I recently talked about The Buddha, and how his life started as one of riches and comfort. I also mentioned that perhaps this state of life positioned him to begin his journey toward enlightenment. In short (very short), his life of riches did not mean eternal happiness, and in fact may have made him more attuned to dissatisfaction in life.
Epictetus with his cane
On the other hand, Epictetus, one of our Stoics, came from the opposite “side of the tracks.” He was born around AD 55 as a roman slave, well actually he was born in a Greek-speaking region of the Roman empire. He was lame in one leg from childhood. In some stories, this bad leg was the result of a beating of his slavemaster, although it could have been a rheumatic (arthritis) condition he inherited. Either way, it was a physical impediment throughout his life. Early in life, still a child by most measures, he came to Rome as a slave of a freed slave named Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus allowed Epictetus to study under another famous Stoic, Musonius Rufus, where certainly much of his philosophy was formed. In his teens, he was eventually freed from slavery. When he was 34, he (and many other philosophers) was banished from Rome by the Emperor Domitian. Let’s not gloss over this; think about what it would be like for the government to come to your house and say, “We don’t like what you do for a living, now you must leave the country, because you are a threat.” This is is what this would be like in modern times. Really, really imagine this (hopefully you only have to imagine this, and have never actually experienced this) and how difficult this would be. You would have to either pay for movement of some/all of your possessions and/or leave some/all of your possessions behind. In any case, he did leave and he continued to teach philosophy in Western Greece (Nicopolis) until his death at about 80. He lived a solitary and simple life, with very few possessions. He either married very late in his life or not at all (depending on the account). Also in his late life, he adopted a child whose parents were unable to provide for it.
Nicopolis on the Western Coast
It may very well have been his experience as both a slave and with physical handicap that convinced him that life is a struggle that is given to us as a gift for our improvement. Furthermore, our attachment to controlling that which we cannot control causes us even more grief. Suffering and the relief of suffering–this sounds a lot like the Buddha. Read this excerpt below and try and distinguish this from Buddhism (Although there are differences in style and degree, I have a difficult time):
On suffering: “Difficulties are what show men’s character. Therefore when a difficult crisis meets you, remember that you are as the raw youth with whom God the trainer is wrestling…That you may win at Olympia: and that cannot be done without sweating for it.” –Discourses Book 1 Chapter 1
On attachment: “But now when it is in our power to look after one thing, and to attach ourselves to it, we prefer to look after many things, and to be bound to many things, to the body and to property, and to brother and to friend, and to child and to slave. Since, then, we are bound to many things, we are depressed by them and dragged down. For this reason, when the weather is not fit for sailing, we sit down and torment ourselves, and continually look out to see what wind is blowing. “It is north.” What is that to us? “When will the west wind blow?” When it shall choose, my good man, or when it shall please Aeolus; for God has not made you the manager of the winds, but Aeolus. What then? We must make the best use that we can of the things which are in our power, and use the rest according to their nature. What is their nature then? As God may please.” –Discourses Book 1 Chapter 24
Epictetus’ teaching cuts to the heart of living the Heroic Stoic way. Always in mind, should be the source of suffering and its relief by our non-attachment. Always in mind are how most things are out of our control. Much of our life is destined by fate, and all of it is impermanent.
: Mrs. Hepburn says, “We don’t care about money here.” To which Howard Hughes replies, “That’s because you’ve always had it. Some of us choose to earn our money.”
