Epictetus, The Handbook 2: You are but an Impression. . .

Aiming then at these high matters, you must remember that to attain them requires more than ordinary effort; you will have to give up some things entirely, and put off others for the moment. And if you would have these also—office and wealth—it may be that you will fail to get them, just because your desire is set on the former, and you will certainly fail to attain those things which alone bring freedom and happiness.

Make it your study then to confront every harsh impression with the words, ‘ You are but an impression, and not at all what you seem to be’.

Then test it by those rules that you possess; and first by this—the chief test of all—‘Is it concerned with what is in our power or with what is not in our power?’  And if it is concerned with what is not in our power, be ready with the answer that it is nothing to you.

—Epictetus, The Handbook, Chapter 1 (trans Matheson}

If anyone is to begin thinking and living like a Stoic, he will find that he must completely alter the order of priorities he may have been used to. I have always called this the Stoic Turn. This can be very difficult, not because of any complexity in Stoic thought itself, but because we will be struggling against our existing habits, and everything most people in the world are telling us to value.

As soon as I start thinking that the root of my happiness does not come from those things outside of me, the things outside of my power, but from what is within me, the things completely under my power, I will meet resistance. I may have been told and taken for granted that my career, wealth, influence, popularity, and worldly security were what make me happy. If I now begin to realize that all of these things may come and go, but that my thoughts, choices, and actions are what make me happy, I won’t be able to make that change overnight or without effort.

Yet the rewards are well worth the effort. I need to do nothing else than to alter my perception of values, basing my dignity entirely upon the merit of my character, and I can begin to realize the greatest freedom.

I can confront pain, loss, frustration, sadness, or all the sorts of burdens the world seems to throw at me, and simply ask myself: what is this really to me? If it is something I can change, I need not worry, because I can simply change it. If it is something I can’t change, I need not worry, because it does not concern what is truly my own. I can then take whatever is given, pleasant or unpleasant, and I can use it to improve myself.

I will feel afraid to lose all those trappings I used to care about, but I must simply remember: they were never important in the way that I thought they were important. If I can choose to no longer desire them as an end, I will not to worry whether I have them or not, and I can be content with putting them aside. I can reconsider the original impression.

No lover is distraught when he does not have the affections of someone with whom he isn’t enamored. A man who does not want to be a doctor will not be saddened that he didn’t get into medical school. So if I am not in love with externals, I will not mourn them. There will be a time of adjustment, as with any change of perspective, position, priority, but the benefits are priceless. 

Written in 4/2001