Fireside Chat: What Can We Control?
Every man is the son of his actions. – Cervantes
Things that are within our power are:
Our opinion
Our aim
Our desire
Our aversion
Things that are outside our control are:
Body
Property
Reputation
Office
Misery is, in effect, attributing one’s value towards those factors which are outside our domain, and striving to control them. One has power over one’s opinion because it is within one’s power to control one’s mind. One’s aim has been constructed, projected, and attempted by the individual, independent of any other factor. One’s desires are decreed through one’s aversions, which serve as barriers to leading one’s desire toward one’s aim in life. However, as much as one would like to think so, one’s body is dependent on nature, not one’s ambitions. Trust me, one day you will be completely whole, with no crippling factor on your person; the next moment, you will be fortunate if you can stand up again. Property is exposed to the external factors of taxation, natural disaster, and war. Try as we may, there is nothing one can do to make their domain completely safe and secure. Even more perilous, one’s reputation is only partially affected by one’s actions; the remainder is the result of good and vicious men who surround you, and which camp others decide to listen to. Finally, one’s office is a determinant of reputation, the most unstable concept in existence.
Most men will see this list and decree that they can surpass nature’s dependent factors outside his control, bend them to his will, and force them to serve his purpose. To this, I say, good! You have now understood what it means to be a man. A man understands what is directly under his control, i.e., his opinion, his aim, his desire, and his aversion. He also desires to control nature, itself. For as long as there have been Men, the human race has continued to expand its domain throughout the world, and it has been through the attempt to control those factors outside our control that Man has advanced, knowing that he will never completely control nature itself. It is the dragon that man knows he will never defeat, but he fights anyway, not for the glory of others, but for the ascending of his humanity.