Policeman Of My Own Soul

In his excellent travelogue through the Holy Land, From the Holy Mountain, William Dalrymple tells the unlikely story of a Greek monk he met in a monastery in the deserts of Judaea, who told him that he had been a policeman back in Greece, that he had quit his job and said goodbye to all his friends and relatives, and had retired here to be "the policeman of his own soul."

Brought to mind something I read the other day in Cato's Letters, published by two "independent Whigs" in London in the 1720s, John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. The particular essay from which the following quote has been extracted is titled "Arbitrary government proved incompatible with true Religion, whether Natural or Revealed":

Happiness is the chief End of Man, and the saving of his Soul is his chief Happiness; so that every Man is most concerned for his own Soul, and more than any other can be:  And if no Obstruction be thrown in his Way, he will for the most part do all in his Power for his own Salvation, and will certainly do it best; and when he had done all that he can, he has done all that he ought: People cannot be saved by Force...

Yes, the world is corrupt - and India even more so. As for me, I wish to stay far, far away from all this corruption - and save my own Soul from it.

Policeman of my own Soul - that's me.