The old company

Many good decisions fail not from weakness, but from company. A man decides to live differently, then sits down with the same people in the same place, and everything returns as if the decision had never been made.

John Climacus calls this exile: withdrawing from everything that works against the goal. Not out of hatred for people, but because what was gained with effort can be lost in a moment. For a man in the world this does not mean leaving home. It means knowing the places and people after which you are always worse than before, and no longer going there.

Here John is very practical. Do not test your strength where you know you fall. The fruit you do not see, you desire less. And do not wait for others to set out with you: many waited for the lukewarm and grew cold themselves.

Do not test your strength where you know you fall.

Two traps stand at the exit. The first is contempt: whoever leaves the old company but condemns it soils himself another way. The second is the thought of going back to be an example before you are firm. Withdraw quietly, without explanations. Change should be seen, not heard.

The question remains: if you move away from the old people, who will the new ones be?

N. Ž.