Today’s One-Liner (#62)
It is not things that disturb people but their judgments about things. –Epictetus, in A.A. Long, Epictetus: A Stoic and Socratic Guide to Life
Tag: Epictetus
Don’t Be Swayed by External Circumstances
The great remedy which heaven has put in our hands is patience, by which, though we cannot lessen the torments of the body, we can in a great measure preserve the peace of the mind,…
Being So Inclined
[Samuel Johnson] said, that for general improvement, a man should read whatever his immediate inclination prompts him to; though, to be sure, if a man has a science to learn, he must regularly and resolutely…
Self-Reliance, Self-Sabotage
Study the capacities you have, and after studying them, say: Zeus, bring whatever circumstances you like; for I have the equipment and resources, given to me by you, to make a cosmos of myself by…
Getting Free
We are caught in the prison of the mind. If we are to escape we must recognize that we are in prison. If we think we are free, then no escape is possible.—George Gurdjieff, quoted…
Forever on the Alert
I’ve known Pat Geier almost 40 years. Not two months into the pandemic, we began Zooming on Fridays, then added Mondays, and before too long were immersed in reading and discussing the works of French…
The Mutation of Vision
Pierre Hadot, What is Ancient Philosophy? Translated by Michael Chase My friend Pat and I have been reading and discussing via Zoom works by French philosopher Pierre Hadot since this past summer. Having previously read…
True Happiness Is a Verb
Monday 28 December 2020 Dear C, Having written you yesterday about Annie Liebovits and Susan Sontag, I want to mention today that I took the phrase “Wisdom Project” from Sontag in her collection, At the…
Good To Be with You, Too
Marky-Mark–you are such a spark! in those terra cotta colored cords, and your tie-dyed T, driving your fancy mini cooper, shuffling through the SLAM, counting the number of paintings that contained the color, periwinkle. Was…