CONTROL WHAT YOU CAN
Our control is what's irreplaceable. Wealth, status and the illusory security of dependency chains cannot replace control.
What's our personal strategy for navigating tumultuous times? I've long advocated controlling as much as you can. We don't control the availability of fuel and food from far away, or the government's policies. But that doesn't mean we're powerless to affect our destiny.
From the point of view of systems, the way to understand control is to examine each chain of dependency in our lives: how many links are there between you and the source of what you need?
The greater the number of links, the greater the vulnerability of the chain, as once one link is broken, the entire chain fails.
The ideal is complete control of the source of essentials: there is no dependency chain at all. This self-sufficiency is incomplete due to our dependence on globalized industrial manufacturing, but reducing our needs to a bare minimum greatly reduces our dependency and increases our control.
In other words, the other measure of control is reducing how much we need. If we only need a small amount of money and essentials, then it's inherently easier to obtain a little rather than have to acquire a lot just to survive.
Consider freshwater as an analogy. The water flowing out of your tap comes from far away and requires an immense dependency chain of wells, reservoirs, pipes, pumps, filters, etc. all of which depends on 24/7 electrical power.
If we collect rainwater off our roof and filter / store it, the dependency chain is reduced to the weather providing rain.
If we reduce water consumption, that also reduces our dependence.
If water is cheap and easy to access, we waste it. If we have to carry all our water in buckets several hundred meters, we're much more careful about how the water is consumed. If we have to carry it a few kilometers, we're extremely careful.
NOW A WORD FROM MARCUS AURELIUS
