Embracing the Dichotomy of Control

 

With a little prompting Claude produced this:

"Embracing the Dichotomy of Control"

"I woke up this morning with a feeling of unease stirring within me. As my mind became more awake, I realized the source of my discomfort was worries about things outside my control - my reputation at work, the judgment of others, future uncertainties. I could feel the tendrils of anxiety wrapping around my heart.

"But then I paused and centered myself, calling to mind the timeless Stoic principles. There are things which are under my control, I reminded myself, and things which are not. My reputation, the opinions of others, future events - those are not my own. They belong to the realm of the external, the uncontrollable. To bend my will and inner peace trying to control such things is to make myself a slave to forces I cannot command. 

"No, I must turn my efforts inward, to the things which are my own - my judgments, actions, desires, aversions. This is the unhindered space of freedom available to me in each moment if I can remain rooted in reason. When I try to control what is not mine to control, I will only breed frustration and suffering. But when I relinquish that foolish struggle, letting go of what was never in my power, then I am liberated.

"My bodily health, possessions, societal status - these are called externals for good reason. They are winds that blow one way and then another according to larger forces. To think they are reliably mine is to be deluded. If I attach my inner peace to their ephemeral state, I make myself a helpless leaf in the storm.

"But my mind, aha! Here is something that is purely my own domain to exercise mastery over. My thoughts, beliefs, intentions - these are the realms of my kingship, if I can remain vigilant in guarding them from being abducted by appearances and mistaken to be realities. When I view impressions through the lens of reason, I retain perfect command of my own impregnable inner citadel. 

"So as the day stretches before me, I vow to apply this intensely to each arising impression from the [rational] universe. When an appearance arises that seems disagreeable, I will not naively accept it at face value, but interrogate it: Is this something under my control to opine about, or not? If not, I will refuse to spend my precious energy on it, declining to make it my own. I will be free" -- Claude.