130: Try and control the world external to your mind and meet constant agony. Expect nothing of no one but yourself and expect nothing but contentment. The currency of the world is falsehood, and if you expect your fellow man to follow their words with actions, you are mistaken. Make expectations of nothing. Structure your thoughts so that nothing will shock you. Only the infant mind is manipulated as a puppet by the capricious masses. How can you so readily and so swiftly surrender your faculties to anger and accusation? Temper your passions so that you can always rely on your convictions to be true, for the sake of being true, with no pandering for reward or recognition. For everything that troubles you, detach the need for that in your life, and you will know no pain. You need nothing but what you define as needing.

Everything that is not within you cannot be in your control. How foolish we are to be disturbed when something material is destroyed, as if it were to last forever? You are deceiving yourself in desiring to control these things, these impermanent, momentary forms that will sooner than later rejoin the world as dust. Detach yourself from the desire and in doing so detach yourself from the grief of a mind dependent on structuring an external flux. Let nothing disturb you, let nothing shock you. Did you really expect anything else?

Don’t have expectations of anyone but yourself and you won’t be disturbed when reckless, uncharitable, vile people do reckless, uncharitable and vile things. Be strict with yourself and tolerant of others. Trying to control anything but your own judgments, actions and decisions will only lead you to pain; you are powerless to truly manipulate the outside world. If you expect people to act a certain way, or to have any logic or reasoning for their actions, they will only disappoint you. Most people don’t think through their actions properly and as a consequence often make reckless, (seemingly) random, deceptive or destructive actions. You can’t blame them for this, or expect anything else, just work on tempering your own judgments, actions and decisions, and leave everything else up to fate, always being cheerful of character, blaming no one.