Philosophizing (Week 247)

We've all had a horrible neighbor. Life in society is a complicated business. But it's the weekend, and it's not worth spoiling it for them by telling them about bad people. I'm also not convinced that it's a good idea to expose my bank account details publicly. Even though I'm sure that if someone tries to exploit it for their own benefit, they would only be very disappointed. Let's talk about freedom, a controversial topic that somehow concerns us all.

I agree with Epictetus when he says, “Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire" . Now I explain myself.

I firmly believe that letting ourselves be dominated by our desires detracts from our freedom.

Having the will to free ourselves from the slavery of desires is not an easy task. What we desire does not necessarily lead us to follow the best path, although it may seem so at the moment of making the decision. Then, when we analyze what we have done, with a cold mind, comes the annoying regret. It is then when we discover that we let ourselves be subjugated by our desires.

And it can happen to us with something as simple as overeating for the desire to satiate our appetite and end up having indigestion. Nothing serious, that is solved with some medication in most cases. But it can also happen that to please our desires, we end up giving a drastic turn to our life. Sometimes with irreversible consequences.

Worse still is when we focus the reason for our existence on pleasing someone else's desires. In this situation, we completely lose our freedom.

That is why, for me, it is best when we are able to lead the reins of the spirited steed of desires. It is up to us to decide when we can let go or when it is necessary to hold them tight. We should not allow our desires to get out of control and then not regret the blows received in the fall. That is, if we manage to stay alive.

Perhaps among those who read me, there are those who think that repressing desires is not healthy. That the right thing to do is to please the body and soul in everything we crave. With this reflection, I do not intend to convince them otherwise. I believe that it is a decision that has to do with the character of each person, with the way of facing life that each one chooses.

To control desires, to put them in function of our personal growth, is related to the achievement of inner freedom. At this point, the individual conception of freedom has a lot of weight. For some, money and material goods are necessary to achieve the desired freedom, for others, inner peace is the way.

The phrase of the Greek philosopher that served as motivation to write these lines is related to self-knowledge, discipline and self-control. No one better than oneself to decide where to set the limits. We should not let ourselves be controlled by our desires, it is up to us to exercise that control over them.