Chapter 15: What philosophy professes.
When a man consulted Epictetus how to persuade his brother to be angry with him no longer, he replied:
Philosophy does not promise to secure to man anything outside him. If it did, it would be admitting something beyond its subject matter. For as wood is the material dealt with by the carpenter, bronze by the statuary, so the subject matter of each man's art of living is his own life.
What are we to say then of your brother's life? That again is the concern of his art of living: to yours it is a thing external, like land, health, good repute. Philosophy makes no promises about such things.
When a man consulted Epictetus how to persuade his brother to be angry with him no longer, he replied:
Philosophy does not promise to secure to man anything outside him. If it did, it would be admitting something beyond its subject matter. For as wood is the material dealt with by the carpenter, bronze by the statuary, so the subject matter of each man's art of living is his own life.
What are we to say then of your brother's life? That again is the concern of his art of living: to yours it is a thing external, like land, health, good repute. Philosophy makes no promises about such things.
—from Epictetus, Discourses 1.15
This is one of the shorter chapters in the Discourses, though it is packed with so much meaning for such a small package. I find myself returning to it time and time again, especially when I come home full of frustration with the nastiness and vindictiveness of some people around me. I may wonder how I can fix them, or force them on the straight and narrow, and Epictetus reminds me why that isn’t really my job.
No, don’t cast them aside out of resentment. It doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t care for them, or that I should refuse to be of service, but rather that the best way to help others is first to attend to one’s own character. Only by living with virtue is there any possibility of inspiring a change in my neighbors. Bitter recriminations breed further anger, while thoughtful and kind deeds remain the best motivators.
Can I control what my fellows will think, do, or say? Even if I somehow had it within my power, where would be the justice in making them my puppets? I have my mind and will, and they have theirs, so that we must all make our own way, on our own terms and in our own time. Provide love without smothering, offer reason without dictating.
When I look at it that way, I suddenly see the contradiction of objecting to their meddling and manipulation, as I then turn around to do precisely the same thing in return. Violence against either the soul or the body is abhorrent to who we were all made to be.
If I am still in doubt, I can always go back to the very first chapter of the Discourses for a refresher:
The gods then, as was but right, put in our hands the one blessing that is best of all and master of all, that and nothing else, the power to deal rightly with our impressions, but everything else they did not put in our hands.
A beauty of Providence is that all creatures are appointed their own place, and for those gifted with awareness and choice a very part of that place is in discovering how to freely find it and embrace it. I can hope, work, and pray for the happiness of my brothers and sisters, even as it is never my place to guarantee it to them.
This is one of the shorter chapters in the Discourses, though it is packed with so much meaning for such a small package. I find myself returning to it time and time again, especially when I come home full of frustration with the nastiness and vindictiveness of some people around me. I may wonder how I can fix them, or force them on the straight and narrow, and Epictetus reminds me why that isn’t really my job.
No, don’t cast them aside out of resentment. It doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t care for them, or that I should refuse to be of service, but rather that the best way to help others is first to attend to one’s own character. Only by living with virtue is there any possibility of inspiring a change in my neighbors. Bitter recriminations breed further anger, while thoughtful and kind deeds remain the best motivators.
Can I control what my fellows will think, do, or say? Even if I somehow had it within my power, where would be the justice in making them my puppets? I have my mind and will, and they have theirs, so that we must all make our own way, on our own terms and in our own time. Provide love without smothering, offer reason without dictating.
When I look at it that way, I suddenly see the contradiction of objecting to their meddling and manipulation, as I then turn around to do precisely the same thing in return. Violence against either the soul or the body is abhorrent to who we were all made to be.
If I am still in doubt, I can always go back to the very first chapter of the Discourses for a refresher:
The gods then, as was but right, put in our hands the one blessing that is best of all and master of all, that and nothing else, the power to deal rightly with our impressions, but everything else they did not put in our hands.
A beauty of Providence is that all creatures are appointed their own place, and for those gifted with awareness and choice a very part of that place is in discovering how to freely find it and embrace it. I can hope, work, and pray for the happiness of my brothers and sisters, even as it is never my place to guarantee it to them.
—Reflection written in 1/2001
IMAGE: Antoni Brodowski, Saul's Anger at David (c. 1819)
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