zerkalo

From Epictetus: Every situation and circumstance offers an opportunity for self-improvement. It is up to you to make use of all your experiences – good and bad, pleasant and harsh – to better yourself and thus increase your wisdom and wellbeing. The most difficult situations can be the best teachers, if you let them. Conversely, even the best circumstances will be detrimental to you unless you understand how to act upon them in a wise and well-tempered manner.

Your inner citadel is more important than any external thing you possess, desire or build. With your inner citadel firmly in place you will be well-equipped to handle any situation and interaction - be it pleasant, challenging, or devastating. Without your inner citadel you will eventually slip naked into the sea of emotions, and forever be a slave to circumstance and other people's will. Place your citadel on a firm rock of ancient wisdom and unwavering ethos. Build its foundation and walls of consistent routines that are tried and tested through hard experience. Raise its superstructure of responsibility and understanding high. Make its gate impenetrable. Only allow impressions worthy of your attention to enter; everything else is turned away. Only when impressions are allowed inside your courtyard will you decide how to act upon them. You will be resolute and effective, and then let the experience reinforce your foundation, walls, and superstructure. Raise a flag of verbal communication that signal to others that this citadel is yours and yours alone, and that you are in complete control of it. The sea of emotions may heave and rage, but you will not act upon it, simply observe it from the vantage point of your citadel. This is the architecture of inner peace.

Ossification is not brittleness or rigidity. It' is the solidification of a sound foundation. Without a working bone structure, you're left with an amorophous amoeba, not a functional organism of any higher order. Anyone arguing for the benefits of continuous modificaitons to the skeleton of an organism has the burden of proof.