323 BC. The death of Alexander the Great marked the end of the Classical era of Ancient Greece
and the beginning of the Hellenistic period.
The many socio-political changes and subsequent uncertainties of this period
led to the emergence of new schools of thought concerned with the main question;
How do I get a grip on my life?
this search for order can lead you towards the grander scale; to nature and the cosmos,
or it can lead you inwards, into the soul.
Interestingly, in the Hellenistic philosophies you'll find a combination of both.
Among the most popular of these; the Stoa.
We see by your file you've served 20 years of a life sentence, you feel you've been rehabilitated?
Oh yes sir, absolutely sir. I'm a changed man.
I'm no longer a danger to society, that's the God's honest truth.
Every part of me then will be reduced by change into some part of the universe,
and that again will change into another part of the universe, and so on forever.
The universe is determined.
An unchangeable series of things unraveling itself in eternal sequences of cause and effect.
Things will go as they must.
Man lives within it, experiences it from the present; an indivisible point;
The rest of his life either past or uncertain.
To man; time is like a river made up of the events which happen, and a violent stream,
For a soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried away and another comes in its place,
and this will be carried away too.
Short then is the time which every man lives, and small the nook of the Earth where he lives;
and short to the longest posthumous fame,
and even this only continued by a succession of poor human beings, who will very soon die,
and who know not even themselves, much less him who died long ago.
How to position ourselves against the inevitable? What room for choice and ethics?
The answer is found in our attitude towards the way of things.
The universe is transformation, life is opinion.
A distinction must be made between that which is within our control and that which isn't.
By the power vested in me by the state of Maine,
I hereby order you to serve two life sentences back-to-back, one for each of your victims. So be it.
Some things are up to us and some are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us
and our impulses, desires, aversions, in short; whatever is our own doing.
Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices,
or, that is; whatever is not our own doing.
we cannot control the actions of others, but we can control our reaction to them.
we cannot determine the judgment laid down upon us, but we can speak the truth and hope for the best.
We cannot secure ourselves from danger, but we can decide how we choose to face it.
Only with clear eyes can we see what is outside of our power, and what is within it.
The task then is to align our opinions with the transformations of the universe,
to let the things beyond our control become exactly those things we desire.
He had a quiet way about him, a walk and talk that just wasn't normal around here.
He strolled, like a man in the park without a care or worry in the world.
Living virtuously is equal to living in accordance with one's experience of the actual course of nature.
Practice this kind of virtue and you will be able to look upon the universe with confidence and say;
Everything harmonizes with me, which is harmonious to thee, O Universe.
Nothing for me is too early or too late which is in due time for thee.
Everything is fruit to me which thy seasons bring, O Nature:
From thee are all things, in thee are all things, to thee all things return.
We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.
what upsets people is not things themselves but their judgments about the things.
Our emotions are a combination of two elements; an affective movement within the body and a judgment.
Suffering arises when we attach judgments to these affective movements that are beyond our control.
For example; to love someone is within your control,
the judgment that this love should be returned and should be so forever is not.
You strike me as a particularly icy and remorseless man, Mr. Dufresne.
Contrary to popular belief, the goal is not to repress or eliminate the emotions,
to become devoid of feeling.
The goal is to attach the right judgments to them.
We can find happiness in love and beauty
as long as we experience it without desiring more than is within our control.
We can enjoy music if we do not at the same time wish for it never to end.
We can enjoy a cold drink in the sun if we do not at the same time wish for the moment never to pass.
True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future,
not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears, but to rest satisfied with what we have,
which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing.
The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach.
A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.
I tell you those voices soared, higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream.
And for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.
Let all your efforts be directed to something, let it keep that end in view.
It's not activity that disturbs people, but false conceptions of things that drive them mad.
I'm telling you these walls are funny; first you hate them,
Then you get used to them. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them.
As important as it is to recognize what is not within our power,
just as important is it to not surrender the power we do have
to become passive objects tossed around by external circumstances,
dependent on the things which at any moment can be taken away.
It's the only way they'll let me stay.
The man's been in here 50 years Heywood, 50 years!
This is all he knows! In here he's an important man, he's an educated man, outside he's nothing.
It is better to direct your actions towards a goal with an uncertain outcome,
than to experience the fear that arises from a life without purpose.
Terrible thing to live in fear. All I want is to be back where things make sense,
Where I won't have to be afraid all the time.
Whatever purpose you find, do not stress about its achievement, for that is not up to you to decide.
Stress instead about the virtue of your commitment,
and embrace the beautiful foolishness of acting without expectation.
The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today.
You are arranging what lies in Fortune's control, and abandoning what lies in yours.
What are you looking at? To what goal are you straining?
The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.
Lastly, as long as you live, keep learning how to live.
Become a friend to yourself and you will be a friend to all of mankind.
Be sincere in your kindness and honesty so that not only you will help yourself, but others as well.
There's something inside that they can't get to, that they can't touch, that's yours.
If wisdom were offered me under one condition that I should keep it shut away and not divulge it to anyone,
I should reject it.
There's no enjoying the possession of anything valuable, unless one has someone to share it with.
I guess it comes down to a simple choice.
Dear Red, if you're reading this you've gotten out,
and if you've come this far, maybe you're willing to come a little further.
Get busy living - or get busy dying, that's goddamn right.
If thou workest hard at which is before thee, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly,
and without allowing anything else to distract thee, but keeping thy divine pure,
as if thou shouldst be bound to give it back immediately;
if thou holdest to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing,
but satisfied with thy present activity according to nature,
and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy.
And there is no man who is able to prevent this.