Plato, as much as I do not generally admire him, created what I think is the best metaphor to describe the human condition. We should think of man as being a chariot, complete with driver, chariot and horses. The chariot itself is our body, the horses represent our emotions, our drives, and the driver is the intellect. All of these parts are necessary if the chariot is to function properly. None of them, the body, the emotions or the mind, is bad in and off itself. Without the chariot itself we would be nothing, without the emotions there would be nothing to pull the chariot, and the mind must control the chariot. In fact, the intellect must ALWAYS be in charge, or the chariot will crash. This does not mean that the horses are bad, but that they must be directed by the intellect, not direct the intellect.
Stoic philosophy gives the intellect the tools to control the chariot, but the efforts never cease. If the driver is on a journey of 10 miles, he cannot exercise control for the first 8 and hope that the horses will behave for the next 2 miles.
This reminds me of the Hindu deity, Ganesh. Of course, all of these archetypes possess a mode of transportation. Ganesh's ride is a mouse, or a rat, symbolizing desire. As in: Ganesh rides his desires, rather than his desires riding him.
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