The Enchiridion By Epictetus
Translated by Elizabeth Carter
Consider when, on a voyage, your ship is anchored; if you go onshore to get water you may along the way amuse yourself with picking up a shellfish, or an onion. However, your thoughts and continual attention ought to be bent towards the ship, waiting for the captain to call on board; you must then immediately leave all these things, otherwise you will be thrown into the ship, bound neck and feet like a sheep.
Not all metaphors from 135 AD are going to be immediately obvious. Not many 21st Century people are used to thinking of waiting for a ship, or with amusing themselves with picking up a wild onion. So what is Epictetus getting at here?
He is pretty much saying what modern philosopher Richard Pryor said in character as Mudbone in one of his classic routines. "You didn’t ask to come to this m-----rf----r and you sure can’t choose how to leave. ‘Cause you don’t know when you’re gonna go. So don’t take this s--t serious. "
So Epictetus is making a point that we all die, we don't know when it will happen, so we may as well EXPECT the end to life, and to do our best to remain detached a bit from life. What we have in life is a temporary loan from the Universe, just like Life itself. If we mistake what we have on loan for our "rightful possessions" we will feel as though we have been robbed when we have to repay the loan.
So it is with life. If, instead of an onion or a shellfish, you are given a wife or child, that is fine. But if the captain calls, you must run to the ship, leaving them, and regarding none of them. But if you are old, never go far from the ship: lest, when you are called, you should be unable to come in time.
The closer we are to the end, the better it is to distance oneself from worldly attachments and obligations. As my grandfather said to me when he was in his late eighties, "I don't buy green bananas anymore." The great Stoic reminds us that to be happy, we have to choose to want what is realistic, not to set ourselves up for failure.
This is NOT pessimism. This way of realigning our own desires allows us to focus on what really matters, to make choices that can make a real impact on the lives of others instead of feeding into illusionary changes that impact nothing. OR... you can choose to spend your energy on yourself, or on nothing at all, but at least you are aware of what you are doing. Self awareness is the first step to being a philosopher.
Bill Hicks, another modern philosopher, closed one of his concerts with the following observation: “The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, "Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?" And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, "Hey, don't worry; don't be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride." And we … kill those people. "Shut him up! I've got a lot invested in this ride, shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry, look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real." It's just a ride. But we always kill the good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok … But it doesn't matter, because it's just a ride. And we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. Just a simple choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.”
