Lesson 81 • Autonomy is a state
Autonomy is something you cultivate. You make a promise, you keep a promise; you talk, you walk.
To a wayfarer,
“Autonomy” tends to be a carrot on a stick. It is a promise in the same way that the light at the end of the tunnel implies that you are in the dark. Suffer a little bit more and as long as you suffer with honor you earn the right to suffer alone.
If you are like me then we aspire for and even elevate autonomy on a pedestal because the alternative is the boot of bad leaders — and we’ve suffered enough narcissistic dorks in our careers.
In my own, I offer autonomy like a prize and can’t help but talk about it as a finite thing. A goal, a milestone.
But autonomy is a state.
Its preservation deserves a disciplined practice — a choice to craft virtuously and a commitment to bear the responsibility that comes with that choice. And it is a vulnerable state. The success of a given project becomes second to the integrity of your good name, your reputation. It is something you cultivate. You make a promise, you keep a promise; you talk, you walk.
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do. — Epictetus
It requires clarity — an understanding of who you are and a willingness to act accordingly, even when no one is watching.
Craft virtuously,
A traveler.
Furbelow
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