Epictetus - Tumblr Posts
“You are a little soul carrying around a corpse.”
— Epictetus
Whether anything in life is significant or not?
We are often taught, "You are insignificant in the grand scheme of universe. Nothing matters. You will die anyway". If I accept this assertion, then how will I know what things are significant in my life? If everything is insignificant then why do I live and why do I exist? Why make any effort at all?
If everything is insignificant then will you ever defend yourself in an argument? Will you ever act in self defense? Will you ever protect your family and tribe? If yes, then how are these things insignificant? It means that those things ARE significant. That those things do matter. That you do matter in the grand scheme of universe.
Is this an arbitrary decision between which things are significant and which are not? If my father is significant to me, is a stranger man also as significant to me as my father? How so? 1. The stranger man could be father to a child; 2. The stranger man had emotions and personality; 3. The stranger man has a life history and destiny; 4. Do unto others what you would want to be done to yourself. In this way, even a stranger man in streets is as significant to me as my father. If a stranger is valuable to me then his life does matter in the grand scheme of things.
Life is significant. Life is meaningful. What is 'meaning'? It is anything that helps me learn something, improve myself or unlearn something that no longer serves me. Is self improvement meaningful? Is it significant in the grand scheme of universe? It is significant to me.
For so long I am here alive on earth, I will deal with my inner conscience and emotions. Doing self improvement makes me feel right. It makes me feel worthwhile. It gives me self respect. I feel like I belong to a team of "the good citizens of the universe".
I want to make a good impression on others. Doing self improvement, being authentic, socializing with my real face, doing work, in every day of my life I have to engage in a lot of things that make up my life. I want to leave a good impression on others.
I believe that anyone behaves in "good way" only because of knowledge of consequence. If a so called evil act did not have any consequence then anyone would do it without any second thought. It is not just about legal or social or financial consequences, sometimes people worry about karmic consequences. For eg, if I abuse someone, karma will come back at me. In other cases, wasting your time, energy, resources are the consequences of engaging in useless arguments.
Nobody likes being around "negative" people. If I go around saying nothing matters life is meaningless, I will make no friends. It does not imply that I am a people pleaser. It means that such nihilistic attitude towards life gets on your nerves. For eg, why go to school or college or job if nothing matters? Why do marriage or have kids or take care of your parents if nothing matters? Why have doctors or scientists or service workers if nothing matters? Why cook or clean or eat or sleep if nothing matters? It means that life does matter. We have to have some meaning in life to even survive.
Does this mean that I am not Nihilist? I am Nihilistic. I believe that life is meaningful. And I also believe that life is meaningless. It is a balance of meaningful and meaningless. Everything matters yet nothing matters.
So I personally chose to apply nihilism in mindless situations. Like gossiping, partying, watching movies or porn or listening to songs. These are the things which I find to be meaningless in my life. 1. I dont make money from them; 2. They do not give me happiness; 3. They dont make me feel worthwhile. They dont make me feel like I am doing something right with my life. 4. I have been to "that" side of the world. The dating, smoking, drinking or the so called "cool" side of the world. It looks rebellious from a distance. It looks like they are living out their shadows. They are free in the ways I was not. They were having fun, enjoying life, giving a middle finger to society.
Until I got even closer to the scene and realized that the whole cool vibe thing is just a glamorous smoke. Those people were hiding massive insecurities and terrible character dysfunction behind the mask. The difference is that those people chose to deal with their insecurities and flaws with mind numbing distractions. I finally decided to walk a path o self development and meaning.
Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not. It is only after you have faced up to this fundamental rule and learned to distinguish between what you can and can't control that inner tranquility and outer effectiveness become possible.
Anyone who can make you angry, becomes your master.
Listen more, learn more.
Expand your consciousness
“Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.”
—Epictetus
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“Let silence be your general rule; or say only what is necessary and in few words.”
—Epictetus
“It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
—Epictetus
“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”
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“Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.”
—Epictetus
“Don't just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.”
—Epictetus
“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will.”
—Epictetus
“It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
—Epictetus
“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”
—Epictetus
“Don't seek to have events happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do happen, and all will be well with you.”
—Epictetus
“Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.”
—Epictetus
“No man is free who is not master of himself.”
—Epictetus
“When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn't have to look outside themselves for approval.”
—Epictetus