⁂ Article

The Enchiridion Chapter 1

Welcome to my personal exploration of The Enchiridion by Epictetus! On a (somewhat) regular basis I will post personal musings and lessons learned as I digest each chapter

The Enchiridion Chapter 1

...if you focus solely on your internal judgments — which no one can take from you — you become invincible. Epictetus claims that if you master this, “no one will ever compel you,” because your happiness no longer depends on things that can be taken away

This sounds good, but where do you get your internal judgements from? And how do we know that they are good and accurate? The first chapter of The Enchiridion answers these questions.

Learning My Judgements

I started learning my judgements by listening to the Enchiridion every day for 30 days straight. After trying other Stoic texts, I settled on The Enchiridion. Chapter 1 was a good place to start, being one of the more easily understood chapters.

I also think I had a head-start from my dad who always insisted that I should not worry about things I could not control. I really believe he is a quiet Stoic.

It Is Just a Word

From there, I learned to pause in the moment. I remember when I stopped being bothered by people calling me the N-word. The first time I paused in the moment, it was if I was having an out-of-body experience. I was able to strip away the emotional baggage attached to that word and accurately see the person who was using that word to try to scare or intimidate me. That experience was very powerful. Even so, dealing with loved ones has its own particular challenges.

There is definitely a higher level of difficulty in applying this to people who are close to me. I must keep my mission as a father and husband uppermost in my mind during these emotionally charged interactions.

I thought that I was having a more difficult time with the emotional baggage of my loved ones (as opposed to strangers) because I wasn't trying hard enough. I was unaware that Stoicism recognizes the difference.

@stoicism@fedigroups.social
#stoicism #life #philosophy

misterdubs

@misterdubs replied · 2 months ago

I realized that I didn't include the chapter for reference, so I'm putting it here:

There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in one word, whatever affairs are our own. Beyond our power are body, property, reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever are not properly our own affairs.

Now the things within our power are by nature free, unrestricted, unhindered; but those beyond our power are weak, dependent, restricted, alien. Remember, then, that if you attribute freedom to things by nature dependent and take what belongs to others for your own, you will be hindered, you will lament, you will be disturbed, you will find fault both with gods and men. But if you take for your own only that which is your own and view what belongs to others just as it really is, then no one will ever compel you, no one will restrict you; you will find fault with no one, you will accuse no one, you will do nothing against your will; no one will hurt you, you will not have an enemy, nor will you suffer any harm.

Aiming, therefore, at such great things, remember that you must not allow yourself any inclination, however slight, toward the attainment of the others; but that you must entirely quit some of them, and for the present postpone the rest. But if you would have these, and possess power and wealth likewise, you may miss the latter in seeking the former; and you will certainly fail of that by which alone happiness and freedom are procured.

Seek at once, therefore, to be able to say to every unpleasing semblance, “You are but a semblance and by no means the real thing.” And then examine it by those rules which you have; and first and chiefly by this: whether it concerns the things which are within our own power or those which are not; and if it concerns anything beyond our power, be prepared to say that it is nothing to you.

@stoicism@fedigroups.social

CoreSignal social

A minimalist social node dedicated to high-fidelity exchange and digital autonomy. CoreSignal strips away the noise of the modern web to provide a clean, functional space for meaningful connection within the Fediverse

CoreSignal social: About · Code of conduct · Privacy · Users · Instances

CoreSignal social · 1.0.0-rc.3.6 no JS en

Automatic federation enabled