Thursday, May 22, 2014

I can’t get no satisfaction

To be able to be satisfied with little is not a failing, it is a blessing — if, at any rate, what you seek is satisfaction. And if you seek something other than satisfaction, I would inquire (with astonishment) into what it is that you find more desirable than satisfaction. What, I would ask, could possibly be worth sacrificing satisfaction in order to obtain?

William B. Irvine, A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).
Related reading
Stoic-colored glasses (Another excerpt)
William B. Irvine’s website

comments: 2

Anonymous said...

I heard a fine sermon by an old rabbi, now deceased but ever present, who translated 'shalom' not as 'inner peace' but as 'satisfaction.' Given this, one might think of replacing noun for noun, and read: "What, I would ask, could possibly be worth sacrificing inner peace in order to obtain?" Indeed, Irvine's observation becomes then a recommendation for a blessing. Best wishes.

Michael Leddy said...

Best wishes to you too, Anon.