Stoic Wisdom From Epictetus

Hey, everyone.

I've been out of school for almost a month, yet I've been publishing less on my blog. I guess I'm getting lazy... I don't know. Nevertheless, I'm still reading and buying books. I really recommend that you buy books online, especially on discount sites, such as www.bookcloseouts.com You'll be sure to find something you like there, and for cheap too. If you live in Canada, you'll be happy to know that they have a warehouse in Ontario, thus sparing you from customs fees. So far, I've purchased about 24 books from them. Among them, I found this neat translation of Epictetus' Art of Living. It's really easy to read -- idiomatic English, contractions, short chapters...etc. You don't have to be a spiritual or philosophical guru to read it. Besides, are you really willing to spend over $15.00 for book when you can get it for $3.00? C'mon...

On that note, I'd like to share some Stoic wisdom. For those of you who are not acquainted with Stoicism, or other Hellenistic philosophies, let me provide a little bit of background information. After Aristotle's time (who is also known for being Plato's greatest student and Alexander the Great's teacher), Greek philosophy took a little turn, and shifted its focus. While pre-Socratic philosophers and those that followed were concerned primarily with natural philosophy, Hellenistic philosophers centered their thoughts around the ethical (viz. regarding the question "what kind of life should I aspire to live?"). Its various schools of thought (i.e. Cynicism, Stoicism, Epicureanism, Skepticism) emphasized on ideas that would give way to personal fulfillment for this life. The Skeptics, for example, preached against dogmatism. They believed that liberating oneself from dogma would lead to peace of mind. The purpose was therapeutic. Modern approaches against dogmatism, however, are motivated by epistemological concerns (viz. justification of truth itself).
These philosophic schools eventually disappeared, were superceded, or absorbed into Christianity in late antiquity.

Stoicism stresses on the idea that one should live in accordance with nature. In this life, there are things we simply cannot change, and thus, such things are completely out of our control. Some of these aspects may include natural occurences, other people's acts and attitudes towards us, our social status at birth, the way we look...etc. Instead of desiring the things we cannot have, we ought to subdue our desires to reason (which also happens to govern the universe), and bring ourselves to the point of accepting our lot. In other words, Stoicism prescribes that if we cannot change our circumstances, we ought to change our attitude. In this view, we should pay attention to the interior aspects of our lives, and the virtues we must acquire to live in a state of equanimity.

Unlike the Epicureans, the Stoics taught that one ought to free oneself from one's own desires or overriding emotions, such as fear, lust, or jealousy. For this reason, we nowadays use the word "stoic" to refer to people who seem to be undisturbed by life's misfortunes, or unaffected by its pleasures. There are other important aspects concerning Hellenistic philosophies and Stoicism, so feel free to do your own research. Important Stoics include Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. Such thinkers also influenced modern thinkers, such as Spinoza and Kant.

So, here's a little quote from Epictetus, translated by Sharon Lebell:

Don't be afraid of verbal abuse or criticism. Only the morally weak feel compelled to defend or explain themselves to others. Let the quality of your deeds speak on your behalf. We can't control the impressions others form about us, and the effort to do so only debases our character. So if anyone should tell you that a particular person has spoken critically of you, don't bother with excuses or defenses. Just smile and reply, "I guess that person doesn't know about all my other faults. Otherwise, he wouldn't have mentioned only these."

That was one interesting quote among many I've read so far. I figured I'd share it with you.

Any thoughts?

Camardicus