Epictetus, The Handbook (The Encheiridion)
Stoic belief and similarities with determinism: incompatible with the notions of moral responsibility
In connection with the modern belief that we are but a speck of dust in the universe.
Epictetus’s view differs slightly from the strict Stoic view of the ideal condition of a human being. He is more interested in explaining to people, not how they should understand an ideal condition, but how they can make their own condition somewhat better than it is.
He persuades them that they should set their sights lower, not expect to have certain desires satisfied, and live with the idea that such desires were not worth satisfying anyway. This sort of practical methodology might have stemmed from the fact that Epictetus was born into slavery.
“detach your aversion from everything not up to us”
A bit morbid in my opinion: “if you kiss your child or your wife, say that you are kissing a human being; for when it dies you will not be upset.”
“what upsets people is not things themselves but their judgments about the things.”
“Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen,and your life will go well.” not buying this one
crazy: “but if when things are set in front of you, you do not take them but despise them, then you will not only share a banquet with the gods but also be a ruler along with them.”
^I was in agreement with 15 until this was brought up. I do believe that you shouldn’t reach for things that have not yet arrived, nor hold on long after it has departed. But I certainly don’t agree with the idea that you should despise things offered to you.
18 brings up an interesting attitude towards bad omens that surely has to be controversial at the time.
25. “You were not invited to someone’s banquet? You did not give the host the price of the meal.”
29. “You must be one person, either good or bad.”
35. “When you do something that you determine is to be done, never try not to be seen doing it, even if most people are likely to think something bad about it. If you are not doing it rightly, avoid the act itself; if you are doing it rightly, why do you fear those who will criticize you wrongly?” <- very good advice, not confident in whether I can follow this fully.
37. “if you undertake some role beyond your capacity, you both disgrace yourself by taking it and also thereby neglect the role that you were unable to take.”
There is certainly some good advice here about how to process your emotions. Yet, there are tons of paragraphs that seem to emphasize the neglect or suppression of it. E.g. 50: “Abide by whatever task is set before you as if it were a law, and as if you would be committing sacrilege if you weren’t against it. But pay no attention to whatever anyone says about you, since that falls outside what is yours.