Monday, June 14, 2010

Complacency in the Modern Age

"For I know what a slave is, blinded by what he thinks good fortune." - Epictetus

We tend towards complacency when we have a "comfortable life". We can sit in suburbia and not feel the plight of the homeless or those suffering loss at the hands of natural disasters, etc. The challenge is to act in a virtuous manner in spite of the fact that we are comfortable. If we choose not to act or do what we can, we are making ourselves a slave to our comfort and good fortune. The very level of comfort that we strove to attain becomes the master that enslaves us to complacency.

Above our my thoughts based on our Stoic reading of the day. As a "kept woman" I often struggle with a lack of motivation and complacency. Quite often the larger principles of "living close to nature" etc. shout out the day to day principles of virtue and doing what is right and living in the present. Lately, I have been lost in a tangent of looking for a country spread in which to live closer to nature but this has caused my suburban spread to look more neglected and less loved and more "lived in". I have decided to focus less on the search for a country spread and focus more on living fully day to day. A principle that can save me from spinning my wheels and never fully accomplishing much on a daily basis.

First: Home blessing - surface clean the house from top to bottom, make chili for supper so we are ready for the gym.
Second: Sort through my fabric to see what I can use for robes that I need to make.
Third: Get ready to lead the Skira for Midsummer this weekend.

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