Epictetus, The Handbook 34: Stoic Piety 1

For piety towards the gods know that the most important thing is this: to have right opinions about them—that they exist, and that they govern the universe well and justly—and to have set yourself to obey them, and to give way to all that happens, following events with a free will, in the belief that they are fulfilled by the highest mind.

For thus you will never blame the gods, nor accuse them of neglecting you. But this you cannot achieve, unless you apply your conception of good and evil to those things only which are in our power, and not to those which are out of our power.

For if you apply your notion of good or evil to the latter, then, as soon as you fail to get what you will to get or fail to avoid what you will to avoid, you will be bound to blame and hate those you hold responsible . . .

—Epictetus, The Handbook, Chapter 31 (tr Matheson)

As that pendulum of social and philosophical fashion swings back and forth, it can be difficult to live in a way that stresses virtue. Even the term itself seems alien to so many of us.

Much the same can be said for a life that values piety. Respect is, after all, something we prefer to receive, rather than to give.

But these ideals need not be obscure or foreign to us, if we only understand them rightly. Virtue is not the cold conformity to duty, but the joyful embrace of living well. Piety is not resignation or religious posturing, but giving right respect to the order of all things, and ultimately to the source and measure of that order.

For the Romans, piety was understood in the broad sense of proper reverence, whether for family, friends, or country, but culminating in reverence for the gods.  The very idea, however, can seem disturbing, since it seems to imply some sort of blind obedience to invisible powers. It doesn’t help when some distort the concept of piety from one of humility to one of power and superiority.

Stoicism can be of great assistance in redeeming these ideals of virtue and piety. If the fullness of human life is in how we think, what we decide, and what we do, then virtue or excellence will be the measure by which we must judge ourselves. Likewise, if the fullness of human life is only possible in harmony and right relation with all things around us, then piety or respect will be the measure by which we understand ourselves as being a part of that whole.

Put aside, for the moment, the question of how we are to describe and understand it, but use simple common sense to apprehend that Nature acts according to purpose. She admits of order, and all things, to different degrees, participate in this fullness of being. Call it the gods, God, the Absolute, Providence, or the Universe itself if you will, but admire how all the parts only make sense with regard to the whole, and how we are only parts, and never the whole itself.

Now apply some further Stoic principles to the matter. That I have freedom is not outside of this harmony, but a very necessary part of it. How should I go about acting with my own freedom? All things, of course, have their proper bounds and restraints.

If I refer to the basic truth of The Handbook, that some things are rightly within my power, and others rightly outside of it, I will begin to see the proper path of life. Let me find what is good for my own existence in those things that I can rule, my own thoughts, my choices, and my deeds. Let me simply respect others things beyond my power as they are, each in their own appropriate place, and never demand that they conform to me.

Insofar as it relates to my own particular good, only my own actions are good and bad for me. All other things must be indifferent to me, and they become good or bad only by my estimation or use of them.

If I complain, then, that the gods, or God, or the Absolute, or Providence, or the Universe itself, has acted wrongly toward me, I am very far off the mark. I have expanded the scope of my authority to something quite beyond my own authority. I have tried to make other things be as I would wish them, and I have then, quite ironically, made myself God, the ruler of Nature.

The Universe does not treat us poorly, or unfairly. We choose to treat ourselves well or poorly, fairly or unfairly, by deciding what we will make of everything the whole Universe offers us. I must learn, kicking and screaming, that I am not the master of all. That is the root of all humility, reverence, respect, and piety.

Stoicism offers the simplest and most beautiful solution to what philosophers call the “Problem of Evil.” God, however you choose to understand that absolute reality, will never do me wrong. I do myself wrong. I will only grasp this if I can perceive what is rightly my own, and what is rightly under the authority of other forces and things. Whenever I claim more for myself than is mine, I am on the path to resentment and misery.

“You stole my wealth, my property, my health, my honor, and you are about to steal my life! You have stolen my happiness!”

No, my wealth, my property, my health, my honor, or my very life can’t be stolen, because they were never mine to begin with. My happiness, on the other hand, was always mine. In the immortal words of Lynyrd Skynyrd, “they can’t take that away.”

Written in 3/1996

Image: Leo Von Klenze, Akropolis (1846)