Sublime

Aristo and Epictetus both felt that when it came to playing our role in life, the script was already written and we shouldn’t be trying to come up with our own. We should work hard at living up to our given roles.

“What, then, makes a person free from hindrance and self-determining? For wealth doesn’t, neither does high-office, state or kingdom—rather, something else must be found . . . in the case of living, it is the knowledge of how to live.” —EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES

If you desire the virtues which are within your power, there is no room for envy or aping others. Instead of wishing to be a general, a congressman, or a celebrity, desire to be free. And the way to be free is to let go of anything that is not within your control.

Epictetus’s Stoicism will have quite a bit to say to you, because Stoicism is a philosophy of real life for real people living real lives. It’s a philosophy for people who make mistakes and harbor regrets. It’s also a philosophy for grown-ups. Stoicism asks you to quit mewling and making excuses and to face this problem you have, which is that your

From Apollonius I learned freedom of will and undeviating steadiness of purpose; and to look to nothing else, not even for a moment, except to reason;

Exercise yourself then in what lies in your power. Each man's master is the man who has authority over what he wishes or does not wish, to secure the one or to take away the other. Let him then who wishes to be free not wish for anything or avoid anything that depends on others; or else he is bound to be a slave.

Epictetus is never weary of showing how we should deal with what are considered misfortunes, which he does often by means of homely dialogues. Like the Christians, he holds that we should love our enemies. In general, in common with other Stoics, he despises pleasure, but there is a kind of happiness that is not to be despised. “Athens is beautiful

“Ask yourself the following first thing in the morning: • What am I lacking in attaining freedom from passion? • What for tranquility? • What am I? A mere body, estate-holder, or reputation? None of these things. • What, then? A rational being. • What then is demanded of me? Meditate on your actions. • How did I steer away from serenity? • What did