Choose

Beirut bedroom.

Sleep, strictly speaking, is but a matter of choice. Do you choose to sleep or do you not. But in the event that your body's choice is not in sync with that of your mind, there is always heavy reading that will help to stir up some Zzzz, although you do run the risk that it might keep you up till day break. My choice of late for these fun filled evenings is Adam Smith. Everyone knows Mr Smith for the Wealth of Nations and as the Father of Capitalism, but he also wrote A Theory of Moral Sentiments which was suppose to underpin all his other works, including the Wealth of Nations. An examination of modern capitalism shows that somebody forgot to draw upon this underpinning and hence the mess that we are in. But that is another topic for another sleepless night. What I found interesting upon re-reading this book is Mr Smith's views on choice:

"The great source of both the misery and disorders of human life seems to arise from over-rating the difference between one permanent situation and another. Some of those situations may, no doubt, deserve to be preferred to others, but none of them can deserve to be pursued with that passionate ardour whihc drives us to violate the rules either of prudence or of justice, or to corrupt the future tranquility of our minds, either by shame from the remembrance of our own folly, or by remorse from the horror of our own injustice."