On the power of reason

[W]e tend to conceive of freedom...in largely political terms....we have come to doubt our psychological freedom, or freedom of mind. Consequently, we think of our actions as having causes outside the mind or buried deep in subconsciousness and beyond the reach of reasoned thought and dialogue.

From The Emperor's Handbook: a new translation of the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius by C. Scot Hicks and David V. Hicks p.9 of the introduction

This modern prejudice against reason affects Christians just as much as everyone else. Particularily in the Catholic Church, any real moral and pastoral theology has been replaced with the all-encompassing cosmic principle of "psychological health". Ancient thought, however, had confidence in reason and free will, not because they had more confidence in human nature, but probably because they knew that reasoned choices are all we have to get through life. Our life takes place only on the level of our full consciousness. Anything else we cannot be possibly aware of.

"Although others may at times hinder me from acting, they cannot control or impede my spirit and my will. Reserving its judgement and adapting to change, my mind bypasses or displaces any obstacles in its way. It uses whatever opposes it to acheive its own ends; it turns roadblocks into roads."

-Marcus Aurelius