VII. Live According to Nature

A return to the central formulation with more precision.

To live happily is to live according to nature. Let me explain what this means.

Guard the gifts of the body with care, knowing that they will not last and that they were given for a day. Do not fall under their control. Do not become a slave to what is no part of your real self. Assign to bodily pleasures and external advantages the role of auxiliaries and light troops in an army: let them serve you, not command you. Only then do they have any genuine value to your mind.

Be a person who cannot be conquered by external things. Admire only what is genuinely yours. Have confidence in your own spirit. Order your life so that you are ready for both good and bad fortune. Let your confidence be backed by knowledge. Let your knowledge be backed by steadiness. Let your decisions, once made, stand. No erasure in your principles.

When the mind has ranged itself in order, made its parts agree, harmonized itself, it has reached the highest good. There is nothing hazardous remaining. Nothing to shake it. It will do everything from its own will. Nothing unexpected will arrive. Whatever it does will turn out well, and easily, without any underhanded devices.

Slow and hesitating action are signs of inner conflict. The mind that is whole needs no hesitation.