{"id":1737,"date":"2016-03-29T11:48:23","date_gmt":"2016-03-29T17:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturespath\/?p=1737"},"modified":"2018-03-27T02:58:22","modified_gmt":"2018-03-27T02:58:22","slug":"from-the-handbook-by-epictetus-where-your-piety-goes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2016\/03\/from-the-handbook-by-epictetus-where-your-piety-goes\/","title":{"rendered":"from The Handbook by Epictetus, \u201cWhere Your Piety Goes\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

31.
\nThe essence of a proper
\nrelationship with nature
\nis to see that nature<\/p>\n

does what nature
\ndoes very well.<\/p>\n

Obey nature.
\nYield to nature.
\nNature is wise.<\/p>\n

Yield and you will not fault nature.
\nYou won\u2019t think nature is punishing you.<\/p>\n

All you need remember is
\nwhat is within your power.<\/p>\n

Good and evil? Remember what
\nis within your power.<\/p>\n

You want to assign blame? Why?<\/p>\n

Assign evil to something and
\nwhat do you do?
\nBlame those who do it?
\nWhat is the point?<\/p>\n

Think about this: every creature is
\ninclined toward avoiding what it hates
\nand pursuing what it loves.<\/p>\n

Think about this:
\nthere is no way you will rejoice
\nin the success of those
\nyou think hurt you.<\/p>\n

Where our interests are,
\nthat is where our piety goes.<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t this the way with
\nthe sailor and the weather<\/p>\n

or the merchant and the deal?
\nAnd when we lose loved ones?<\/p>\n

Learn nature. Then start noticing
\nwhere your desires and aversions go.
\n\"img_1027\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

The Rev. Dr. David Breeden<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Rev. Breeden is Senior Minister at First Unitarian Society in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He became a minister after a career as a university professor, teaching creative writing and literature. His books include Raging for the Exit, a conversation in poetry with philosopher and theologian Dr. Steven Schroeder; News from the Kingdom of God, a meditation manual based on The Gospel of Thomas; and They\u2019ve Played for Timelessness (with Chips of When), his most recent collection of poetry. He also translates the works of Humanists of classical antiquity, some of which will appear\u00a0on this blog. He also writes for UU Collective<\/a> on the Spirituality Channel here at Patheos. )<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nature’s Sacred Journey welcomes the Rev. David Breeden whose translations of the Roman philosophers (who were both Humanist and Pagan) will be appearing here on a bi-weekly basis. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1440,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[29,20,443],"class_list":["post-1737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liturgy","tag-nature","tag-spiritual-practice","tag-stoicism"],"yoast_head":"\nfrom The Handbook by Epictetus, \u201cWhere Your Piety Goes\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn nature. Then start noticing where your desires and aversions go.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2016\/03\/from-the-handbook-by-epictetus-where-your-piety-goes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"from The Handbook by Epictetus, \u201cWhere Your Piety Goes\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn nature. 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