Moment to moment

Random picture of a Vermont llama.

El Cabrero has often expressed a fondness for the Stoics, an ancient Greco-Roman school of philosophy the leading exponents of which included a slave, Epictetus, and an emperor, Marcus Aurelius.

This isn't the first time this classic line by Epictetus shows up here, but I think it's worth repeating and committing to memory:

Some things are in our control and others not.

The clear implication is that we would do better to focus on the former rather than the latter. Among other things, doing so might help keep people from feeling overwhelmed and needlessly wasting energy.

Laurence Gonzales, author of Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why, shares a soft spot for the Stoics and notes that many people who have endured extreme situations took a leaf from their notebook:

They deal with what is within their power from moment to moment, hour to hour, day by day. They leave the rest behind.

HOW LOW WILL IT GO? Here's Krugman on the depth of the recession.

THAT'S WHERE THE MONEY IS. Here's another call for cutting over the top Pentagon spending.

BEATING A DEAD HORSE. A group representing what El Cabrero thinks of as the Taliban/wahabi/jihad version of Christianity is attempting to ignite a culture war in WV, but the so far the results have been underwhelming.

URGENT FLYING DINOSAUR UPDATE here.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Being there

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that one of the wisest single sentences of philosophy I have ever found came from the ancient Stoic Epictetus. It simply said,

Some things are in our control and others not.

When sufficiently unpacked, I believe that little nugget has profound personal and political (in the broad sense) implications. Think how much stress and anxiety we suffer--with all the attendant health implications--by obsessing about things not in our control.

Jesus, who knew a thing or two about a thing or two, made the same point in the Sermon on the Mount:

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

One of the saddest consequences of doing this is that while we're absorbed in worrying about things we can't effect we're probably missing out on a whole bunch of things we really can. This is true at a social as well as individual level.

Being focused on something we don't immediately control, even if it's a laudable goal, takes us away from where we are here and now, where we might actually be able to seize opportunities and avoid threats.

As the saying goes, you must be present to win.

ENERGY will be one of the biggest challenges for the foreseeable future. Here's a look at the problems and the options.

CORNOGRAPHY. It's what's for dinner.

CLIMATE CHANGE. Here's an item from Time about what the public doesn't yet realize about it.

MINE SAFETY. Here's the latest on the Aracoma mine fire case.

OH THE WATER. Undersea life is richer and stranger than many scientists imagined. Here's hoping it lasts.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED