Epictetus, Discourses 1.5.4

Can I argue with him any longer? What fire or sword, I say, am I to bring to bear on him, to prove that his mind is deadened? He has sensation and pretends that he has not; he is worse than the dead. 

 

One man does not see the battle; he is ill off. This other sees it but stirs not, nor advances; his state is still more wretched. His sense of shame and self-respect is cut out of him, and his reasoning faculty, though not cut away, is brutalized. 

 

Am I to call this “strength”? Heaven forbid, unless I call it “strength” in those who sin against Nature, that makes them do and say in public whatever occurs to their fancy.

 

There will be little use in appealing to reason, when the extreme skeptic’s problem is not a matter of reason at all, but rather a matter of pigheadedness. He will not see what he chooses to ignore. 

 

At the times when I have dug in my heels in this way, J have even begun to honestly believe the stories I tell myself, where facts are made subject to feelings of convenience. If someone tries to offer me a sound demonstration, I am only interested in ways to manipulate their words, since a love of truth has given way to playing a game of vanity. 

 

Sometimes it is best not to engage at all, and to just walk away, not to be hateful or dismissive, but just to encourage some common sense with a bit of peace and quiet. As Douglas Adams suggested, when our lips stop moving, our brains may start working. 

 

Nothing will be of any use to me if I do not take responsibility for myself, and showmanship just gives me another excuse to get caught up in fanciful diversions. 

 

When I am being intellectually stubborn, clever words have usually poured more fuel on the fire, though the presence of someone else’s calm example has often put me in my place. To simply see others living well has a way of cutting through the nonsense.

 

Yes, it is one thing not to know, and quite another to refuse to know. While the first might be involuntary, the second is always voluntary, and therefore a far more harmful condition. 

 

I regularly hear people referring to one another as “ignorant” or “stupid” when they are faced with a point of view that they consider mistaken, and I wonder if that is both condescending and inaccurate. Even if a lack of awareness is the cause, what will make it so tragic is that it is embraced willfully. 

 

As a corollary, it is hardly possible to “educate” or “inform” people by merely bombarding them with more and more data. They must wish to understand for themselves, and all the grandstanding or propaganda in the world won’t conquer a stubborn will. Digging in our heels, just for the sake of feeling gratified and justified, is not the sort of strength we need. 

 

Never wrestle with a pig. You just get dirty, and the pig enjoys it. 

Written in 12/2016