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I think one barrier to applying this advice is we tend to look down upon the idea of avoiding temptation, but we praise the idea of resisting it. Resisting tem
by adrianmonk 6y ago
I think one barrier to applying this advice is we tend to look down upon the idea of avoiding temptation, but we praise the idea of resisting it.
Resisting temptation requires strength. So it is viewed as a virtue in and of itself. There is a heroic struggle. Avoiding temptation is sometimes seen as a sign of weakness. The implication is you're only avoiding it because you can't resist it. Almost like running away from a fight instead of facing your enemy.
Ultimately, I think it's more constructive to employ both strategies. You need to develop the ability to resist temptation because there are times when you cannot avoid it. But there is no sense in sabotaging your success by dealing with temptation when you don't need to.
- SubiculumCode 6y agoIt makes for a boring story when the married man decides to go home instead of hang out with the cute office girl after work, but it sure is the most effective way to resist temptation. But yes, we must also be able to resist when we find ourselves in a situation that we cannot avoid.
- afterburner 6y ago.... you assuming the cute girl's interested?
- SubiculumCode 6y agoIm assuming nothing. You do that behavior enough times, eventually something will happen.
- tryauuum 6y agoReminds me of how people praise a person who quit smoking, but do not do the same for a person who never tried smoking. I wonder if it will ever change.
- searchableguy 6y agoPeople absolutely praise others who never tried smoking but mostly when they have a person smoking in the family, read something about bad effect of smoking or other similar context.
- gauchojs 6y agoNobody ever praises me for not writing another programming language too! I assure you it would be crappy.
- O_H_E 6y agoI am in a happy mode. Thank you for consolidating our human efforts and avoiding reinventing the gear. :)
- pdr2020 6y agoThe reach of culture. I hadn't thought of this, but it makes sense. And yes once it's pointed out to you, it becomes quite obvious that actively resisting temptation is not worth the effort when you can simply avoid the conflict.