Reins of Power, Light of the Future, & Knowledge over Fear
Wednesday Wisdoms for July 31, 2024
Welcome to Wednesday Wisdom, our 3x3 Newsletter where I distill worldly advice for better living with 3 quotes, 3 observations, and 3 questions.
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Reins of Power
🤨 Quote
“Worship power - you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay.”
David Foster Wallace
Source: This is Water
Observation 🧐
One of the first things we learn as a teenager is that a lack of power often means a lack of control over one’s own life.
This is where people start to rebel, to see the world as an unfair place, and that those in power command what they want.
And so we learn that power is critical to life. It provides us control over what we do as well as over what others do.
As we enter the workforce, this becomes more and more apparent.
And yet even those with power are trapped.
While those without power feel trapped, those with power are just as trapped. The Stoic philosopher Epictetus, a slave during the Roman Empire, said no one had power over our minds.
“If you desire any of the things that are not up to us, you are bound to be unfortunate, while none of the things up to us, which it would be fine to desire, will be available to you.”
So while someone’s body may be shackled, while they may be under the control of a tyrannical boss, their mind is free. But for the person who desires power, none is enough and they will always remain shackled to the need for more. These two mindsets cannot stand together, they are the antithesis of each other.
Only the mind that is free of desire is free of oppression.
🤔 Question
What is one tactic you can use this week to free yourself from oppression?
Light of the Future
🤨 Quote
“Where hope goes, fear follows... Both belong to the mind that is in suspense, that is worried by its expectation of what is to come. The principal cause of both is that we do not adapt ourselves to the present but direct our thoughts toward things far in the future. Thus foresight, which is the greatest good belonging to the human condition, has become an evil.”
Seneca
Source: Moral Letters, Letter 5
Observation 🧐
Fear of the unknown is far more often a bigger fear to us than the known. When we pursue a job, grow a business, or give a presentation, we feel fear because the future is unwritten, it could go a number of different ways.
But we don’t like to admit we have fear. We like to try and overcoming fear while simultaneously pretending we have none.
However, when we shine a light on fear, it is never as bad as we thought. The voice in our head is always louder than the actual thing that scared us.
Light dissipates the dark.
Admitting we have fear provides more light.
Putting a name to the fear provides even more.
Understanding the fear and taking action to combat is drowns it out.
This is how hope is built. This is how fear is destroyed.
Look the fear in the face, understand why it is there, and find ways to combat it.
🤔 Question
When you feel fear about something you’re passionate about, what is one exercise you do to keep it at bay?
Beneath the paywall this week we explore the wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Click below to support and get access.