"When we are captured by passions like sadness or joy, we are like slaves. The moment we understand the cause of emotion through reason, we become its master."
Today's Question
Specifically, what situation or word triggered the negative emotion (anger, sadness, etc.) that shook you most deeply recently?
The lens grinder who preserved reason while earning his own living
Spinoza lived under extreme isolation, excommunicated from his religious community and facing threats of assassination throughout his life.
He rejected university positions to grind lenses for a living. Though tuberculosis weakened him, he did not resent the world. He defined resentment as a mental illness that clouds reason, observing emotions objectively to preserve peace.