What is up to you

Epictetus opens the Handbook with a split you can use before any advice. Judgement, desire, and refusal are up to you. Your body, your reputation, and other people's choices are not. A second line says people are disturbed by the judgements they add, not by events alone. Put the two together. Name what happened, then name the sentence you added. Both cards are marked paraphrase or translation, because Arrian took the notes in Greek. Treat them as an exercise, not as a poster.

“Some things are up to us and some are not. Up to us are judgement, impulse, desire, aversion — in a word, whatever is our own doing. Not up to us are our body, our property, reputation, office — in a word, whatever is not our own doing.”

Epictetus · Stoicism

freedommindself

Paraphrase or translation

Meaning & application

“It is not things that disturb people, but their judgements about things.”

Epictetus · Stoicism

mindresilience

Paraphrase or translation

Meaning & application

Mini check

Epictetus says: do not seek to have events happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do. What does the Handbook not mean by this?

That you should give up acting where action is still yours.That wanting events to match your wish is a source of trouble.That desire itself is what should be trained, not only events.That the advice belongs with his split over what is up to us.

"Epictetus teaches that some things are up to us." Is this fact, evaluation, or both?

Checked as a Handbook report, living by it is a further question.It is only an evaluation, because the sentence uses the word teaches.The advice is treated as a settled fact about how one ought to live.The sentence is set aside because it is said to be undiscussable.

Try it today

When something annoys you, write the part that is up to you and the part that is not.

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