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We Should Seek To Control What’s Within Our Control
Thus, we should seek to be loveable, not to be loved, because the one is within our control whereas the other is not. Or, we should seek to write well, not to become a bestselling author, because the one is within our control whereas the other is not.
So long as we focus on the things that are within our control, we will be calm and happy. But if we start concerning ourselves with things that are outside our control, we will become anxious and angry and miserable, and all on false grounds.
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MORE IDEAS ON THIS
Outcome Does Not Reflect Intention
Chance, says Seneca, has a great deal of power in our lives, “necessarily so, since it is by chance that we are alive.” When it comes to things over which we do not have complete control, we should play our part, we should do our best, l...
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The wise person considers intention, rather than outcome, in every situation. The beginnings are in our power; the results are judged by fortune, to which I grant no jurisdiction over myself… Death at the hands of a robber is not a condemnation.
SENECA
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The Metaphor Of The Archer
“Take the case of one whose task it is to shoot a spear or arrow straight at some target. One’s ultimate aim is to do all in one’s power to shoot straight, and the same applies with our ultimate goal. In this kind of example, it is to shoot straight tha...
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The Arrow, The Archer And The “Externals”
The metaphor of the archer encapsulates the essence of Stoic action. The archer does everything he can to shoot accurately: his bow is well strung, his arrows are carefully calibrated, and he has taken full account of the prevailing wind and other variables.
Even so...
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Correctness And Success Or, Intention And Outcome
Similarly, having decided upon the optimal course of action, the good Stoic carries it out to the best of his/ her ability. But whether the enterprise is ultimately successful is subject to unpredictable and uncontrollable external factors (or “externals,” as the Stoics called them). Thus...
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On The Ends Of Good And Evil
The metaphor of the archer features in Cicero’s De Finibus Bonorum Et Malorum (On the Ends of Good and Evil), a Socratic dialogue dedicated to Brutus, murderer of Caesar, in which Cicero, through a number of mouthpieces, expounds and cri...
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CURATED FROM
The Metaphor of the Stoic Archer: We Must Do All That We Can; And That Is All We Can Do
psychologytoday.com
7 ideas
·749 reads
IDEAS CURATED BY
An archer can shoot as accurately as possible and still miss his or her target. But this is no reflection on the archer. This is not quite saying that we must do our best, but that our best is the most that we can do—and is therefore all we need concern ourselves with.
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Related collections
Other curated ideas on this topic:
What Is In Our Control?
There’s a brutal truth about life that some people refuse to accept—you have no control over many of the things that happen to you such as;
~ Someone that doesn't want to be with us.
~ What other people think of us.
~ People thoughts and feeling.
~ Grievance or Loss.
What We Can Control
We cannot control most of the outside events and circumstances including our past, the weather, natural disasters or freak accidents.
We cannot control what other people say, think or feel about us.
What we can control is what we think, say or do. We can...
Our Need For Control
Nowadays, we do not have the luxury of secure jobs, political stability or affordable housing like past generations. And we often exercise our control in different ways, like relying on planners, which help us with feeling less anxious.
Paper planners are an attractive and effective wa...
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