1 I’m about to prove a most important philosophical principle: godly thinking is supreme over emotions and desires. I would be giving you good advice then to pay close attention to philosophy.
2 This principle is essential for knowing what to do in every situation, and it also includes the praise of the highest moral trait—I’m talking about good judgment.
3 Therefore, if clear thinking is shown to control the emotions that prevent self-control, such as the tendency to overeat and rampant desire,
4 then it is clear that it also rules the emotions that prevent us from acting in a just way, such as ill will, and those emotions that prevent us from acting with courage, such as anger, fear, and pain.
5 Perhaps some people would object: "If clear thinking can control emotions, why doesn’t it do away with memory loss and ignorance?" But that’s just ridiculous.
6 The mind doesn’t have control over such things, but it controls the emotions and desires that resist justice, courage, and self-control. And it does this so that we won’t surrender to the emotions, not in order to destroy them.
7 I could show you that clear thinking has power over emotions and desires in any number of ways.