Self-mastery matters

If you do everything by the power of will alone, you are bound to fail. But will does play a role in achieving the outcomes or life that we would like to achieve. From anecdotal observation, I think Damon Linker is right to be concerned that we're losing self-mastery. We give in to the myriad very pleasurable temptations available to us and then use "helpmeets and tricks" to dig ourselves out of a quagmire of our own making. It is possible and indeed desirable, to put up some resistance against temptation, not for fear of Biblical retribution, but because it's worthwhile to do so for who we become when we do. A bit of friction is good:

When we rely on a machine to do an arduous physical task for us, we avoid injury and get to enjoy greater leisure. But what if it’s physically and spiritually healthier to complete the task for ourselves, with our own hands and arms and legs? Our own muscle and bone?

Human beings are weak, needy creatures. We require encouragement and support in doing what we know is good. And yet we’ve created a world of unprecedented temptations at a moment in history when our old support systems have been dismantled. That might make helpmeets and tricks the best most of us can do.

I hope it’s enough—but I worry it won’t be. Self-mastery is good and important. And I’m not sure we’ve thought long or deeply enough about what it would be like to live in a world without it.

Since I read this, now when I find myself in the midst of temptation, such as often happens when I'm low on sugar and in a shop full of mouth-watering, but terribly unhealthy, ultra-processed, chemical-laden foods, I simply whisper to myself, "self-mastery, self-mastery, self-mastery." It kills the temptation, every time.

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