Living Eudaimon Life, according to Epictetus
According to Epictetus, our inner life, and nothing else, is truly “up to us.” In the most literal sense, he maintains that there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.[1] As Keith Seddon explains in his fine article on Epictetus: “For the only thing that is good is acting virtuously (that is, motivated by virtue), and the only thing that is bad is the opposite, acting viciously (that is, motivated by vice).”[2] The rest, according to Stoics, is matter of moral indifference.
It is not the things that disturb us, but our interpretation of their significance.
Our true happiness, therefore, results from focusing our efforts on what is up to us while not worrying about what is beyond our control. The strength of Epictetus’ thought lies in his conception of happiness as freedom from fear, worry, grief, and dependence upon luck. This is why Epictetus remarks: ‘This is the proper goal, to practise how to remove from one’s life sorrows and laments, and cries of “Alas” and “Poor me,” and misfortune and disappointment’ (Discourses 1.4.23, trans. Dobbin).
Epictetus conceives happiness as freedom—freedom to be and to live as one choses. This freedom of choice is construed as living rationally in accordance with nature—human, social and physical—freedom of self-sufficiency, self-mastery and self-determination. Stoics show us how to find happiness amidst the vicissitudes of life in a turbulent and uncontrollable world.
As Epictetus put it: 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.[3]
The good life (eudaimonia) is the life in accordance with nature—our human, social, and cosmic nature. For Stoics, ‘living according to nature’ meant living according to reason and living virtuously—that is, living well, rationally. It meant virtuously fulfilling our own needs and our duties toward others (as social human beings) and accepting what happens with equanimity. The wise person does everything in accordance with the spirit that dwells within and the Divine Will that fashions the universe.
The Stoic motto: virtue above pleasure, tranquility above happiness, and to act reasonably in harmony with nature. The Stoic recipe for happiness: Manage your thoughts and accept what happens. Some things are up to us and some things are not up to us. Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it comes—with equanimity. This peace, tranquility, and freedom is more than happiness—this peace does not depend upon our slavish servitude to things that are not fully within our control: the pursuit of pleasure, wealth, power, fame, and success.
[1] Shakespeare will echo this thought many centuries later in Hamlet Act II, scene ii.
[2] Keith Seddon, Epictetus (55-135 C.E.). The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved March 17, 2020: https://www.iep.utm.edu/epictetu/
[3] Sharon Lebell, Epictetus. The Art of Living: The Classic Manual of Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness. A New Interpretation (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1995), 5.
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