There is no philosophy worthy of the name does not require some degree of courage to implement. All philosophy represents a turning away from naked instincts. So all philosophy begins with the courage to say no to oneself. Recollect all the temper fits you threw between one and 10 years of journey. I feel we to often dismiss such outburst as childish and unnecessary. While definitely a part of childhood, There is a very necessary war being fought for supremacy within the individual. All these wars for control. One wants something, To not go to grandma's a common example, One says no. Then one of the big people pick you up toss you into the back seat and off to grandmas. To the child, indeed to anyone, his freedom is under attack! We come face to face with radical limitation. The world has impinge upon our will, refuses to conform to our desire. "There is nothing easier to avoid or more difficult to accomplish than the breaking of the a child's willfulness." Diffcult as this is, it must be accomplished while the greater care is given to in no way harm the child's spirit. The task is to free them from their willful prisons, and allow their spirits guide them to personal freedom, freedom of the mind. The tempter fit comes of not knowing how to distance oneself from a desired object or end. The child lacks the detachment to see clearly to the end. To more fully understand his place within his/her universe. The child has no philosophy. All Philosophy beings with no. How can I possibly cope with being told no? LOL How can I learn to say no to myself? Obsession brings forth tremendous emotional turmoil vision collapses to a single minded focus. "I will die if I can't get my way." Parents often recognize "He/she is just tired." They are less likely to understand that the little one has been all day at war! Children reach for everything they see, they reach and are denied. No one even has to say no, the whole of this world is simply out of reach physically and intellectually, all they really have is emotionalism! infants must learn and adapt to the radical limitation of the individual. Possibly the most fundamental thing we learn from our parents is that we CAN be told no.Even by those who love and care for us. Once we learn this we are only a motion away from being able to say no to ourselves. I say motion, because it is a movement out of the willful and into the spiritual which enshrines within us sacrificial love as the highest good. it takes both courage and mastery to say no. The courage comes from wanting to please our parents the mastery only arrives after 10,000 battles for supremacy within the self. "If we wish to know weather a man is superior or of inferior content, We need only look to see upon what and who he bestows his care. He who gives care to the inferior side of his nature is inferior he who shows care for his spiritual well being is of a superior inclination. To first turn away from desire takes a fundamental courage and a desire to achieve the higher good. "The spiritual life is always in crisis." The battle rages on to this day. What I want vs. what the world needs of me. How to bring a just end the war? Find a way to an absolute resolve to do the good and pursue it unceasingly. True philosophy is action, all the rest is just by the way. So suck it up, we were born on the front lines and must earn the peace.
