A Spark by Innocent Mwatsikesimbe from The Vision, chapter 32
“It takes more to abstain than to err, more to avoid mistakes than to make mistakes; but the good thing is that it gets better with practice.”
by Innocent Mwatsikesimbe — from The Vision, chapter 32
The walk-through
We notice the strength it takes to do the right thing. The strength it takes to do nothing goes unremarked — yet “you also need wisdom and strength to be silent or abstain from bad actions.” Holding still is work.
That is why the arithmetic runs uneven. Erring is the cheap move; abstaining costs more. And the pressure is real: “situations arise that summon your dark side, and it takes a lot to subdue it.”
The hopeful part is that restraint answers to repetition. Habits, good and bad, are built by practice, and our traits grow out of them. Practise keeping a calm mind when problems arrive, and the calm stops being an effort and becomes part of who you are. Self-control is less a gift some people were handed than something trained.
AI-composed from Innocent's text, reviewed and refined by Innocent.
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