Epictetus, Discourses 1.11.3

Tell me now, is everything right which seems noble and fitting to certain people? Today, for instance, are the opinions of Jews and Syrians, Egyptians and Romans, as to food all of them right?

 

“How can they be?”

 

No, I suppose if the Egyptians' views are right the other nations' must of necessity be wrong; if the Jews' opinions are good, other people's must be bad.

 

“Of course.”

 

And where there is ignorance, there is also want of insight and education as to necessary things.

 

“Yes.”

 

When once you have realized this, then, said Epictetus, you will make this your one interest in the future, and to this alone devote your mind—to discover the means of judging what is natural and to use your criterion to distinguish each particular case as it arises.

 

I deal with dozens of standards every day, many of them rather precise and elaborate, and yet I don’t attend nearly enough to the most important standard of all, on how to be a thoughtful and decent human being. 

 

That sort of neglect on my part will inevitably bring me confusion and misery. 

 

Sometimes we get tied up in knots, unsure of how to find a highest measure by which to direct our lives. Some things are matters of individual preference, and others are expressions of social convention, but what is necessary above and beyond any of these is a universal comprehension of our human nature, and how it is joined to the order in all of Nature. 

 

There is little use in mucking about with the many details if I don’t already have a plan in mind. The effects will only make sense through an awareness of the causes, and the circumstances are only given direction by understanding the first principles. 

 

This will, at first, feel incredibly frustrating, since I don’t know quite where to begin, but I can be encouraged by the fact that any new endeavor is initially intimidating. I struggled with learning my letters, and riding a bicycle, and solving quadratic equations, though I somehow managed, with time and effort. 

 

All the more important, then, to get started early, and to make the pursuit of a human calling my primary commitment. It will be a lifelong vocation, as I will never stop discovering something new. 

 

On a more manageable scale, for example, I could think about how to eat well. My tastes may incline me in one way, and tradition may point me in another, but if I am going to do more than just be led about by passion or custom, I will be well advised to learn something about what sort of foods are best for the health and strength of my body. It would be very foolish to say that it’s all the same, that any old diet will do. 

 

Is not the health and the strength of the soul even more important than that of the body, as the greater demands more attention than the lesser? No bone, muscle, or sinew will be of help without a sound sense of judgment. 

 

Relativism is the usual refuge of those who are afraid of responsibility. Heaven knows, whenever I dread being wrong, I am tempted to insist that there can be no right. If I take a calm moment to be honest with myself, however, I see that I am assuming my ignorance is invincible. I forget that I was given the power of reason to find my way. 

Written in 12/2000