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A review by papidoc
Discourses, Fragments, Handbook by Christopher Gill, Epictetus, Robin Hard
5.0
The Enchiridion (translated as manual or handbook) of Epictetus (Epic-tee-tus) is worth many readings. Even more, it is worth thinking about and translating into action. This is from the Robin Hard translation, and is only from The Enchiridion, not from the other discourses and fragments of his writings. A few thoughts from my most recent reading:
Some things are within our power to control, others are not, and (as Donald Robertson suggest) some are only partially within our control.
To achieve great things, you must not only exert great effort, but you must also renounce many things, and postpone others for the present.
Practice recognizing and acknowledging that every disagreeable impression is, in fact, just an impression, and may well not be what it appears to be. Then examine it and test its veracity.
It isn’t the thing themselves that disturb people, but the judgments that they form about them.
Thus, whenever I react to something with strong emotion, recognize the judgment from which that emotion arises, and that the emotion is mine because the judgment is mine.
Everyone is subject to anyone who has power over what he wants or doesn’t want. If you want to be free, then you need to neither want nor seek to avoid anything that is under the control of others. Otherwise you are in some degree a slave to that person.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the good things of life, only that to you they should be “preferred indifferents” – things to which I am indifferent, but that I prefer over things that are “dispreferred indifferents.” Either way, I should strive to be indifferent to their presence or absence in my life. There are much more important things to do and to think about.
If someone handed over your body to somebody whom you encountered, you’d be furious; but that you hand over your mind to anyone who comes along, so that, if he abuses you, it becomes disturbed and confused, do you feel no shame at that?
For where a person’s interest lies, there too lies his piety. Sounds a lot like Matthew 6:21: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
So, approach [God] with confidence, as your adviser, and afterwards, when some advice has been granted to you, remember who it is that you have taken as your adviser, and whom you will be disregarding if you disobey...
Resort to divination as Socrates thought right, in matters in which the enquiry relates exclusively to the outcome, and where neither reason nor any technical knowledge provides the means that are required to discover the point in question
The Stoics argued that we should focus our thoughts and efforts only on things within our control, and outcomes are usually not in our control. Yet, here Epictetus is suggesting that where reason and technical knowledge fail us, and the focus is on an outcome, we should appeal to God for further insight or understanding. Again, this sounds remarkably consistent with the gospel!
Truth in action as well as in words: When you’ve decided that you ought to do something and are doing it, never try to avoid being seen to do it, even if most people will probably view it with disapproval; for if it isn’t right to do it, avoid doing it in the first place, but if it is, why be afraid of those who’ll reproach you without justification?
Someone takes his bath in a hurry; don’t say that he bathes badly, but that he does so in a hurry. In other words, don’t confuse facts with value judgments.
So you should think fit from this moment to live as an adult and as one who is making progress; and let everything that seems best to you be an inviolable law for you. And if you come up against anything that requires an effort, or is pleasant, or is glorious or inglorious, remember...that there is no possibility of further delay, and that it depends on a single day and single action whether progress is to be lost or secured.
Don’t waste the days, hours, or minutes available to you. The time to act is now!
Some things are within our power to control, others are not, and (as Donald Robertson suggest) some are only partially within our control.
1. Within my control: Opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, whatever is of my own doing.
2. Partially in my control: Performance, behavior, achievement, etc.
3. Outside my control: Property, reputation, office, whatever is exclusively the thought or action of another person.
To achieve great things, you must not only exert great effort, but you must also renounce many things, and postpone others for the present.
Practice recognizing and acknowledging that every disagreeable impression is, in fact, just an impression, and may well not be what it appears to be. Then examine it and test its veracity.
It isn’t the thing themselves that disturb people, but the judgments that they form about them.
Thus, whenever I react to something with strong emotion, recognize the judgment from which that emotion arises, and that the emotion is mine because the judgment is mine.
Everyone is subject to anyone who has power over what he wants or doesn’t want. If you want to be free, then you need to neither want nor seek to avoid anything that is under the control of others. Otherwise you are in some degree a slave to that person.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the good things of life, only that to you they should be “preferred indifferents” – things to which I am indifferent, but that I prefer over things that are “dispreferred indifferents.” Either way, I should strive to be indifferent to their presence or absence in my life. There are much more important things to do and to think about.
If someone handed over your body to somebody whom you encountered, you’d be furious; but that you hand over your mind to anyone who comes along, so that, if he abuses you, it becomes disturbed and confused, do you feel no shame at that?
For where a person’s interest lies, there too lies his piety. Sounds a lot like Matthew 6:21: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
So, approach [God] with confidence, as your adviser, and afterwards, when some advice has been granted to you, remember who it is that you have taken as your adviser, and whom you will be disregarding if you disobey...
Resort to divination as Socrates thought right, in matters in which the enquiry relates exclusively to the outcome, and where neither reason nor any technical knowledge provides the means that are required to discover the point in question
The Stoics argued that we should focus our thoughts and efforts only on things within our control, and outcomes are usually not in our control. Yet, here Epictetus is suggesting that where reason and technical knowledge fail us, and the focus is on an outcome, we should appeal to God for further insight or understanding. Again, this sounds remarkably consistent with the gospel!
Truth in action as well as in words: When you’ve decided that you ought to do something and are doing it, never try to avoid being seen to do it, even if most people will probably view it with disapproval; for if it isn’t right to do it, avoid doing it in the first place, but if it is, why be afraid of those who’ll reproach you without justification?
Someone takes his bath in a hurry; don’t say that he bathes badly, but that he does so in a hurry. In other words, don’t confuse facts with value judgments.
So you should think fit from this moment to live as an adult and as one who is making progress; and let everything that seems best to you be an inviolable law for you. And if you come up against anything that requires an effort, or is pleasant, or is glorious or inglorious, remember...that there is no possibility of further delay, and that it depends on a single day and single action whether progress is to be lost or secured.
Don’t waste the days, hours, or minutes available to you. The time to act is now!