Example Of Epictetus

Epictetus states that when someone offends you or wrongs you to the point where they irritate you, it’s not the act or person that insults you but the belief that you create when the action or person interacts with you. An example of this would be someone who purposely says hurtful things or charged statements to incite anger or ill-advised actions from you. What Epictetus deems, is that the person acting against us is not causing us to become irritated, but the image or perception that we craft from their actions that causes us this feeling of malcontent. In order to avoid this feeling we must become aware of this misguided feeling of irritation and not be swayed by it to better control our temper and avoid any negative actions that may inflict more self-harm in the future.
In addition, he argues that we shouldn’t have the expectation that others will behave or act in accord with our beliefs all the time. An example of this would be an activist who wishes to rally a crowd of unaffiliated individuals to believe and fight for whatever cause that they deem vital and entrenched in their beliefs. The activist may expect the crowd to drop whatever activity they were doing and march with them to complete their goal or prevent an action. What Epictetus argues is that the activist shouldn’t expect others to completely believe in their cause, as they have their own values, aspirations and mores which guide them to action or even inaction in some