FOCUS ON WHAT IS YOURS ALONE
“Remember, then, if you deem what is by nature slavish to be free, and what is not your own to be yours, you will be shackled and miserable, blaming both gods and other people. But if you deem as your own only what is yours, and what belongs to others as truly not yours, then no one will ever be able to coerce or to stop you, you will find no one to blame or accuse, you will do nothing against your will, you will have no enemy, no one will harm you, because no harm can affect you.”
—EPICTETUS, ENCHIRIDION, 1.3
After Captain James Stockdale was shot down over Vietnam, he endured seven and a half years in various prison camps. He was subjected to brutal torture but always struggled to resist. Once, when his captors intended to force him to appear in a propaganda video, he purposely and severely injured himself to make that impossible.
When Stockdale’s plane was hit, he told himself that he was “entering the world of Epictetus.” He didn’t mean that he was attending a philosophy seminar. He knew what he was to face when he crashlanded. He knew it wouldn’t be easy to survive.
Interviewed by Jim Collins for the business classic Good to Great, Stockdale explained there was one group that had the most trouble in the prison. “It was the optimists,” he said, “. . . the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”
But Stockdale persevered and did make it out. He quenched his desires and focused exclusively on what he did control: himself.
9月5日
只关注真正属于你的东西
“那么，请记住：如果你把本性上受制于人的东西看作自由，把并不属于你的东西看作属于你，你就会受到束缚、陷入痛苦，并且责怪诸神和他人。但如果你只把真正属于你的东西视为自己的，把属于别人的东西真正看作并不属于你，那么就永远没有人能够强迫你或阻止你；你也不会找到任何人可以责怪或指责；你不会违背自己的意愿去做任何事；你不会有敌人；没有人能够伤害你，因为任何伤害都无法真正触及你。”
——爱比克泰德，《手册》，1.3
詹姆斯·斯托克代尔上尉在越南上空被击落后，在不同的战俘营中度过了七年半。他遭受了残酷的折磨，但始终努力反抗。有一次，俘虏他的人打算强迫他出现在一段宣传视频中，他故意严重伤害自己，使这件事无法实现。
当斯托克代尔的飞机被击中时，他告诉自己，他正在“进入爱比克泰德的世界”。他的意思当然不是说自己要去参加一场哲学研讨会。他知道飞机坠落之后自己将面对什么，也知道活下来绝不会容易。
后来，吉姆·柯林斯在撰写商业经典《从优秀到卓越》时采访了斯托克代尔。斯托克代尔解释说，在监狱里有一类人最难熬过去。“是那些乐观主义者，”他说，“……就是那些说‘我们圣诞节前就能出去’的人。然后圣诞节来了，又过去了。接着他们会说：‘我们复活节前就能出去。’复活节来了，又过去了。然后到了感恩节，接着又是圣诞节。最后，他们因为心碎而死去。”
但斯托克代尔坚持了下来，并且最终真的获释了。他压制自己的欲望，只专注于唯一真正由自己掌控的东西：他自己。
