The Dangers of Desire

Satisfaction and happiness can only be attained if we manage to detach ourselves from all that we cannot change. Focusing only on what is our own and how we can alter it, is what is thought to bring peace of mind. Section two was what really made me wonder, for it tells us that desire should be controlled. It is desire that causes disappointment. This is without a doubt true, for whenever we fail to achieve something we desire, we are disappointed. But I believe desire would be meaningless if we felt it when wanting to change only what is within our reach. Desire is unavoidably intertwined with pain, with displeasure. That is what makes desire so passionate, that there is a risk of losing. If we only desired what we know we can change, then there would be no point in wanting it to change, it would be predictable, expected. It would be far too easy to desire something without hesitating, without doubting of it first. Desire alone is a risk we must take, and without feeling it in the presence of a situation we know we cannot control, then it wouldn’t be a risk at all. This is why I disagree with what Epictetus is saying in these sections. Indeed life would be a great deal less complicated and less worrying if we thought of nothing but our world and how we can manage it, but our worlds are not only populated by ourselves. If we only desired something that we can easily attain, then we would constantly be thinking: What now? The end would mean everything, while the journey would be worthless. The journey is what motivates, what moves us and creates, while the destination is merely a moment, a sliver of a second that is gone in no time. Several people usually affect and impact our lives in countless ways, and we cannot control them. So in a way, achieving complete and utter control over what affects us is nearly impossible.