I

March 19th

TIMELESS WISDOM

“For there are two rules to keep at the ready—that there is nothing

good or bad outside my own reasoned choice, and that we

shouldn’t try to lead events but to follow them.”

—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.10.18

n the mid-twentieth century, there was an Indian Jesuit priest named
Anthony de Mello. Born in Bombay when it was still under British
control, de Mello was an amalgam of many different cultures and
perspectives: East, West; he even trained as a psychotherapist. It’s
interesting when one sees timeless wisdom develop across schools, across
epochs and ideas. Here is a quote from de Mello’s book, The Way to Love,
that sounds almost exactly like Epictetus:

“The cause of my irritation is not in this person but in me.”

Remember, each individual has a choice. You are always the one in
control. The cause of irritation—or our notion that something is bad—that
comes from us, from our labels or our expectations. Just as easily, we can
change those labels; we can change our entitlement and decide to accept
and love what’s happening around us. And this wisdom has been repeated
and independently discovered in every century and every country since time
began.