Inspired by Epictetus
I have asked myself what habit a man truly needs to cultivate. Shall I lift weights until my muscles burn, or run until the sweat streams down my face? These are wholesome enough in their place, yet they fall short of the mark.
The best habit — the one I must practice daily — is this: to live with desire and aversion rightly ordered. Let my desire turn only toward what is within my power — toward a clear will, an upright mind, a life lived deliberately. Let my aversion turn only against those vices and weaknesses that truly degrade a man.Yet in myself I too often find the exact reverse habit firmly entrenched. The stronger habit prevails. When some appearance, some glittering “maya” of the world, presents itself — whether comfort, praise, anger, or fear — the old habit overpowers me and I descend into the arena of chaos, like a beginner philosopher set against a cheetah and a gazelle, or like a man trying to stand firm between a midpoint and a rolling rock.In that moment the contest is lost.
This is why a man must practice — not occasionally, but every day. Practice and detachment, renunciation and steady attention. Only through daily discipline does the inner life grow strong and simple, able to meet whatever comes without being dragged from its center.
I did not come to the woods to live superficially, but to front the essential facts of life. And one of those facts is this: without daily practice of the right habits, even the clearest principles dissolve when the test arrives.You need practice. Daily.
The best habit — the one I must practice daily — is this: to live with desire and aversion rightly ordered. Let my desire turn only toward what is within my power — toward a clear will, an upright mind, a life lived deliberately. Let my aversion turn only against those vices and weaknesses that truly degrade a man.Yet in myself I too often find the exact reverse habit firmly entrenched. The stronger habit prevails. When some appearance, some glittering “maya” of the world, presents itself — whether comfort, praise, anger, or fear — the old habit overpowers me and I descend into the arena of chaos, like a beginner philosopher set against a cheetah and a gazelle, or like a man trying to stand firm between a midpoint and a rolling rock.In that moment the contest is lost.
This is why a man must practice — not occasionally, but every day. Practice and detachment, renunciation and steady attention. Only through daily discipline does the inner life grow strong and simple, able to meet whatever comes without being dragged from its center.
I did not come to the woods to live superficially, but to front the essential facts of life. And one of those facts is this: without daily practice of the right habits, even the clearest principles dissolve when the test arrives.You need practice. Daily.