ||