The Path Of Wise

The Handbook of Eptictetus starts off with a very interesting idea: “Some things are up to us and some are not up to us (section1).” Initially, the text is trying to get us to understand our limitations and our inabilities to do certain things. We, as humans, love to keep everything under our direct control, and tend to think that this is possible, even normal procedure. It is not denying us all power, for it tells us that we are capable of changing certain things, but we must learn to difference them from those things which are not up to us. Already the text is foreshadowing a concept of wisdom: wisdom to tell the difference. Then the reader comes across an explanation of human interpretation that goes as such: “What upsets people is not things themselves but their judgment about things (section 50).” Everything that happens is there for a reason, and if we understand the reason it is easier to affront events. The problem comes when we use our understanding, or our logical interpretation, in a direction opposite of real intentions. Epictetus gives us an assertive example: death. We fear death and despise it as a result of our judgment of the present. He mentions how death was not a dreadful thing for Socrates as proof. It all comes back to that wisdom being referred to. We must develop wise interpretations of events in order to accept and understand their causes and effects. As we approach section eight we read: “Do not seek to have event happen to you as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well (section 8).” We are simple and small parts of a much greater picture. What happens to us comes as a result of many events triggered by other people. If we expect everything to happen in such way as we find pleasing, we will only find disappointment. On the other hand, if we accept what happens and learn to appreciate it, everything that happens in our lives will be good, for we shall understand the conditions and take them as a learning experience. The Handbook of Epictetus is full of words of wisdom and hints to arrive to a similar condition. As a reader, we must eliminate all bias and prevention against new ideals and learn to interpret what we read here as a possible addition to our lives. We may not yet be or shall ever be the wisest, but if such a term exists, there must certainly be a way to it.