“Yes, but I want to command your judgements.”
Who has given you this authority? How can you conquer another's judgement?
“I will conquer him”, he says, “by bringing fear to bear on him.”
You are not aware that it was the judgement that conquered itself, it was not conquered by another. The will may conquer itself, but nothing else can conquer it. That is the reason too why the noblest and most just law of God is this: “Let the better always be victorious over the worse.”
“Ten”, you say, “are better than one.”
Better for what? To bind, to slay, to carry off where they will, to take away property. Ten conquer one therefore only insofar as they are better.
“In what then are they worse?”
They are worse if the one has right judgements, and the ten have not. I ask you, can they conquer him in this? How can they? If we weigh them in the balance, must not the heavier pull down the scale?
Who has given you this authority? How can you conquer another's judgement?
“I will conquer him”, he says, “by bringing fear to bear on him.”
You are not aware that it was the judgement that conquered itself, it was not conquered by another. The will may conquer itself, but nothing else can conquer it. That is the reason too why the noblest and most just law of God is this: “Let the better always be victorious over the worse.”
“Ten”, you say, “are better than one.”
Better for what? To bind, to slay, to carry off where they will, to take away property. Ten conquer one therefore only insofar as they are better.
“In what then are they worse?”
They are worse if the one has right judgements, and the ten have not. I ask you, can they conquer him in this? How can they? If we weigh them in the balance, must not the heavier pull down the scale?
—from Epictetus, Discourses 1.29
I think it no accident that those who yearn to rule over others usually have great difficulty in ruling themselves, while those who have learned to rule themselves tend to have little interest in ruling others. It’s like one of the dilemmas in Plato’s Republic, where the willing are unqualified to lead, and the qualified are unwilling to lead.
I should leave it to someone better versed in psychology to express it more precisely, but it seems that a desire for power over others reflects a sense of inadequacy about oneself. My elders used to tell me that the bullies were just jealous, and I never believed it until I listened to what some of those bruisers actually had to say.
For myself, I know how my worst outbursts of rage have always come at those moments when I felt the most insignificant. Unable, or more accurately unwilling, to put my own soul in order, I took it out on someone who really had nothing to do with the problem.
Yet holding some threat over the fellow next to me is no substitute for taking charge of myself, and it is indeed impossible for me to do the man’s thinking for him. Whatever I tell him, regardless of any other force I bring to bear, I can only break into his mind and will if he freely submits.
Some people try to intimidate with their fists, and others try to manipulate with their wiles, though they cannot conquer what has not first been renounced. Those who harass and seduce are not as big as they would like to think they are.
If I am anxious about what I might lose, I need to reconsider my priorities. For all the hacking away at the periphery, my core is able to remain intact. Wealth can be replaced by poverty, luxury by hardship, honor by scorn, and I still have the content of my character.
Life often appears terribly unjust, and then I remember how I am confusing the greater and the lesser, the ends and the means. Place victory in the unconditional pursuit of the virtues, and then no wickedness will prevail, for every wrong suffered can be transformed into a righteous response. It ultimately depends on whether my standards of success and failure conform to my nature, and so to the whole of Nature.
I won’t deny that it hurts—I only know that I can choose to make of the hurt what I will, and that makes all the difference.
Such reasoning also applies to any insistence upon “might makes right”, for what does it truly mean to be strong, and what does it truly mean to be fair?
You may have a gun or a knife, while I may stand here empty-handed, and though it is easier for you to damage the flesh, you have nothing over me when it comes to the spirit. In fact, by the very act of resorting to violence, you have already surrendered any moral advantage.
You might get what you want, and you will think you deserve it, only to find you remain angry and dissatisfied. If I stand my ground, on my own terms, I too will get what I want, and I at least know that I won’t have to die empty and bitter.
Yes, you are much bigger, and you come with a whole gang to back you up. I hope to be much wiser, and I come with a deep supply of compassion. Let Providence decide which of us is the better.
You pay your money, and you make your choice.
I think it no accident that those who yearn to rule over others usually have great difficulty in ruling themselves, while those who have learned to rule themselves tend to have little interest in ruling others. It’s like one of the dilemmas in Plato’s Republic, where the willing are unqualified to lead, and the qualified are unwilling to lead.
I should leave it to someone better versed in psychology to express it more precisely, but it seems that a desire for power over others reflects a sense of inadequacy about oneself. My elders used to tell me that the bullies were just jealous, and I never believed it until I listened to what some of those bruisers actually had to say.
For myself, I know how my worst outbursts of rage have always come at those moments when I felt the most insignificant. Unable, or more accurately unwilling, to put my own soul in order, I took it out on someone who really had nothing to do with the problem.
Yet holding some threat over the fellow next to me is no substitute for taking charge of myself, and it is indeed impossible for me to do the man’s thinking for him. Whatever I tell him, regardless of any other force I bring to bear, I can only break into his mind and will if he freely submits.
Some people try to intimidate with their fists, and others try to manipulate with their wiles, though they cannot conquer what has not first been renounced. Those who harass and seduce are not as big as they would like to think they are.
If I am anxious about what I might lose, I need to reconsider my priorities. For all the hacking away at the periphery, my core is able to remain intact. Wealth can be replaced by poverty, luxury by hardship, honor by scorn, and I still have the content of my character.
Life often appears terribly unjust, and then I remember how I am confusing the greater and the lesser, the ends and the means. Place victory in the unconditional pursuit of the virtues, and then no wickedness will prevail, for every wrong suffered can be transformed into a righteous response. It ultimately depends on whether my standards of success and failure conform to my nature, and so to the whole of Nature.
I won’t deny that it hurts—I only know that I can choose to make of the hurt what I will, and that makes all the difference.
Such reasoning also applies to any insistence upon “might makes right”, for what does it truly mean to be strong, and what does it truly mean to be fair?
You may have a gun or a knife, while I may stand here empty-handed, and though it is easier for you to damage the flesh, you have nothing over me when it comes to the spirit. In fact, by the very act of resorting to violence, you have already surrendered any moral advantage.
You might get what you want, and you will think you deserve it, only to find you remain angry and dissatisfied. If I stand my ground, on my own terms, I too will get what I want, and I at least know that I won’t have to die empty and bitter.
Yes, you are much bigger, and you come with a whole gang to back you up. I hope to be much wiser, and I come with a deep supply of compassion. Let Providence decide which of us is the better.
You pay your money, and you make your choice.
—Reflection written in 5/2001
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