VI.
Remember, that the thing, which recommends any desire, is a promise and prospect of obtaining the object you are in pursuit of; as on the contrary, the thing, which your aversion aims at, and proposes to you, is the escaping the evil you fear.
And in these cases, he, that is balked of his desires, is an unfortunate man; and he, that is overtaken by the mischief he declines, is a miserable man.
But now, if you confine your aversions to those evils only, which are at the disposal of your own will, you can be never overtaken by any calamity you would decline; but if you extend them to such things, as sickness, or poverty, or death, you will of necessity be miserable.
VII.
Let your aversions then be taken off from all things out of your own power, and transferred to such things as are contrary to nature, within your own power.
And as for desires, lay them for the present, wholly aside: for if you fix them upon things out of your power, you are sure to be unsuccessful; and if you would restrain them to fit and proper objects, such as come within it, know this is not come to your turn yet.
Let your mind therefore go no farther than the mere tendencies and propensions, to moderate and use these gently, gradually, and cautiously.
Comment:
This now follows in a direct method, from what went before, and is, as it were, a demonstration of the truth of the last chapter: where we were told, that our apprehensions and ideas of things desirable must be regulated by that necessary distinction of what is, and what is not within our own power. The observation of this rule would be sure to make us successful and happy, and the neglect of it unfortunate and wretched.
To this purpose, his first business is to explain what sort of persons we use to esteem lucky or unlucky; and he tells us, that the end our aversions propose to themselves is not to fall into the mischief we endeavor to decline; so that in this case, the missing our object is fortunate; as on the contrary, it is unfortunate, in cases of desire, when we do not get our object.
And the misfortune opposite to good success is when the thing we would avoid does happen to us; for here we get our object indeed, but then this getting is to our prejudice, and what we might much better have been without.
When he has set these matters in a true light, then he proceeds thus. If you take care to make those things only the objects of your aversions, which are contrary to nature and within the compass of your own choice, as intemperance for example, and injustice, and the like, you can never be overtaken by anything you fear, because in these matters you may be sure to escape if you please; and consequently, you are sure never to be unfortunate.
But if, instead of these you pitch upon sickness, or poverty, or any of those things that are out of your own disposal, you must needs fall into calamitous circumstances sometimes, because it cannot depend upon yourself, whether you shall be delivered from these or not.
So again for desire, that man cannot secure himself against frequent disappointments, who fixes upon objects out of his own power.
But if our desires and our aversions be confined to matters within our own power and choice, then it will not be possible for us to be balked in our hopes, or overtaken by our fears, but happiness and success will attend us continually.
The substance and connection of all which, in short, lies here. He that extends his desires and his aversions, to things out of the disposal of his own will, very frequently misses his aim, falls short in his hopes, and is overtaken by his fears; and he must needs do so, because these things depend not on himself, upon others.
Now such a one is confessed to be an unsuccessful and unfortunate person, and therefore wretched and miserable. . . .
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