Book 4, Chapter 38

82 “But now that we know the cause of disturbances, all of which arise from judgments of belief and acts of will, let this discussion come to an end. We ought to know that, once the ultimate goods and evils have been understood as far as a human being can understand them, nothing greater or more useful can be sought from philosophy than what we have discussed over these four days. Having made death a thing to disregard and pain easier to bear, we added the calming of distress, than which no evil is greater for a human being. For although every disturbance of the soul is grievous and differs little from madness, we usually speak of others who are in some disturbance of fear, delight, or desire as merely agitated and disturbed, but those who have surrendered to distress as miserable, crushed, wretched, and afflicted.

83 “So it seems no accident, but a deliberate proposal on your part, that we should discuss distress separately from the other disturbances: in distress lies the fountainhead and source of misery. Yet distress and the other diseases of the soul have a single cure: all are matters of belief and will, and are taken on because doing so seems right. Philosophy promises to tear out this error by the roots, as the root of all evils.

84 “Let us therefore give ourselves to philosophy to be cultivated, and allow ourselves to be healed. While these evils are lodged within us, we cannot be happy, or even sane. Either let us deny that anything is accomplished by reason—though in fact nothing can be rightly done without reason—or, since philosophy consists in the comparison of arguments, let us seek from it, if we wish to be both good and happy, every support and aid for living well and happily.”

82 “But now we know the cause of disturbances: they all arise from judgments based on beliefs and from acts of will. So let’s bring this discussion to an end. We ought to know that, once we’ve understood the highest good and the worst evil as far as a human can understand them, we can ask nothing greater or more useful from philosophy than what we’ve discussed during these four days. We’ve learned to look down on death and to make pain easier to bear. To these we’ve added the calming of distress, which is the greatest evil a person faces. Every mental disturbance is certainly serious and not much different from madness. Still, when people are in a disturbance of fear, delight, or desire, we usually just call them agitated and disturbed. But people who’ve given themselves over to distress we call miserable, broken, burdened with hardship, and afflicted with disaster.

83 “So our discussing distress separately from the other disturbances seems not to have happened by accident, but to have been deliberately proposed by you. Distress is the source and chief cause of misery. Yet there is one cure for both distress and the mind’s other diseases: they’re all matters of belief and will, taken on because it seems right to do so. Philosophy promises to pull this error out completely, like the root of every evil.

84 “Let philosophy work on us, then; let it heal us. Happiness is impossible with these evils lodged inside, and so is mental health. One option is to deny reason any power to accomplish things, even though nothing is rightly done without it. Otherwise, since philosophy works by weighing arguments against each other, let’s turn to it for every aid and resource for a good, happy life—if goodness and happiness are what we want.”