The Hardest and the Best

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How can people achieve such mentalities? Epictetus writes, “we have the power over our own minds. The opinions we hold of things, the intentions we form, what we value and what are averse to are all wholly up to us.” (Seddon 15) In order to be happy, people must recognize what characteristics are up to people’s ability and what characteristics are not. For example, he suggests that reputation is not something one should worry about because one cannot control what other people think of him. However, one may undermine this statement by suggesting that people’s internal mind and controllable actions are related to the uncontrollable outcomes. That is, although people cannot fully determine the amount of their wealth, the health of their bodies, and the status of their reputations, their daily actions and moral standards can more or less decide these seemingly uncontrollable elements. For example, I can force myself to run in the morning on daily basis, and by doing so, my body becomes healthier so my life expectancy, an element Epictetus claims that is not uncontrollable, becomes longer. Indeed, there are few frequent runners who die younger than heavy smokers, but science and statistics can still show that running and living longer are positively related.

Does this example completely contradicts with Epictetus’ theory? The answer is no. To be more precise about Epictetus’ stoicism, Epictetus writes, “roughly, they are things that ‘just happen’, and they are not in our power in the sense that we do not have absolute control to make them occur just as we wish, or to make them have exactly the outcomes as we desire.” (Seddon 15) Here, Epictetus is not suggesting that our actions and our moral powers are useless and have no effect on the outcome. He is simply suggesting that human beings have limitations. The student who studies the most may not be the one who has the highest score, and the runner who runs the hardest may not have the best record. Therefore, there is no value for not being the highest scorer or the fastest runner.

Cite:

Tradition Ecological Knowledge and Environmental Futures, Winona LaDuke

Epictuts Handbook, Keith Seddon