You say, “Not so, but from another.”
I say, No, from yourself. So when the tyrant threatens and does not invite me, I say, “What does he threaten?”
If he says, “I will bind you”, I say, “He threatens my hands and my feet.”
If he says, “I will behead you”, I say, “He threatens my neck”.
If he says, “I will put you in prison”, I say, “He threatens all my poor flesh”, and if he threatens banishment, the same.
“Does he then not threaten you at all?”
Not at all, if I feel that these things are nothing to me: but if I fear any of them, he does threaten me.
Who is there left for me to fear, and over what has he control? Over what is in my power? No one controls that. Over what is not in my power? I have no concern in that.
“Do you philosophers then teach us to despise kings?”
Heaven forbid! Which of us teaches men to resist them in the matters over which they have authority? Take my bit of a body, take my property, take my good name, take my companions. If I try to persuade any of them to resist, I give him leave to accuse me indeed.
I say, No, from yourself. So when the tyrant threatens and does not invite me, I say, “What does he threaten?”
If he says, “I will bind you”, I say, “He threatens my hands and my feet.”
If he says, “I will behead you”, I say, “He threatens my neck”.
If he says, “I will put you in prison”, I say, “He threatens all my poor flesh”, and if he threatens banishment, the same.
“Does he then not threaten you at all?”
Not at all, if I feel that these things are nothing to me: but if I fear any of them, he does threaten me.
Who is there left for me to fear, and over what has he control? Over what is in my power? No one controls that. Over what is not in my power? I have no concern in that.
“Do you philosophers then teach us to despise kings?”
Heaven forbid! Which of us teaches men to resist them in the matters over which they have authority? Take my bit of a body, take my property, take my good name, take my companions. If I try to persuade any of them to resist, I give him leave to accuse me indeed.
—from Epictetus, Discourses 1.29
I have learned not to underestimate how thoroughly people can expect their good to come from others.
In some cases, they are driven by a brute selfishness, complete with loud demands to be immediately gratified, but in others the motives are much more subtle. As soon as happiness is implicitly defined by any arrangement of circumstances, a weakness of character has already begun to sneak in, however innocently.
Yet how could it be wrong to want a comfortable home, or a satisfying career, or the company of pleasant friends?
There is absolutely no shame in preferring to possess such things, while there is a great danger in depending on them to provide peace of mind. How foolish it is to believe that one is blessed when they are present, and then suddenly cursed when they are absent! It is a life of self-enslavement, not of self-mastery.
The typical consumer will be shocked, even offended, by such a claim, though if he only thought it through, he would recognize with horror how he has built his house on sand.
Fortune is a fickle mistress, and she will give and take away without any warning. If happiness is to have any stability at all, it must be based upon something that is distinctly ours to keep.
I take special note of how people express their hopes and dreams, and I see red when they precariously revolve around trying to arrange a comfortable state of affairs. For all the hard work that can go in, there is no guarantee of what fate will dish out.
The home may be swept away in an instant. The job is at the whim of others. And the friends have an uncanny way of disappearing when the going gets tough.
Beware of betting everything on what is beyond our power to control!
When happiness is rather found through what is within our power, while appreciating how any situation presents a chance to act with virtue, what can the tyrant possibly do to take it away?
He may lock us away, or even lob off our heads, and our freedom of judgement can remain intact, if only we so choose. He may cast us among strangers, and we can continue to act as friends, if we just cling to our convictions.
Fear passes away where we do not perceive a danger, and no one can do us any harm when our values are centered on the dignity of the soul. If the king insists, he can destroy the body, but the mind is beyond his reach. Death is inevitable, sooner or later, but the way we meet it is at our discretion.
Some folks feel the need to throw their weight around, so if they must, let them have their rewards, and we shall have ours. True philosophers don’t waste their time with stomping on tyrants, which would make them no better than their oppressors. No, true philosophers find a way to step around them.
I have learned not to underestimate how thoroughly people can expect their good to come from others.
In some cases, they are driven by a brute selfishness, complete with loud demands to be immediately gratified, but in others the motives are much more subtle. As soon as happiness is implicitly defined by any arrangement of circumstances, a weakness of character has already begun to sneak in, however innocently.
Yet how could it be wrong to want a comfortable home, or a satisfying career, or the company of pleasant friends?
There is absolutely no shame in preferring to possess such things, while there is a great danger in depending on them to provide peace of mind. How foolish it is to believe that one is blessed when they are present, and then suddenly cursed when they are absent! It is a life of self-enslavement, not of self-mastery.
The typical consumer will be shocked, even offended, by such a claim, though if he only thought it through, he would recognize with horror how he has built his house on sand.
Fortune is a fickle mistress, and she will give and take away without any warning. If happiness is to have any stability at all, it must be based upon something that is distinctly ours to keep.
I take special note of how people express their hopes and dreams, and I see red when they precariously revolve around trying to arrange a comfortable state of affairs. For all the hard work that can go in, there is no guarantee of what fate will dish out.
The home may be swept away in an instant. The job is at the whim of others. And the friends have an uncanny way of disappearing when the going gets tough.
Beware of betting everything on what is beyond our power to control!
When happiness is rather found through what is within our power, while appreciating how any situation presents a chance to act with virtue, what can the tyrant possibly do to take it away?
He may lock us away, or even lob off our heads, and our freedom of judgement can remain intact, if only we so choose. He may cast us among strangers, and we can continue to act as friends, if we just cling to our convictions.
Fear passes away where we do not perceive a danger, and no one can do us any harm when our values are centered on the dignity of the soul. If the king insists, he can destroy the body, but the mind is beyond his reach. Death is inevitable, sooner or later, but the way we meet it is at our discretion.
Some folks feel the need to throw their weight around, so if they must, let them have their rewards, and we shall have ours. True philosophers don’t waste their time with stomping on tyrants, which would make them no better than their oppressors. No, true philosophers find a way to step around them.
—Reflection written in 5/2001
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