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Naith58 t1_izix4v2 wrote

I control what happens every second of my life?

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zbobet2012 t1_izjc8q8 wrote

Right until a plane hits your house. You only control what you do, not what happens.

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Naith58 t1_izjeu55 wrote

What you do is what happens?

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dedicated-pedestrian t1_izkn1kl wrote

Well, not quite. At times you are the actor. You have agency.

At others, you are acted upon by other people or circumstances change. These things happen, but they are outside your control.

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Naith58 t1_izkr5cm wrote

I think they only appear to have been out of your control retrospectively because our knowledge of the present is always regrettably incomplete.

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dedicated-pedestrian t1_izl1opp wrote

But how does this paradigm explain other people? One cannot have total control over one's own life where other peoples' lives cross it. Otherwise they would lose control over their own life, which somehow makes the first person special. Two people can't have total control over their own lives when their actions affect each other. They can have degrees of influence over their life, of course, but not total control.

To think everything within our lives is within our agency affirms the just-world fallacy.

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Celcius_87 t1_izjb7oi wrote

Is this stoicism?

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Sithpawn t1_izjgpxg wrote

Yes. Ryan was quoting the stoics. He doesn't claim to have invented this phrase.

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Random_Effecks t1_izjdl0y wrote

Yes, Ryan Holiday is probably the most prolific modern stoic interpreter at the moment. He has written several books on the topic and writes the daily stoic news letter.

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Jscottpilgrim t1_izkpp2e wrote

I've got an ex who used this line to try and tell me why I shouldn't get mad when he hurt me.

The quote is technically true, but it can easily be misinterpreted or applied incorrectly.

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zebrahdh t1_izkj0q6 wrote

React slow, like a psychopath.

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LarryGlue t1_izjesgv wrote

This is a reworded Bruce Lee quote.

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NoOfficialComment t1_izkhmzw wrote

It’s essentially a Marcus Aurelius quote from Meditations written around 170 AD. “If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment now.”

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felonious_phd t1_izjg4it wrote

Agreed. These words shouldn’t be attributed to Holiday. While I like his work, he isn’t bringing new ideas to the table. Just rewriting what’s already been written for our time (which is valuable in its own way).

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Yeen_North t1_izj8z2j wrote

This should be adopted by the gun control proponents. Criminals get every advantage. They get to choose the time, place, and level of violence - all us good people can do, is react.

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