Epictetus on dying or having lunch
Epictetus on dying or having lunch
Practical Wisdom podcast, episode 10
Appears in this episode
“What was it that Agrippinus used to say?
‘I’m not going to make obstacles for myself.’
He was informed that his case was being heard in the Senate.
‘That’s as it may be. But it’s the fifth hour now’—this was when it was his custom to exercise and take a cold bath—‘so let’s go and exercise.’
Afterward, someone came up to him and said, ‘You’ve been condemned.’
‘To exile,’ says he, ‘or death?’
‘Exile.’
‘What about my property?”
“It’s not been seized.’
‘So let’s go to Aricia and have breakfast there.’
That’s what it’s like to have trained oneself properly, to have made desire immune to impediment, and aversion immune to encountering what it wants to avoid.
I am condemned to death. If it happens straightaway, I die. If after a short delay, I eat first, since the time has come for it, and then I’ll die later.
How? As is proper for someone who’s giving back what was not their own.” (Epictetus, Discourses, I.1.28-32)
Epictetus on dying or having lunch
"Proper training." Aye, there's the rub.
This is something I feel is lacking in my own groping towards Stoic ... wisdom? enlightenment? I don't even know the right term.
You have spoken of your dream of creating a school of Stoicism. I've wondered why that couldn't take the form of a collegiate major in Stoicism, one that could be replicated across many institutions and even be made available to folks like me who have long since left academe behind.
It has also crossed my mind that "modern" Stoicism, especially given its affinity with CBT, lends itself to a quasi-religious model (and I use the term with all sorts of caveats) in which like-minded prokoptons could meet regularly (weekly?) in a spirit of fellowship, ideally under the guidance of a latter-day Epictetus, to deepen their understanding of Stoic philosophy.
Of course, this notion is rife with risks. Who would shepherd these "congregations"? I have sampled several of the wannabe Stoic leaders and you are the only one with who I'm feel entirely comfortable.
A very edifying reading. Citizens of the US could learn much from Stoicism rather than responding at every roadblock in life, including death, with profuse anger or resistance.