Status and Envy
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“Don't ruin the things you have by wanting what you don't have, but realize that they too are things you once did wish for.”
“It is in his power not to wish for what he has not, but cheerfully to employ what comes to him.”
“Why do I not rather seek some real good - one which I could feel, not one which I could display? These things that draw the eyes of men, before which they halt, which they show to one another in wonder, outwardly glitter, but are worthless within.”
“This state of inner attunement is not always joyful or serene ... Sometimes it involves feeling with devastating intensity the conflicts, the rages, the intimations of mortality we have been trying to deny ... Yearnings, rages, jealousies, dependencies, and estrangements can be safely lived through when the persons upon whom we might wrongly (or dangerously, or foolishly) unleash them are absent.”
“To be satiated with the “necessities” [of external success] is no doubt an inestimable source of happiness, yet the inner man continues to raise his claim, and this can be satisfied by no outward possessions.”
“He who craves riches feels fear on their account. No man, however, enjoys a blessing that brings anxiety; he is always trying to add a little more. While he puzzles over increasing his wealth, he forgets how to use it. He collects his accounts, he wears out the pavement in the forum, he turns over his ledger; in short, he ceases to be master and becomes a steward.”
QuoteStatus anxiety and wealth comparisonAnticipatory anxiety and future worry1 more related links
Lenses
“Even a place of exile suffices to provide one with necessaries; whole kingdoms do not suffice to provide one with superfluities.”
“‘But I get to wear a crown of gold.’ If you have your heart set on wearing crowns, why not make one out of roses; you will look even more elegant in that.”
“To accept without arrogance, to let it go with indifference.”
“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
“The man whose interests are all outside is never satisfied with what is necessary, but is perpetually hankering after something more and better which, true to his bias, he always seeks outside himself. He forgets completely that, for all his outward successes, he himself remains the same inwardly ... Obviously the outward lives of men could do with a lot more bettering and beautifying, but those things lose their meaning when the inner man does not keep pace with them.”
Inside-versus-outside comparison error
We compare our intimate knowledge of our own weakness and vacillation with the faultless public image of great figures, and feel presumptuous. The great felt the same doubts but overrode them.
Philosophy as a way of life
In the ancient Stoic sense, a philosopher is not an academic theorist but a practitioner of the art of living who masters inner discourse rather than tethering contentment to worldly success and luck.
FrameworkSelf-discipline and impulse controlStatus anxiety and wealth comparison4 more related links