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These notes are based on The Complete Works of Epictetus.
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01 - What is Actually Mine?
Some things are up to us and some are not. Up to us are judgement, inclination, desire, aversion - in short, whatever is our own doing. Not up to us are our bodies, possessions, reputations, public offices - in short, whatever isn’t our own doing
To me, it seems reasonable what Epictetus said. Things like judgments, our desire or things that we want to avoid are completely under our control. To give you some examples:
Let’s say someone insults you. Then it is up to your judgement to either ignore it, react to it, calmly handle it or whatever.
I think for the rest of the 3 things (inclination, desire and aversion), these come after we made a judgement
For things that are not up to us. Clearly, reputation depends on others, what other people think of you or you opinions and so on. For bodies, some other people or an external event can impact your body like an accident even if you were just sitting still or doing nothing.
If you regard things that are naturally enslaved as free, if you regard things that are not yours are yours, you’ll be obstructed, dejected, and troubled, and you’ll blame both gods and men.
For example, if we try to think that we have control over getting a job, clearing some exam, getting that promotion, getting certain viewers or followers count. These things are not up to us, hence we are moving away from reality and in frustration we will blame god or other people.
If you regard as yours only what is yours, and as not yours what is not yours, which is the way things are in reality, no one will ever constrain you, no one will impede you, you’ll blame no one, you’; reproach no one, you’ll never act reluctantly, no one will harm you, and you’ll have no enemies, because you’ll never be harmed
Epictetus clearly says that this is actually difficult to do. So we need to practice this as much as we can. So every time, we face a situation, we should tell ourselves to examine if the situation or event is under our control or not. If not, then leave it and no need to do anything but if its up to us, then make judgement and take action towards it