Handbook Of Epictetus: Judgment Analysis

After a loved one’s death, one might feel sad. Happiness after eating something you love. Anger after encountering an irritating person. And so on. One might think that we feel these emotions because it seems that way, but it’s not. The reason why we feel emotions towards things is not because it just appears that way, but because of our judgment about those things. In the Handbook of Epictetus, he claims that “what upsets people is not things themselves but their judgments about the things” (Epictetus). Our judgment affects many things like our emotions, opinions, and decisions we make. For example, in a situation where one person assists another person to cheat on a test and the person who assists the cheater is caught, the assister can do many things. Epictetus states three things that a person becomes
Our judgment is the decision we make while we are perceiving, or understanding, what the situation entails. We can change our emotions in a situation just by altering our judgments and perceptions. Such as how happy situations can become sad, then angry, and then happy again by simply changing our judgments and perceptions. For instance, your friends host a surprise birthday party just for you. They manage to surprise you, thus making you happy and excited that they really do care about you, and that there’ll be gifts to open and cakes to eat. But then, moments later, a memory about your mother hosting a surprise birthday party ― just for you ― before she passes away, pops up, making your heart ache and leaving you feeling sad. Soon, you begin to think of how she just left you, filling you with rage. And then, finally, you think “what is past is past” and think about what is currently there for you, reminding yourself about the happy things like the cake, the gifts, and the loving friends who will always support you ― causing you to be happy once