Philosophy

Where is progress then? If there is anyone who renounces externals and attends instead to their character, cultivating and perfecting it so that it agrees with nature, making it honest and trustworthy, elevated, free, unchecked and undeterred; and if they've learned that whoever desires or avoids things outside their control cannot be free or faithful, but has to shift and fluctuate right along with them, subject to anyone with the power to furnish or deprive them of those externals; and if from the moment they get up in the morning they adhere to the ideals, eating and bathing like a person of integrity, putting their principles into practice in every situation they face - the way a runner does when he applies the principles of running, or a singer those of musicianship - that is where you will see true progress embodied, and find someone who has not wasted their time making the journey here from home. - Epictetus, Discourses

Start Date: 17-April-2026 End Date: I don’t remember who recommended this book, or why. But I do remember the quiet certainty I felt last year that this was a book I had to read. I had written to my neighborhood bookstore, only to learn they didn’t have it in stock. They said they could place an order with their distributor if I really wanted it. I did. Two days later, the manager called to say it had arrived. I left work early that day and went straight to the store, hoping to make it before closing. The manager - a kind, elderly gentleman - handed me the book and wished me a happy reading. The manager, a kind and elderly gentleman, gave me the book and wished me a happy reading. This was a few months ago and the book has been collecting dust since then. ...