# dichotomy of control (sort)

Reading each wall as within one's own reach or not, then acting only on those within it and giving no maintenance to those outside it.

- Computed level: L15 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: published  ·  Domain: agency

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [reach](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-reach.action), [parameter](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-parameter.condition), [wall](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wall.range-end), [maintenance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-maintenance.upkeep), [agency](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-agency.capacity), [read](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-read.information), [time](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-time.dimension), [act](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-act.deed), [outside](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-outside.spatial), [give](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-give.transfer)

**Through:** An accurate reading of reach is applied as a rule: the line between what one can and cannot set becomes the line between where effort goes and where it is withheld, so no work is wasted on walls set elsewhere.

**Novel properties:**
- the can/cannot line used as a budget
- accuracy of the reach reading made into practice
- effort withheld on principle, not from despair

## Examples
- The Enchiridion of Epictetus opens by dividing things into those within our power, such as opinion and desire, and those not, such as body, property and reputation. *(philosophy)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-dichotomy-of-control.sort*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-dichotomy-of-control.sort.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*