[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":450},["ShallowReactive",2],{"stoic-topic-control-and-acceptance-llm_tag-all-relevance":3},{"id":4,"slug":5,"name":6,"shortDescription":7,"intro":8,"synthesis":9,"method":10,"runId":11,"passages":12},13,"control-and-acceptance","What Is in Our Control","The dichotomy of control: our own judgments and choices are up to us, external events are not. Includes accepting fate and providence, and the inner freedom that comes from wanting only what is ours to give.","Epictetus opens his handbook by cutting the world in two. Some things are up to us - our judgements, our intentions, what we go after and what we avoid - and everything else is not: the body, reputation, office, other people, how any of it turns out. Almost all Stoic advice is an application of that one division.\n\nThe passages below work it from both ends. Some press the diagnosis, that we suffer by staking ourselves on things that were never ours to hold. Others take the other side of the bargain, arguing that whatever the universe hands you is to be met without complaint, because it comes from the same order that produced you.","The obvious objection is that this is quietism dressed up as wisdom, and the authors themselves are the answer to it. Marcus was the most powerful man alive and Epictetus had been someone's property; neither concluded that nothing was worth doing. The dichotomy is about where you locate your stake, not whether you act. You give the effort fully and let the outcome be what it is.\n\nWorth noticing how much of this topic is Marcus. He returns to the same distinction hundreds of times across the Meditations, which tells you something about the idea: it is not one you grasp and keep. It has to be reapplied every time something goes wrong.","llm_tag",15,[13,29,37,45,60,68,79,87,95,103,111,119,127,135,143,151,159,167,175,183,191,199,213,221,229,237,245,253,261,269,277,285,293,301,309,317,325,333,341,349,357,365,376,384,392,400,408,416,424,439],{"sectionId":14,"sectionLabel":15,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":18,"relevanceNote":19,"work":20,"author":24,"readingUrl":28},1097,"17",5,"llm_1_5","For this is your business, to play admirably the rôle assigned you; but the selection of that rôle is Another's.","Directly addresses the dichotomy of control: our role is to play our assigned part excellently; the selection of that role belongs to another power, establishing the core distinction between what is and is not in our control.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},1,"The Enchiridion","enchiridion",{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":26,"urlSlug":27},218,"Epictetus","epictetus","/epictetus/enchiridion/17",{"sectionId":30,"sectionLabel":31,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":32,"relevanceNote":33,"work":34,"author":35,"readingUrl":36},1092,"12","If you wish to make progress, dismiss all reasoning of this sort: \"If I neglect my affairs, I shall have nothing to live on.\" \"If I do not punish my slave-boy he will turn out bad.\" For it is better to die of hunger, but in a state of freedom from grief and fear, than to live in plenty, but troubled in mind.","Centrally about the dichotomy of control: dismissing worry about affairs we can't fully control and accepting that external outcomes (slave-boy's behavior) are not ours to determine.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":26,"urlSlug":27},"/epictetus/enchiridion/12",{"sectionId":38,"sectionLabel":39,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":40,"relevanceNote":41,"work":42,"author":43,"readingUrl":44},1088,"8","Do not seek to have everything that happens happen as you wish, but wish for everything to happen as it actually does happen, and your life will be serene.","Centrally argues for accepting what is not in our control (external events) rather than wishing them different—the core dichotomy of control.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":26,"urlSlug":27},"/epictetus/enchiridion/8",{"sectionId":46,"sectionLabel":47,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":48,"relevanceNote":49,"work":50,"author":54,"readingUrl":59},995,"10.33","Mind and reason are able to move through any thing that opposes, as their nature and their will prescribe.","Explicitly states that reason and mind move through opposition according to their nature and will, and that obstacles harm nothing without the judgment and consent of reason—the core dichotomy of control.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},2,"The Meditations","meditations",{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},217,"Marcus Aurelius Antoninus","Marcus Aurelius","aurelius","/aurelius/meditations/10.33",{"sectionId":61,"sectionLabel":62,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":63,"relevanceNote":64,"work":65,"author":66,"readingUrl":67},976,"10.14","To Nature, who bestows all things and takes them away, the man who has learnt his lesson and respects himself says: 'Give what is thy good pleasure, take back what is thy good pleasure'; and this he says not boasting himself but only listening to her voice and being of one mind with her.","Directly expresses acceptance of fate and the dichotomy of control—what is not ours belongs to Nature, and we accept this with inner freedom.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/10.14",{"sectionId":69,"sectionLabel":70,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":71,"relevanceNote":72,"work":73,"author":77,"readingUrl":78},2917,"3.11","1 Whoever thinks any other thing to be good except those things which depend on the will, let him envy, let him desire, let him flatter, let him be perturbed; whoever considers anything else to be evil, let him grieve, let him lament, let him weep, let him be unhappy.","Directly articulates the core dichotomy: that only things within the will are good, all else is outside our control and should not be valued as good or evil.",{"id":74,"name":75,"urlSlug":76},209,"Discourses","discourses",{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":26,"urlSlug":27},"/epictetus/discourses/3.11",{"sectionId":80,"sectionLabel":81,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":82,"relevanceNote":83,"work":84,"author":85,"readingUrl":86},659,"4.31","Pass through what is left of life as one who has committed all that is yours, with your whole heart, to the gods, and of men making yourself neither despot nor servant to any.","Directly addresses committing all that is yours to the gods and accepting fate with whole heart",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/4.31",{"sectionId":88,"sectionLabel":89,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":90,"relevanceNote":91,"work":92,"author":93,"readingUrl":94},871,"8.20","Nature has designed the ending of each thing, no less than its beginning and its continuance, like one who throws a ball up.","Directly teaches acceptance of natural endings as part of the design of nature, beyond our control.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/8.20",{"sectionId":96,"sectionLabel":97,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":98,"relevanceNote":99,"work":100,"author":101,"readingUrl":102},603,"2.14","For a man could lose neither past nor future; how can one rob him of what he has not got?","Directly articulates what is in our control: we cannot lose what we do not have (past and future); only the present moment, which we cannot control, is subject to loss.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/2.14",{"sectionId":104,"sectionLabel":105,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":106,"relevanceNote":107,"work":108,"author":109,"readingUrl":110},1014,"11.13","But I will see to it that I may not be found doing or saying anything that deserves to be despised.","Centrally distinguishes what is in our control (our own actions and character) from what is not (others' judgments), the core dichotomy of control.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/11.13",{"sectionId":112,"sectionLabel":113,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":114,"relevanceNote":115,"work":116,"author":117,"readingUrl":118},868,"8.17","But if in another's, whom do you find fault with?","Core treatment of the dichotomy of control: distinguishing what is in our power versus another's, and the acceptance this distinction demands",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/8.17",{"sectionId":120,"sectionLabel":121,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":122,"relevanceNote":123,"work":124,"author":125,"readingUrl":126},1081,"1","Some things are under our control, while others are not under our control.","The entire passage centers on the dichotomy of control, systematically distinguishing what is and is not in our power and establishing this as fundamental to freedom and happiness.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":26,"urlSlug":27},"/epictetus/enchiridion/1",{"sectionId":128,"sectionLabel":129,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":130,"relevanceNote":131,"work":132,"author":133,"readingUrl":134},880,"8.29","Wipe out impressions by continually saying to yourself: it is in my power now not to allow any wickedness to be in this soul of mine, any appetite or disturbance at all, but seeing what is the character of them all I employ each according to its worth.","Directly asserts that it is in our power to examine and control our impressions, appetites, and mental states.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/8.29",{"sectionId":136,"sectionLabel":137,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":138,"relevanceNote":139,"work":140,"author":141,"readingUrl":142},852,"8.01","Therefore, if you have truly seen where the matter at issue lies, put away the question of what men will think of you and be satisfied if you live the rest of your life, be it more or less, as your nature wills.","The passage centrally urges acceptance of what is not in our power (others' opinions) and focus on living according to nature, which is core to the dichotomy of control.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/8.01",{"sectionId":144,"sectionLabel":145,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":146,"relevanceNote":147,"work":148,"author":149,"readingUrl":150},1049,"12.05","Now, if indeed it is so, be certain of this that, if it ought to have been otherwise, the gods would have made it so; for were it just, it would also be possible, and were it accordant with Nature, Nature would have brought it about.","Central to the passage's core argument: accepting that what is not so must not be so, and trusting divine providence rather than questioning it.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/12.05",{"sectionId":152,"sectionLabel":153,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":154,"relevanceNote":155,"work":156,"author":157,"readingUrl":158},920,"9.06","Sufficient are the present judgement that grasps its object, the present social act, the present disposition well satisfied with all that comes to pass from a cause outside the self.","Directly articulates acceptance of external causation ('all that comes to pass from a cause outside the self') as central to sufficiency.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/9.06",{"sectionId":160,"sectionLabel":161,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":162,"relevanceNote":163,"work":164,"author":165,"readingUrl":166},907,"8.56","For even though we were brought into the world more than anything else for the sake of one another, still each of our governing selves has its own sovereign right; for otherwise the evil of my neighbour would surely be evil of mine, and that was not God's good pleasure, in order that my unhappiness might not depend on someone other than myself.","Explicitly argues that each governing self has sovereign right and we cannot be made unhappy by another's evil; this is the core dichotomy of control.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/8.56",{"sectionId":168,"sectionLabel":169,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":170,"relevanceNote":171,"work":172,"author":173,"readingUrl":174},1068,"12.24","These three thoughts keep always ready for use: First, in what you do that your act be not without purpose and not otherwise than Right itself would have done, and that outward circumstances depend either on chance or Providence; but neither is chance to be blamed, nor Providence arraigned.","Directly addresses the dichotomy of control: our acts must be righteous, while outward circumstances depend on chance or Providence, neither to be blamed or arraigned—core teaching on what is ours to control and what to accept.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/12.24",{"sectionId":176,"sectionLabel":177,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":178,"relevanceNote":179,"work":180,"author":181,"readingUrl":182},600,"2.11","But they do exist, and they do care for men's lives, and they have put it entirely in a man's power not to fall into real ills; for the rest, if anything were an ill, they would have provided also for this, that it may be in every man's power not to fall into it; (and how could what does not make a man worse make his life worse?) [2] But the nature of the Whole would not have winked at these things either out of ignorance or because (though it knew of them) it had not the power to guard against them or to put them right; neither would it have made so vast an error, from want of power or skill, as to permit good and ill to befall indifferently, both good and bad men equally.","Directly addresses what is in our power versus external events; explicitly states gods have put it entirely in man's power not to fall into real ills, and distinguishes what makes us worse from what merely happens to us.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/2.11",{"sectionId":184,"sectionLabel":185,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":186,"relevanceNote":187,"work":188,"author":189,"readingUrl":190},2923,"3.17","Remember then always and have in readiness the truth, that this is a law of nature⁠—that the superior has an advantage over the inferior in that in which he is superior⁠—and you will never be vexed.","The passage centrally teaches the dichotomy of control and acceptance: that virtue and character (what is ours) matter more than external goods, and we must accept natural law without being vexed.",{"id":74,"name":75,"urlSlug":76},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":26,"urlSlug":27},"/epictetus/discourses/3.17",{"sectionId":192,"sectionLabel":193,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":194,"relevanceNote":195,"work":196,"author":197,"readingUrl":198},945,"9.29","Act as Nature this moment requires; set about it, if it is granted you, and don't look round to see whether any one will know.","The core instruction to act as nature requires in the present moment and not seek external validation directly exemplifies the dichotomy of control.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/9.29",{"sectionId":200,"sectionLabel":201,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":202,"relevanceNote":203,"work":204,"author":208,"readingUrl":212},2785,"61","That which is bound to be a necessity if you rebel, is not a necessity if you desire it.","Core theme: accepting what fate demands and recognizing that willing acceptance removes the burden of necessity.",{"id":205,"name":206,"urlSlug":207},208,"Moral Letters to Lucilius","letters",{"id":205,"name":209,"shortName":210,"urlSlug":211},"Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger","Seneca","seneca","/seneca/letters/61",{"sectionId":214,"sectionLabel":215,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":216,"relevanceNote":217,"work":218,"author":219,"readingUrl":220},884,"8.33","Accept without pride, relinquish without a struggle.","Directly expresses acceptance of what comes and relinquishing what we must, central to the dichotomy of control.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/8.33",{"sectionId":222,"sectionLabel":223,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":224,"relevanceNote":225,"work":226,"author":227,"readingUrl":228},835,"7.59","Delve within; within is the fountain of good, and it is always ready to bubble up, if you always delve.","Explicitly about looking inward to what is within our control—our inner faculty and judgment—where goodness originates.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/7.59",{"sectionId":230,"sectionLabel":231,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":232,"relevanceNote":233,"work":234,"author":235,"readingUrl":236},1108,"28","If someone handed over your body to any person who met you, you would be vexed; but that you hand over your mind to any person that comes along, so that, if he reviles you, it is disturbed and troubled—are you not ashamed of that?","Directly contrasts what is in our control (our mind and assent) with external things (our body), showing the distinction between what we should protect and what we cannot control.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":26,"urlSlug":27},"/epictetus/enchiridion/28",{"sectionId":238,"sectionLabel":239,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":240,"relevanceNote":241,"work":242,"author":243,"readingUrl":244},833,"7.57","Love only what falls to your lot and is destined for you; what is more suited to you than that?","The passage directly argues for accepting and embracing one's fate and what is destined for us, which is central to the dichotomy of control and inner freedom.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/7.57",{"sectionId":246,"sectionLabel":247,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":248,"relevanceNote":249,"work":250,"author":251,"readingUrl":252},594,"2.05","And so you will, if only you do each act as though it were your last, freed from every random aim, from wilful turning away from the directing Reason, from pretence, self-love and displeasure with what is allotted to you.","Directly addresses freedom from random aims, displeasure with what is allotted, and acceptance of fate as central to right living.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/2.05",{"sectionId":254,"sectionLabel":255,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":256,"relevanceNote":257,"work":258,"author":259,"readingUrl":260},830,"7.54","Everywhere and continually it is in your power to be reverently content with your present circumstance, to behave to men who are present with you according to right and to handle skilfully the present impression, that nothing you have not mastered may cross the threshold of the mind.","Directly addresses what is 'in your power' and emphasizes mastering impressions and controlling the mind.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/7.54",{"sectionId":262,"sectionLabel":263,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":264,"relevanceNote":265,"work":266,"author":267,"readingUrl":268},2880,"1.30","“Tell me then what things are indifferent?” The things which are independent of the will.","Central to the passage: the dichotomy of control is explicitly discussed—things independent of the will are indifferent and nothing to us, while our own judgments and will are what matter.",{"id":74,"name":75,"urlSlug":76},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":26,"urlSlug":27},"/epictetus/discourses/1.30",{"sectionId":270,"sectionLabel":271,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":272,"relevanceNote":273,"work":274,"author":275,"readingUrl":276},1090,"10","In the case of everything that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and see what faculty you have to deal with it.","The passage directly teaches the core dichotomy: turning inward to assess what faculties are within our control when external events befall us.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":26,"urlSlug":27},"/epictetus/enchiridion/10",{"sectionId":278,"sectionLabel":279,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":280,"relevanceNote":281,"work":282,"author":283,"readingUrl":284},660,"4.32","But most of all you must run over in mind those whom you yourself have known to be distracted in vain, neglecting to perform what was agreeable to their own constitution, to hold fast to this and to be content with this.","Central concern with accepting one's constitution and being content with what is appropriate to one's nature and role.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/4.32",{"sectionId":286,"sectionLabel":287,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":288,"relevanceNote":289,"work":290,"author":291,"readingUrl":292},1098,"18","But for me every portent is favourable, if I so wish; for whatever be the outcome, it is within my power to derive benefit from it.\"","Directly teaches the dichotomy of control: external portents are not up to us, but our judgment and ability to benefit from them is.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":26,"urlSlug":27},"/epictetus/enchiridion/18",{"sectionId":294,"sectionLabel":295,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":296,"relevanceNote":297,"work":298,"author":299,"readingUrl":300},1017,"11.16","This power is in a man's soul, if he is indifferent to what is indifferent; and he will be so, if he regard every one of these indifferent objects as a whole and in its parts, remembering that none of them creates in us a conception about itself nor even comes to us, but they are motionless, and it is we who create judgements about them and so to speak inscribe them on ourselves; and yet we need not inscribe them and, if we do so unconsciously, we can wipe them off again at once.","The passage is centrally about controlling our judgments about external indifferents and accepting what nature wills, with explicit focus on the dichotomy of control.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/11.16",{"sectionId":302,"sectionLabel":303,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":304,"relevanceNote":305,"work":306,"author":307,"readingUrl":308},621,"3.12","Now there is no one who is able to prevent this.","The passage directly asserts that nothing external can prevent your living the blessed life—core dichotomy of control.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/3.12",{"sectionId":310,"sectionLabel":311,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":312,"relevanceNote":313,"work":314,"author":315,"readingUrl":316},948,"9.32","You have the power to strip off many superfluities which trouble you and are wholly in your own judgement; and you will make a large room at once for yourself by embracing in your thought the whole Universe, grasping ever-continuing Time and pondering the rapid change in the parts of each object, how brief the interval from birth to dissolution, and the time before birth a yawning gulf even as the period after dissolution equally boundless.","Directly addresses what is in our power ('You have the power to strip off...') and the discipline of focusing on what is within our control.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/9.32",{"sectionId":318,"sectionLabel":319,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":320,"relevanceNote":321,"work":322,"author":323,"readingUrl":324},767,"6.50","Remember, too, that you set out with a reservation and were not aiming at the impossible.","Directly addresses the dichotomy of control and the reservatio mentalis—doing what is in our power while accepting what is not.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/6.50",{"sectionId":326,"sectionLabel":327,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":328,"relevanceNote":329,"work":330,"author":331,"readingUrl":332},913,"9.01","But those who wish to follow Nature, being like-minded with her, must be indifferent towards the things to which she is indifferent, for she would not create both were she not indifferent towards both.","Directly argues that we should be indifferent to external things (pain, pleasure, death, life, honour) because nature itself is indifferent to them—the core Stoic dichotomy of control.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/9.01",{"sectionId":334,"sectionLabel":335,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":336,"relevanceNote":337,"work":338,"author":339,"readingUrl":340},897,"8.46","For the Universal Nature did not bring to you what you could not bear.","Directly affirms that universal nature provides only what we can bear, endorsing acceptance of our fate and what befalls us.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/8.46",{"sectionId":342,"sectionLabel":343,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":344,"relevanceNote":345,"work":346,"author":347,"readingUrl":348},1123,"43","Everything has two handles, by one of which it ought to be carried and by the other not.","The passage directly articulates the dichotomy of control through the metaphor of two handles: what is and is not in our power to judge and how to respond.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":26,"urlSlug":27},"/epictetus/enchiridion/43",{"sectionId":350,"sectionLabel":351,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":352,"relevanceNote":353,"work":354,"author":355,"readingUrl":356},1041,"11.36","'There is no robber of the will,' as Epictetus says.","Directly asserts the inviolability of the will through Epictetus's foundational Stoic principle that no external force can rob us of our faculty of choice.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/11.36",{"sectionId":358,"sectionLabel":359,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":360,"relevanceNote":361,"work":362,"author":363,"readingUrl":364},998,"10.35","Accordingly the healthy understanding too must be ready for all circumstances; but that which says: 'may my children be kept safe' or 'may all men praise whatever I do', is the eye looking for green or the teeth for what is tender.","The passage directly contrasts wanting what we cannot control (children's safety, others' praise) with accepting what naturally comes, using the analogy of a healthy understanding ready for all circumstances.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/10.35",{"sectionId":366,"sectionLabel":367,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":368,"relevanceNote":369,"work":370,"author":374,"readingUrl":375},2586,"1.13","This is why we say that nothing befalls the wise man which he did not expect—we do not make him exempt from the chances of human life, but from its mistakes, nor does everything happen to him as he wished it would, but as he thought it would: now his first thought was that his purpose might meet with some resistance, and the pain of disappointed wishes must affect a man's mind less severely if he has not been at all events confident of success.","Directly addresses what is and isn't in our control, emphasizing expectation of resistance and acceptance of fate rather than confident wishes.",{"id":371,"name":372,"urlSlug":373},200,"On Peace of Mind","on-peace-of-mind",{"id":205,"name":209,"shortName":210,"urlSlug":211},"/seneca/on-peace-of-mind/1.13",{"sectionId":377,"sectionLabel":378,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":379,"relevanceNote":380,"work":381,"author":382,"readingUrl":383},1052,"12.08","Consider the causes of reality stripped of their covering; the relations of your actions; the nature of pain, pleasure, death, fame; who is not the author of his own unrest; how none is hindered by his neighbour; that all things are what we judge them to be.","The passage directly addresses that people are authors of their own unrest and that none is hindered by neighbours, core dichotomy of control doctrine.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/12.08",{"sectionId":385,"sectionLabel":386,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":387,"relevanceNote":388,"work":389,"author":390,"readingUrl":391},758,"6.41","Should you propose to yourself as good or evil something beyond your will, the necessary result is that, if you fall into that evil or fail of that good, you blame the gods and you hate men who are or who you suspect will be the causes of your loss of the good or your falling into the evil; and indeed we commit many wrongs from concern in regard to these things, If, however, we decide that only what our will controls is good or evil, then no ground is left either to arraign God or to adopt the position of an enemy to man.","The passage directly argues for the dichotomy of control: only what is in our will is good/evil, externals are not, and this brings freedom from blame toward God and others.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/6.41",{"sectionId":393,"sectionLabel":394,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":395,"relevanceNote":396,"work":397,"author":398,"readingUrl":399},700,"5.19","Things as such do not touch the soul in the least: they have no avenue to the soul nor can they turn or move it.","Centrally about the dichotomy of control: external things cannot affect the soul, only our judgments and choices over them.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/5.19",{"sectionId":401,"sectionLabel":402,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":403,"relevanceNote":404,"work":405,"author":406,"readingUrl":407},1079,"12.35","For him whose sole good is what is in due season, who counts it all one to render according to right reason more acts or fewer, and to whom it is no matter whether he beholds the world a longer or a shorter time—for him even death has lost its terrors.","The passage emphasizes that only what is in our control (acting according to right reason) is good, while external matters like lifespan are indifferent—core dichotomy of control.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/12.35",{"sectionId":409,"sectionLabel":410,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":411,"relevanceNote":412,"work":413,"author":414,"readingUrl":415},1099,"19","You can be invincible if you never enter a contest in which victory is not under your control.","The passage is explicitly centered on the dichotomy of control, arguing that invincibility comes from avoiding contests where victory is not under our control.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":26,"urlSlug":27},"/epictetus/enchiridion/19",{"sectionId":417,"sectionLabel":418,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":419,"relevanceNote":420,"work":421,"author":422,"readingUrl":423},961,"10.01","Wilt thou rather be satisfied with present circumstance and pleased with all the present, and convince thyself that all is present for thee from the gods and all is well for thee and will be well whatsoever is dear to them to give and whatsoever they purpose to bestow for the sustenance of the perfect living creature, the good and just and beautiful, which begets, sustains, includes, and embraces all things that are being resolved into the generation of others like themselves?","The passage directly addresses accepting present circumstance and what the gods provide, core to the dichotomy of control.",{"id":51,"name":52,"urlSlug":53},{"id":55,"name":56,"shortName":57,"urlSlug":58},"/aurelius/meditations/10.01",{"sectionId":425,"sectionLabel":426,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":427,"relevanceNote":428,"work":429,"author":433,"readingUrl":438},2710,"IX","For such a man does not value or despise any place as the cause of his happiness or unhappiness, but he makes the whole matter depend upon himself and considers himself a citizen of the city of God which is made up of men and gods.","Core claim that happiness depends on oneself, not external circumstances; wisdom consists in controlling one's judgments about place rather than being controlled by it.",{"id":430,"name":431,"urlSlug":432},207,"Lectures","lectures",{"id":434,"name":435,"shortName":436,"urlSlug":437},222,"Gaius Musonius Rufus","Musonius Rufus","rufus","/rufus/lectures/IX",{"sectionId":440,"sectionLabel":441,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":442,"relevanceNote":443,"work":444,"author":448,"readingUrl":449},2614,"1.05","Cicero called himself “half a prisoner,” but, by Hercules, the wise man never would have come under so lowly a title: he never would be half a prisoner, but would always enjoy complete and entire liberty, being free, in his own power, and greater than all others: for what can be greater than the man who is greater than Fortune?","Explicitly contrasts the wise man's freedom and inner power with external fortune, central to dichotomy of control",{"id":445,"name":446,"urlSlug":447},202,"On the Shortness of Life","on-the-shortness-of-life",{"id":205,"name":209,"shortName":210,"urlSlug":211},"/seneca/on-the-shortness-of-life/1.05",1785969084079]