T

September   13th

PROTECTING  OUR INNER   FORTRESS    FROM    FEAR

“No,    it  is  events  that    give    rise    to  fear—when   another has power   over    them    or  can prevent them,

that    person  becomes able    to  inspire fear.   How is  the fortress    destroyed?  Not by  iron    or  fire,   but

by  judgments   .   .   .   here    is  where   we  must    begin,  and it  is  from    this    front   that    we  must    seize   the

fortress    and throw   out the tyrants.”

—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.1.85–86;   87 a

he Stoics give us a marvelous concept: the Inner Citadel. It is this fortress, they believed, that
protects our soul. Though we might be physically vulnerable, though we might be at the mercy of fate
in many ways, our inner domain is impenetrable. As Marcus Aurelius put it (repeatedly, in fact), “stuff
cannot touch the soul.”
But history teaches us that impenetrable fortresses can still be breached, if betrayed from the inside.
The citizens inside the walls—if they fall prey to fear or greed or avarice—can open the gates and let the
enemy in. This is what many of us do when we lose our nerve and give in to fear.
You’ve been granted a strong fortress. Don’t betray it.