The Island-Fish

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  “O ye passengers, whom may God preserve! come up quickly in to the ship, hasten to embark, and leave your merchandise, and flee with your lives, and save yourselves from destruction; for this apparent island, upon which ye are, is not really an island, but it is a great fish that hath become stationary in the midst of the sea, and the sand hath accumulated upon it, so that it hath become like an island, and trees have grown upon it since times of old; and when ye lighted the fire upon it, the fish felt the heat, and put itself in motion, and now it will descend with you into the sea, and ye will all be drowned: then seek for yourselves escape before destruction, and leave the merchandise.—The passengers, therefore, hearing the words of the master of the ship, hastened to go up into the vessel, leaving the merchandise, and their other goods, and their copper cooking-pots, and their fire-pots; and some reached the ship, and others reached it not. The island had moved, and descended...

Enchiridion 14: Work What Is In Your Power

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"If you wish your children and your wife and your friends to live forever, you are foolish for you wish things to be in your power which are not so; and what belongs to others to be your own. So likewise, if you wish your servant to be without fault, you are foolish for you wish vice not to be vice, but something else. But if you wish not to be disappointed in your desires, that is in your own power. Exercise therefore, what is in your power. A man's master is he who is able to confer or remove whatever that man seeks or shuns. Whoever then would be free, let him wish nothing, let him decline nothing, which depends on others; else he must necessarily be a slave." (Epictetus, Enchiridion 14)

I gotta Fortune Cookie written by a Chinese Stoic the other day. How fortunate! It's a goofy pic, so don't read into it too much.

My Fortune Cookie (a little Stoic humor tucked away in there) reminds us that that we only control what is in our power, so we are able to explore today's thought: dwelling on that which is beyond our control as if it were under our control is foolishness and this kind of thinking leads to to disappointment.

As a verb, "wish" is to, "feel or express a strong desire or hope for something that is not easily attainable; want something that cannot or probably will not happen."

So if you wish (in effect, "pray") for something that is beyond your control, outside your power, "you are foolish." If wise King Solomon were speaking, he would say the act was futile, vain, empty. Void. 

What you have within your control is the ability to not be disappointed; that is, work what is in your power. Master your desires. 

Did you notice Epictetus' intriguing note about one who is κύριος (lord, master)? The master is one who gives and takes, so the one who is free wishes for nothing he can't give himself. He is no slave to his desires. He is as happy has he sets his mind to be.

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