Always Consult Nature

As I began to read the first few sections of the Handbook of Epictetus I realized that aside from the fact that this is a handbook,to begin with, which means a book of instruction or guidance, as for an occupation; manual. We already know that its contradicting its title because from the very first line its telling us how we need to act to live a tranquil and not so miserable life, "you will not do a single thing unwillingly, you will have no enemies, and no one will harm you, because you will not be harmed at all" (Section 1). I performed a brief close reading on this quotation and the first thing that caught my attention was, that he begins each statement with a “will not” and will not is a very imperative way of addressing someone. Perhaps we could have misinterpreted the whole meaning of the title and and therefore the actual manual itself from the beginning and could have in fact been what it originally was, a handbok if it said may not or might not.

As I was reading Epictetus I stumbled across a rather odd notion. He begins by stating that before you engage in any sort of action be aware of what that action is before you do it. He says most people already have an idea of how they want to participate in this action and are usually disappointed that their goal wasn't accomplished in the manner desired. He uses the example of when we are going to take a bath,have clear in your mind what kind of bath your craving for, some people "splash" and there are some who "jostle" (Section 4). He continues and goes about describing to us how we should approach these situations so that we aren't disheartened if what we had planned isn't fullfilled, "And you will undertake the action more securely if from the start you say of it, 'I want to take a bath and to keep my choices in accord with nature'" (Section 4). I found this philosophy of life quite awkward and some can say dissatisfying because if we from childhood are taught this mentality of having an excuse for your failures well then there isn't much sense for pursuing our goals is there? If you continue reading along a bit further you would then understand my point in the previous sentences, (Section 8). In doing this, I am in complete disagreement with Epicetus because I believe in striving for an outcome, I believe that all of us should want something in life that should seem attainable and we should always be allowed the natural right of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."