{"id":83493,"date":"2020-03-12T00:36:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T06:36:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=83493"},"modified":"2020-03-15T23:00:16","modified_gmt":"2020-03-16T05:00:16","slug":"on-self-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/03\/on-self-control.html","title":{"rendered":"On “Self-Control”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Yahya<\/a>
From Amazon.com, the cover of the dual-language edition of \u201cThe Reformation of Morals\u201d that we published in the Eastern Christian Texts component of BYU\u2019s one-time Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (METI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019re just back from the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City, where we attended a performance of the musical Dear Evan Hansen<\/em> by a touring company with a heavy contingent of Canadian actors. \u00a0It deals with important themes of youth depression and suicide. \u00a0I was somewhat surprised, given recent news, that the theater was actually open tonight. \u00a0And I thought that there might be a large number of empty seats. \u00a0But there weren\u2019t. \u00a0The place was packed. \u00a0I suspect that such things will be changing over the next few days.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In my course on classical Arabic literature, we\u2019re currently working through Part Three of\u00a0The Reformation of Morals<\/span><\/em><\/a>, a treatise on ethics and the development of character by the Syriac Jacobite Christian philosopher Yahya ibn Adi\u00a0(that\u2019s\u00a0Ab\u016b Zakar\u012by\u0101\u2019 Ya\u1e25y\u00e1 ibn \u02bfAd\u012b, who lived in Iraq AD\u00a0893\u2013974).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s 3:3, in the translation by my friend Father Sidney H. Griffith, of the Catholic University of America, that we published in BYU\u2019s Middle Eastern Texts Initiative:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Self-Control<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is guarding against carelessness. \u00a0So it is part of self-control to guard against repugnant joking, against keeping company with those who engage in it, and against frequenting their company. \u00a0It is restraining the tongue from lewdness and from obscene, hilarious, and foolish speech, especially in the assemblies and gatherings of decent people. \u00a0One who goes to excess in joking and acts in a lewd manner has nothing to be proud of. \u00a0It is part of self-control to keep away from inferior and lower-class people, from their friendship and their gatherings. \u00a0It is to be on one\u2019s guard against despicable ways of life and the acquisition of wealth by contemptible means. \u00a0It is to be too high-minded to inquire about what is of concern to ignoble, lowly people or to debase oneself before those who have no standing. \u00a0It is to reduce the frequency of needless public show or of frittering away one\u2019s time by sitting in the streets and main roads without necessity. \u00a0To do this too much is not an act free of blame. \u00a0The greatest people in terms of importance are ones whose names are widely published but whose persons are concealed.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many of us will find at least something in that paragraph that is worthy of attention, even challenging, whether it be \u201cfrittering away our time,\u201d hanging about with people whose influence on us can only be for the worse, or whatever.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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