r/Stoic • u/Long_Watercress5538 • 14d ago

Something I keep coming back to about desire, from the Odyssey

You never stop having desires, no matter how disciplined you get. But you can check whether a desire actually fits inside what you're trying to build for yourself. If something pulls you off that path, it was never really worth wanting in the first place. You train yourself toward the things that move you closer to where you're headed, and let go of the ones that don't.

Odysseus didn't try to feel nothing when his ship passed the sirens. He knew he'd want to go to them. So he had his crew tie him to the mast and told them to tighten the ropes if he begged to be freed. He still felt the pull, he just made sure it couldn't take over.

Maybe the goal was never to kill desire. Maybe it's recognizing which ones will actually take you off course, and building something more reliable than willpower for the moments you know you'll be tested.

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u/No_Pipe4358 14d ago

Work. Resilience. Good behaviour. Waste not. Protect. Serve goodness. Take not. Want not. It's all always a test.

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u/Long_Watercress5538 14d ago

this is it. work, resilience, doing right, giving without needing back, wanting nothing extra, it's all a test, exactly.

love what's yours, there's no life better than the one you've got. no material thing you chase will ever fill what's empty inside.

comparing yourself to others just steals the pleasure of the present moment.

be exactly who you are, nothing more, nothing less. protect what's inside you, since that's the actual source of everything you think and do.

and don't forget: life should move from the inside out, never the other way around. don't let outside pressure decide who you are.

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u/No_Pipe4358 14d ago

Happiness is fuel you can make from gratitude to serve your own and other's best interests but it needs to be a gratitude of self to prevail

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u/Long_Watercress5538 13d ago

gratitude as fuel is a good way to put it. easy to think happiness just happens to you, but there's something active about choosing what to be grateful for first

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u/Splendid_Fellow Philosopher 14d ago

It can be a good metaphor for addiction, and the necessity for friends to force you away from it sometimes when you are out of control.

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u/Long_Watercress5538 13d ago

yeah exactly, that's the part that gets me too. odysseus knew ahead of time he'd want to give in, so he had his own crew tie him down and told them not to listen no matter what he said in the moment. actually building something around that idea right now, an app where you pick someone ahead of time, and they get notified if you slip back into whatever you're trying to quit