“Therefore do not confound the processes, nor seek to spend effort on one thing and make progress in another.”
I am currently making great effort to make great effort at a lot of things. I wonder if I should make a better effort to make a greater effort at much fewer things.
Translation: Maybe I am spread to thin!
I was planning to visit my son at college. He knew I was going to see him Thursday. My wife had sent him a text on Monday, telling him that we would be making the 3-hour drive to have lunch with him. He responded with his typical concise “ok.” We were very busy until Wednesday night, but my wife sent a text around 6 pm, “We are coming for lunch tomorrow.” He did not respond. No big deal, this is typical of my atypical son who does not check texts very often, and seems to reply even less. At 10:30 pm the night before our trip, I sent a text to him…no response. Again, this is typical, he was probably working and couldn’t check it. As we departed for his college Thursday morning, I sent a new text, “We are coming for lunch today.” I did not receive a reply. Continue reading
(Note: This is a foreshadowing of my next post…stay tuned.)
From Epictetus Discourses Book 3, Chapter 8:
As we train ourselves to deal with sophistical questions, so we ought to train ourselves day by day to deal with impressions: for these too propound questions to us.
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A quote by Epictetus from Discourses Book III Chapter II:
“In logic then you fall short: but have you reached perfection in other subjects? Are you proof against deceit in regard to money? If you see a pretty girl, do you resist the impression? If your neighbor comes in for an inheritance, do you not feel a twinge? Do you lack nothing now but security of judgement? Unhappy man, even while you are learning this lesson you are in an agony of terror lest some one should think scorn of you, and you ask whether any one is talking about you! And if some one comes and tells you, ‘We were discussing who was the best philosopher, and one who was there said, “There is only one philosopher, So-and-so (naming you)”‘, straightway your poor little four-inch soul shoots up to two cubits!”
I love the (highlighted) punch line!
So, inevitably you must ask, “if I am not doing what I love then do I need to change it?” Should I just accept my fate, and stoically perform my duty? The short answer is “yes and no.” Take your career for example. Sometimes you are not in a position to immediately change it, your livelihood. There are externals that you have to consider like basic income, moving, family, children in school, etc. However, if you are not in a career that is healthy, wholesome, and completely virtuous (consistent with nature), eventually you must change it so you can “do what you love.” You can make yourself accept a career that is not what you love, you can love doing it by convincing yourself it is your fate, but… Eventually, you must find a career consistent with your virtue and one that at its very heart you can say, “I am glad I am doing this.” Continue reading