The realm of spirituality has an entrance price. The price is the acceptance of this basic truth:
In case you were not around in AD 180 when this was written, you might have heard Hamlet saying this on stage in 1609:
What's this the correction to?
The idea that how I feel is affected in any way by anything outside of myself. All resentment and fear is a projection of an inner state onto the outer world and is fundamentally delusional. Ditto the sense of the 'wrongs' of others.
One can perform actions from within the realm of spirituality all one wishes and for as long as one wishes, but without the acceptance of this fundamental truth such actions will at best produce temporary relief and at worst, confusion and conflict.
So: if you still believe that anything outside of you is affecting you, rewind to AD 180 (or earlier if you're a fan of Epictetus) and revise what has been known for two millennia at least. Then, and only then, will any genuine spiritual progress be possible.
In case you were not around in AD 180 when this was written, you might have heard Hamlet saying this on stage in 1609:
'for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so'.Anyway, because both Marcus Aurelius and Shakespeare bothered to write this down, you can be just as far ahead just by reading this post. Other, earlier, writers also said the same, and Marcus Aurelius was certainly the product in part of an earlier philosophical tradition originating in Greece. Anyway.
What's this the correction to?
The idea that how I feel is affected in any way by anything outside of myself. All resentment and fear is a projection of an inner state onto the outer world and is fundamentally delusional. Ditto the sense of the 'wrongs' of others.
One can perform actions from within the realm of spirituality all one wishes and for as long as one wishes, but without the acceptance of this fundamental truth such actions will at best produce temporary relief and at worst, confusion and conflict.
So: if you still believe that anything outside of you is affecting you, rewind to AD 180 (or earlier if you're a fan of Epictetus) and revise what has been known for two millennia at least. Then, and only then, will any genuine spiritual progress be possible.