This quote thou. .
“Remember that it’s not only the desire for wealth and position that debases and subjugates us, but also the desire for peace, leisure, travel and learning. It doesn’t matter that the external thing is, the value we place on it subjugates us to another…. Where our heart is set, there our impediment lies” — Epictetus, Discourses, 4.4.1-2; 15
Ugh, this page hit me right in the giggle dick this morning so perfectly, so squarely because I think it’s something you need to hear from time to time — if I don’t keep challenging myself to desire something then I’m mentally free from the shackles of expectation and in the process not setting myself up for a failure if I never then achieve it.
Sounds apathetic in nature but I actually subscribe to this piece of scripture quite a lot. I’m never surprised and I always expect the obvious, when it falls outside of that remit I’m pleasantly elated more than I would be cynical about the potential of the end result.
Peace is such a hard thing to achieve especially in this modern day world where everyone is stacking, hustling, manipulating, crafting the world they believe they should have, it’s a constant battle with ideals out there, we want what we want often at the expense of something else (often nature)
I especially love the targeting of the impediment in this quote, regarding setting our heart on something, it’s easy to mistake passion for something else when you are at the tip of the iceberg looking out upon the rising seas around us.
Photo by rupixen.com on Unsplash
I know I carry a lot of ‘Impediments’ I guess that comes from feeling at time to privy to the way that things always roll around the same, like music and the different generations — when my daughter plays me her latest song she loves and I tell her the source of it, not knowing that someone else in a previous generation came up with the hook — the recycling of information always loses it’s meaning the more it’s diluted.
There are many things I wish for, heck many things materialistic that I want, but they pale in comparison when I compare them for the love and smiles, hugs and determination and awareness that I seek out in my partner and my daughter — I’m thankful for grounding in this chaos theory thing we call life, it’s all just stuff, nobody wants to be the richest person in the graveyard.
Have a fantastic day and the weekend ahead, get out there, enjoy the world of nature that offers so much for mental clarity and maybe pick up the stoic book, it’s a great read!
Cheers
__humble x
pinterest epic wins pinboard → brand advocate for nokia, 1000heads, verisign → won vloggie for node666 (san fran 2006) → television for time team history hunters 1999 → sold me.dm to evan williams in april 2011 → went to phil campbell, alabama to help raise money after tornado (was on sky news, bbc news)→ CNN for sxsw 2013 about austin sxsw → video chat with robert scoble → music video can you spot me?
