The Handbook
by Epictetus
“Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.”
“The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.” ― Epictetus
This is the little (29 pp) book that lays out the essence of Stoic philosophy. Stoicism was founded by Zeno of Cytium more than three centuries earlier, but it is the works of Epictetus (along with Seneca and Marcus Aurelius) that form Stoic thought as we know it today. Stoicism, while not a well known today as the thought of Plato and Aristotle, was one of the major philosophic schools in Greece and Rome for a half a millenium.
What makes the handbook most interesting today is the practical advice aspect of Epictetus' thought. One can put some of these ideas to good use even in the twenty-first century.
According to Epictetus one makes progress when "he censures no one; he praises no one; he blames no one; he never talks about himself as a person who amounts to something or knows something." And finally, "Never say about anything, 'I have lost it,' but instead, 'I have given it back.'" Follow the Stoic principles and you will not have an unhappy life.
According to Epictetus one makes progress when "he censures no one; he praises no one; he blames no one; he never talks about himself as a person who amounts to something or knows something." And finally, "Never say about anything, 'I have lost it,' but instead, 'I have given it back.'" Follow the Stoic principles and you will not have an unhappy life.
2 comments:
It is difficult, though, given how easily and firmly we attached ourselves to people, ideas, and desires..
Stephen,
I agree it is difficult, but the continual challenge of reading different books and new authors helps one's perspective.
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