The Enchiridion

[Quiddity]

1. Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.

The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, belonging to others. Remember, then, that if you suppose that things which are slavish by nature are also free, and that what belongs to others is your own, then you will be hindered. You will lament, you will be disturbed, and you will find fault both with gods and men. But if you suppose that only to be your own which is your own, and what belongs to others such as it really is, then no one will ever compel you or restrain you. Further, you will find fault with no one or accuse no one. You will do nothing against your will. No one will hurt you, you will have no enemies, and you not be harmed.

Aiming therefore at such great things, remember that you must not allow yourself to be carried, even with a slight tendency, towards the attainment of lesser things. Instead, you must entirely quit some things and for the present postpone the rest. But if you would both have these great things, along with power and riches, then you will not gain even the latter, because you aim at the former too: but you will absolutely fail of the former, by which alone happiness and freedom are achieved.

Work, therefore to be able to say to every harsh appearance, "You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be." And then examine it by those rules which you have, and first, and chiefly, by this: whether it concerns the things which are in our own control, or those which are not; and, if it concerns anything not in our control, be prepared to say that it is nothing to you.

 

[michel]

1. Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.

The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, belonging to others. Remember, then, that if you suppose that things which are slavish by nature are also free, and that what belongs to others is your own, then you will be hindered. You will lament, you will be disturbed, and you will find fault both with gods and men. But if you suppose that only to be your own which is your own, and what belongs to others such as it really is, then no one will ever compel you or restrain you. Further, you will find fault with no one or accuse no one. You will do nothing against your will. No one will hurt you, you will have no enemies, and you not be harmed.

Aiming therefore at such great things, remember that you must not allow yourself to be carried, even with a slight tendency, towards the attainment of lesser things. Instead, you must entirely quit some things and for the present postpone the rest. But if you would both have these great things, along with power and riches, then you will not gain even the latter, because you aim at the former too: but you will absolutely fail of the former, by which alone happiness and freedom are achieved.

Work, therefore to be able to say to every harsh appearance, "You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be." And then examine it by those rules which you have, and first, and chiefly, by this: whether it concerns the things which are in our own control, or those which are not; and, if it concerns anything not in our control, be prepared to say that it is nothing to you.

That reminds me very much of the "Serenity Prayer";

God give me the serenety to accept things that cannort be changed​

Give me the courage to change things that must be changed​

And the wisdom to distinguish one from the other.​

I think that philosophy is a bery good one; if only I could trust myself to carry it out in day to day life.......​

 

[chuck010342]

1. Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.

The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, belonging to others.

where does truth fall?

 

[Quiddity]

where does truth fall?

I dont understand what you are getting at?

 

[Maxist]

Hmm, well, my answer to this is very simple. Everything has a predetermined, welol no, a determined line. Everything has a pattern and always will. No matter what happens owr choices are determined by our experience. While it is not predetermined as I stated earlier, it cannot be because there is nothing to predetermine it. However if you attempt to do otherwise then it would only be because I (or somone else) told you this. You would have hosen to do these things because of what I said. If I were to tell you that you had cancer (and obviously if I were an optomitrist) then you may do and say things other then what you may have otherwise, only because I told you that you were going to die in three months or so. So your theory concerning some things being in our control, and some things not is faulty. This is my own formulation derived fromn Chaos thoery (Which I only raeserched because of what the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet said that all should derive deeply into both metaphysics and science; just another example of what I just told you). And so, if you could somhow go back and change what you did, and then come to me telling me that you did not do what you would have; I would simply come back and tell you yes, you did. You only went back and changed it because of what I told you. Yes, nature too, even the least animated of objects only do what they do because of some event. This gos back to the beggining of time. And the very first action. (While I do not beleive in any or all of the three big bang theories, I will use them as an example because most of you probably have heard of theese and these alone). Let us take the closed big bang theory into this. (Which is the most beleiveable of any of them). When everything came into existence by way of a vast expultion of energy and light. Certain molucules we edjaculated into some directions, and some into others. As they combined, they may well not have if they had been thrust into another directions from the one htat they did (they may not even have combined with the same type of atom). So these became ions, and after hundreds of millinions of years of ionic bonding, of alpha, beta, and gamma decay. And of other things, the first cells came into existance. This may not even have happened under any other conditions. The rest, as they say, is (better known) history. So if what you say is true then everything (or at least half of things) would be chaos. None of the scientific theories excepted for millenia would be conceidered completely false. The very meaning of theory is that there is some order to things. In facta huge order which we can easily (in cery few cases) decern and know.

 

[Maxist]

Hmm, well, my answer to this is very simple. Everything has a predetermined, welol no, a determined line. Everything has a pattern and always will. No matter what happens owr choices are determined by our experience. While it is not predetermined as I stated earlier, it cannot be because there is nothing to predetermine it. However if you attempt to do otherwise then it would only be because I (or somone else) told you this. You would have hosen to do these things because of what I said. If I were to tell you that you had cancer (and obviously if I were an optomitrist) then you may do and say things other then what you may have otherwise, only because I told you that you were going to die in three months or so. So your theory concerning some things being in our control, and some things not is faulty. This is my own formulation derived fromn Chaos thoery (Which I only raeserched because of what the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet said that all should derive deeply into both metaphysics and science; just another example of what I just told you). And so, if you could somhow go back and change what you did, and then come to me telling me that you did not do what you would have; I would simply come back and tell you yes, you did. You only went back and changed it because of what I told you. Yes, nature too, even the least animated of objects only do what they do because of some event. This gos back to the beggining of time. And the very first action. (While I do not beleive in any or all of the three big bang theories, I will use them as an example because most of you probably have heard of theese and these alone). Let us take the closed big bang theory into this. (Which is the most beleiveable of any of them). When everything came into existence by way of a vast expultion of energy and light. Certain molucules we edjaculated into some directions, and some into others. As they combined, they may well not have if they had been thrust into another directions from the one htat they did (they may not even have combined with the same type of atom). So these became ions, and after hundreds of millinions of years of ionic bonding, of alpha, beta, and gamma decay. And of other things, the first cells came into existance. This may not even have happened under any other conditions. The rest, as they say, is (better known) history. So if what you say is true then everything (or at least half of things) would be chaos. None of the scientific theories excepted for millenia would be conceidered completely false. The very meaning of theory is that there is some order to things. In facta huge order which we can easily (in cery few cases) decern and know.

 

[Majikthise]

Maxist,

You gotta break up your paragraphs a little so they are easier to read.
Not critisizing, just a suggestion.