I Will Not Encourage You

My only job in relating to others is to love them.
How simple is that?

I may complain here or there about some of you some of the time, but…
Know I love you all.

Obese.
Lazy.
Ignorant.
Or addicted.

It doesn’t matter.

However.

I will not encourage behaviors any of us (myself included) partake in which make us fall short of pursuing Eudaimonia.

I will not encourage behaviors which drag us off the long, narrow, life-long journey.

I will not encourage your poor eating habits.

I will not encourage your sitting around, overenjoying reruns of The Office.

I will not encourage your lack of reading, writing, or thinking.

I will not encourage your drinking, shooting up, or excessive gaming.

You are loved in any form at all, but know the behaviors you are choosing which fly in the face of all you could become…they are not loved, and you — nor anyone else — should not love them, either.

We all have to sit and rest as we trek the long, arduous Eudaimonic Path. And resting is more than fine! 
Failing some days is fine!

But quitting or acting in a manner inconsistent with who we aspire to be…
This is completely unacceptable.

You know it. I know it.

I will not encourage your poor behaviors.
And you should endeavor to not encourage them either!

Follow for daily philosophical meditations.

These are distillations from my coming book “YouDaimonia: the Ancient Philosophy of Human Flourishing.”