"Without confidence, there is no friendship"
Epicurus
For something a little different, I thought I would refer to an ancient Greek scholar for my quote this month. I have recently learned, once again in my life, of the tremendous power for good and blessing that there is in pure friendship. To truly be a friend, two people must have confidence in each other...confidence in, I believe, the essential goodness, genuineness and 'realness' of the other. Without confidence friendship cannot exist. The Bible puts this concept in terms of love this way "There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out all fear." Thankyou to all my darling friends who have shown confidence in who I am and loved me extravagantly over the past month..... I love you too!
From the beautiful relationship/friendship film "Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood"
A little about the philosopher who gave us this quote: (from Wikipedia)
For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by ataraxia - peace and freedom from fear, and aponia - the absence of pain, and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and evil, that death should not be feared, that the gods do not reward or punish humans, that the universe is infinite and eternal, and that events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.
Epicurus warned against pursuing love too ardently. However, having a circle of friends you can trust is one of the most important means for securing a tranquil life.
The power of confident friendship in "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe"
Fascinating !!
Thank you for this post. It puts into words how I felt about a dear friend I'd had for years, or rather how I thought she felt about me. I'd lost confidence (within myself) over the last few years of our friendship and she (unknowingly i'm sure) validated that by constantly questioning my sincerity about all sorts of things. Hope this makes sense, the gist of what I'm trying to say is that - YES - we need our friends to believe us and in us.
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