6/2/2023 0 Comments Zakboekje by Epictetus![]() ![]() Today’s citizens in lockdown can’t control whether (or when) restrictions are lifted. If we imagine that we can control the past or future - or even pandemics - we are setting ourselves up for disappointment.īut we can think and act, and do our best to respond to situations with courage, justice, and moderation. If we worry about things we can’t change, Epictetus continues, we are wasting our energies. It’s an idea that echoes today in the Serenity Prayer of 12-step recovery programs. ![]() Not in our power are the body, property, reputation, offices, and in a word, whatever are not our own acts. In our power are opinion, impulse, desire, aversion. ![]() Of things some are depend upon us, and others do not. ![]() The start of Epictetus’ Enchiridion handbook lays out his famous “dichotomy of control”: Don’t worry about things we can’t control Here are four tips from perhaps the most stoic of the Stoics: 1. Born into slavery, then crippled by his master and exiled by the Emperor Domitian, Epictetus (c.60-135 CE) has become arguably the central figure in today’s global revival of Stoicism.Ī straight-talking advocate of the idea philosophy should help people flourish even in hard times, Epictetus has much to offer as we wrestle with pandemic lockdowns and uncertainty. ![]()
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