” There are three departments in which a man (or woman) who is to be good and noble must be trained. The first concerns the will to get and the will to avoid, he (or she) must be trained not to fail to get what he wills to get nor fall into what he wills to avoid.
The second is concerned with impulse to act and not to act, and, in a word, the sphere of what is fitting: that we should act in order, with due consideration, and with proper care.
The object of the third is that we may not be deceived and may not judge at random, and generally it is concerned with assent.”
-Excerpt from: Epictetus Discourses Book 3 and 4
Epictetus, teaches us that the most important of these three is the first department, which deals with our emotions. Basically whenever we fail to get that which we desire or fail to avoid that which we desire to avoid. Our failures are the direct result of our inability to control our emotions. For example this Year most of you have made a resolution, whether you fail or succeed to accomplish your New Years resolution, is primarily dependent upon ones ability to avoid our emotional reaction toward adversity. Because in most case when something happens that we don’t like or we are unprepared for, our emotions tend to take the drivers seat, resulting in more misfortune, confusion and conflict. Igniting our passion which makes us deaf, dumb and blind to reason, common sense and logic. Put it this way, how many times have you committed yourself to a diet or a venture and your failure to accomplish it was caused by something bad happening in your life, stealing your will to press on i.e, “I was working out everyday then my girls started tripping and stressing me out and I couldn’t focus on it anymore.” Stress is your emotional reaction to the situation it has taking control over your will to stay in shape.
The second teaches us that one shouldn’t be heartless or void of feelings, yet one needs to be mindful of how we relate our emotions with action words such as love, trust and friendship. These act related words must be based on and maintained, through constant natural and genuine displays by those whom we equate them to. Simply put, one needs to assess others from a non-emotional aspect in order to assess if these individuals are worthy of our emotions and blessing that come from these feelings.
Thirdly Epictetus says ” The third department is appropriate only for those who are already making progress, and is concerned with giving certainty in the very things we have spoken of, that even in sleep or drunkenness or melancholy no untested impression may come upon us unaware.” What he means here is basically this principle only applied to those who possess the will to get, the will to avoid and are truly good and noble. For this individual you will be and should considered a good individual no matter if your alive, dead, drunk or in a position of stagnation. Nothing or no one can take away the good and noble person you known to be without proof and tested facts and its also the last thing you will have to concern yourself with.
In closing, these principles are based on a wise mans philosophy. The goal of his philosophy in the context of all of thee above is to show us that. There’s a science and a system to understanding and mastering “self.” One cannot be or do anything substantial if they cannot be or do them themselves. Therefore, let this be a jewel you review throughout this year while you strive to maintain and accomplish this year- all you will.
I'm the son of an African American queen, born and raised in Los Angeles California, where I was groomed in its infectious gang culture. For the past decade and half, the federal Bureau of Prison has been a institution of self-education, self-evaluation and the reason I now possess knowledge of self. That being so, I now strive to expose the solution to the problems that our plaguing our communities, America's youth and this country as a whole. There's a saying: "There's nothing new up under the sun." Simply put, if there's one thing in this universe existence, that has seen all thing that mankind has done or not done, it is the sun. That means the moral dissension that taking place currently is nothing new. Historian have written about times where the moral fabric of a nation was so tattered where the only solution for change was war a destruction. This country was built and establish to be the nation it is today. By the disenfranchised, those who were being oppressed by the Queen and her fellow Aristocrats. Therefore if this country is to change once again for the better. It will begin and must begin with the actions and the voice of the disenfranchised i.e, America's minorities, poor and it's third class citizen the American Ex-felon. That being said I'm committed to "WRITING MY WRONGS..." and sewing seed of knowledge and truth that will blossom into peace, prosperity and positive change
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DEMOND JACKSON #05934-088
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