← See the axis · Relation to desire
ArgumentThe root of suffering
Desire chains us to what escapes us: to free oneself from it is to dry up the source of torment.
Supports
Epictetus, The Buddha · Enchiridion; the four noble truths
- To desire is to expect something of the world: that this event happen, that this person stay, that this thing come back to us. Yet none of that .
- Our suffering arises precisely from this gap: not from things themselves, but from our demand that they be other than they are. calls this thirst , and sees in it the origin of ; the remind us that nothing troubles us but our judgment about what is not ours.
- If suffering comes from attachment, deliverance comes from loosening its grip: no longer to demand, but to welcome. To stop wanting things to be otherwise is to strip them of all power to wound us.
Therefore So to quiet one's desires is not to maim oneself, but to set oneself free: it is to take back from the outside the governing of one's own peace.
How far does this reasoning convince you?
Not at all
Entirely
Deepenings
What depends on us
- divides everything in two: what depends on us (our judgments, our desires) and what does not (the body, fortune, the opinion of others); all wisdom lies in desiring only the first. This is the .
- goes further: the extinction of thirst is itself, not a dull emptiness, but the end of what was burning us.
How far does this reasoning convince you?
Not at all
Entirely
Put to the test
Objection
Problem