There is something about Stoicism that just keeps pulling me back, and Epictetus is its sharpest voice. No wonder the last of the “Five Good Emperors”, the philosopher emperor, Marcus Aurelius would quote so heavily from a former slave. The greatest man on Earth at the time quoting a former slave. That catches my attention and what stays with me is Epictetus’ insistence on living according to nature and on guarding the one thing that is truly ours: our will. Reputation, career, body, and circumstance all belong to the world, so he asks us to align our rational will with the rational order running through it. Easier said than done, no doubt. And he doesn’t stop at ethics. In the Discourses he ties that order to the divine, writing on Providence and arguing that we are products of a Supreme Being, meant to read nature itself as evidence of it. Again, that resonates with me, deeply. This volume holds only eleven selected discourses; Epictetus filled eight books, of which only four survive, and I intend to read as many as I can. Its best feature is this book’s inclusion of the Enchiridion, the handbook his pupil Arrian compiled from his teaching. It should be required reading today and is definitely one I will return to frequently.
In our power are thought, reaction, the will to get, and the will to avoid. In a word, everything which is part of ourselves. Things generally not in our power are the body, property, reputation, and status. In a word, everything which does not genuinely belong to us. Things in our power or control are by nature free, unhindered, pure. Things not in our power are weak, servile, subject to obstacles, and dependent on others.
To accuse others for one’s own misfortune is a sign of ignorance. To accuse oneself shows that one’s enlightenment has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one’s enlightenment is complete.
Different people are born to different tasks.
Because of this lower identification with animals, some of us fall away and become like wolves, faithless and treacherous and mischievous; others become like lions, savage and brutal and untameable. But the greater part of us become foxes, the most godforsaken creatures in the animal world. A foul-mouthed and wicked person is no better than a fox, the meanest and most miserable of creatures. Be careful then that you do not turn out to be one of these animals.
Remember who you really are, a child of God. (Emphasis mine)
Every single thing that comes into being in the universe gives us reason to praise Providence, as long as we have the ability to understand circumstances, and we have the spirit of gratitude.
Read it. Live according to nature. Mind what is yours.