Assent to Impressions Is within Our Control

 

"The ability to assent to, or reject, impressions is, in the final analysis, the only thing that is fully within our control.

"Our highest concern should be to reject any impression that fails the test of objectivity, notably by being more aware of our value judgments and postponing our response to passionate impressions. For instance, we might be “impressed” by the purple of the imperial robe until we remind ourselves that it is no more than a piece of cloth that has been dyed purple in the foul-smelling excreta of sea snails. Or we might burn uncontrollably for the frame of a man or woman until we remind ourselves, as Marcus Aurelius did, that the sex we crave amounts to no more than “the friction of a membrane and, following a sort of convulsion, the expulsion of some mucus" -- Neel Burton M.D.

How to Cope with Fear and Anxiety, the Stoic Way