And the fourth reason for self-reproach: that the more
divine part of you has been beaten and subdued by the
degraded mortal part—the body and its stupid self-
indulgence.
- Your spirit and the fire contained within you are drawn
by their nature upward. But they comply with the world’s
designs and submit to being mingled here below. And the
elements of earth and water in you are drawn by their nature
downward. But are forced to rise, and take up a position not
their own. So even the elements obey the world—when
ordered and compelled—and man their stations until the
signal to abandon them arrives.
So why should your intellect be the only dissenter—the
only one complaining about its posting? It’s not as if anything
is being forced on it. Only what its own nature requires. And
yet it refuses to comply, and sets off in the opposite
direction. Because to be drawn toward what is wrong and
self-indulgent, toward anger and fear and pain, is to revolt
against nature. And for the mind to complain about anything
that happens is to desert its post. It was created to show
reverence—respect for the divine—no less than to act justly.
That too is an element of coexistence and a prerequisite for
justice.
- “If you don’t have a consistent goal in life, you can’t live
it in a consistent way.”