We are cheered by the prospect of future goods, and we enjoy the memory of past ones. But only fools are troubled by recollected evils; the wise are pleased to welcome back past goods with renewed remembrance. We have within us the capacity to bury past misfortune in a kind of permanent oblivion, no less than to maintain sweet and pleasant memories of our successes.
— Cicero: De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum (On Moral Ends) (via fuckyeahphilosophy)
argh i cant get rid of italics. (fix'd - Stephen)
on expectations and delivery.
-expectations of self
-expectations of others
-expectations in nature
-nature of expectations
An old friend once said to me " trying is the first step towards failure ", and I thought, damn, thats so cynical, however, there isn't anything illogical about it. These days, I pretty much hold the same thing true, but in a different respect. I've started telling myself and others simply to not expect. Simply not. For me to expect is to open myself unprotected against the chilling winds of disappointment. Once there is an expectation, there is only guarantee.
There is only guarantee in the sense of an outcome. For to expect, is to foresee a preferential outcome, one that is suiting to ones desire. Thus, only guarantee remains in the outcome, and it comes two-way.
First, it is simply that of disappointment. Where the desired outcome is not achieved, one is then left somewhat short strawed.
Second, is that the desired outcome be produced such that one is guaranteed contentment. Not real happiness as I would describe it per-se, but rather a derivative of happiness. If it isn't clear already, I will exclaim the point. Were an expectation to fulfil itself thereby you will be limited to the amount of relative happiness, were the desired end to be fulfilled without the prior expectation. In other words, because the desired end is already in your sights, and you well and truly believe it to be so, then it follows that by acquiring the outcome, you are simply stealing money from your own pocket.
Here I present the argument against expectations, albeit with a rather strong personal voice behind all the reasons.
argh i cant get rid of italics. (fix'd - Stephen)
on expectations and delivery.
-expectations of self
-expectations of others
-expectations in nature
-nature of expectations
An old friend once said to me " trying is the first step towards failure ", and I thought, damn, thats so cynical, however, there isn't anything illogical about it. These days, I pretty much hold the same thing true, but in a different respect. I've started telling myself and others simply to not expect. Simply not. For me to expect is to open myself unprotected against the chilling winds of disappointment. Once there is an expectation, there is only guarantee.
There is only guarantee in the sense of an outcome. For to expect, is to foresee a preferential outcome, one that is suiting to ones desire. Thus, only guarantee remains in the outcome, and it comes two-way.
First, it is simply that of disappointment. Where the desired outcome is not achieved, one is then left somewhat short strawed.
Second, is that the desired outcome be produced such that one is guaranteed contentment. Not real happiness as I would describe it per-se, but rather a derivative of happiness. If it isn't clear already, I will exclaim the point. Were an expectation to fulfil itself thereby you will be limited to the amount of relative happiness, were the desired end to be fulfilled without the prior expectation. In other words, because the desired end is already in your sights, and you well and truly believe it to be so, then it follows that by acquiring the outcome, you are simply stealing money from your own pocket.
Here I present the argument against expectations, albeit with a rather strong personal voice behind all the reasons.
2 comments:
how do steal from own pocket????
So basically we can never be happy if we expect things?
So we can only be happy when something unexpected happens?
PHILOSOPHISE MOAR.
...Doesn't that mean it's better to be a pessimist?
WHSHSH.
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