Epictetus Analysis

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One of the most difficult things in life is being severed in the circumstance of death from something and or someone you love so dearly that many of us dread the thought of such an event where you don’t understand how to handle such a loss. In regards to Epictetus’s matter of ideas, in this specific instance, of the death of a loved one, section 3 opens the mind in the sense where the importance of self realization of the love you bore for your wife or child leads to a path where pain will not subside as a result of the absence of sorrow for a miniscule event will help manage through a more difficult one. Epictetus creates such ideas to assist everyone’s daily struggles for the end product of hopefully living a less stressful and more fulfilling …show more content…
He was a Stoic philosopher who was very well known for his grounded ideas in association to the teachings of Christianity. Epictetus never wrote any of his philosophical teaching, but rather his student Arrian transmitted two of his works. The books Discourses and the Enchiridion were both of the works that came from the mind of Epictetus. The Enchiridion, or The Handbook, was published in the year 125 A.D, just 10 years before his death. Epictetus himself focused on the relations between the being of man in accordance with the will of God. This in itself translates beautifully in his Handbook where he focuses on expressing the ideas that need to be pressed forward to live a joyous life. The Enchiridion as a whole focuses upon the ideals of sacrifice, humbleness, being one with nature, understanding weakness, and ultimately working on oneself to the point where a sense of euphoria is replacing the pain a person feels throughout their lifetime. The following …show more content…
Wolf Children shows us the life of a wife with two children who finds the dead body of her husband. Beyond the role of a mother or wife, as a human being she is utterly crushed. But this is where the story coincides with accepting loss and rejecting the “disturbed”. She wipes away her tears and moves forward for the sake of her health and the well being of her children. Hana lives the life that is best for her and her new family without any sense of sorrow, but instead with a smile on her face. If she continued mourning then it would ultimately affect her health and the health of her children. Hana put her mindset in a place that rejects the aforementioned mourning and sorrow and replaces it with hope and positivity for a fulfilling life. She is living the life that Epictetus is attempting to set and goes with it with a clear mind and an open one at that. Disregarding fear and being truly content with the life you are setting to live is the step towards living with the examples bestowed by Epictetus. There is so much to life that you must not let even the most monumental events stop you from wanting to truly