perspective detective

[Jeremy Osner]

David Morris wrote:

> That Epicetus quote sounds absurd, maybe because it's only a fragment.  It's
> like saying, "If you try to avoid pain, sooner or later you'll be
> miserable."

Well... that is roughly the Stoic philosophy. Epictetus says something along the
lines of, "Aversion is the demand that you not fall into what you are averse to.
Therefore if you have aversions to things which are not in your control [e.g.
pain, sickness, death] you will be unhappy; you should redirect those aversions
onto things which are in your control [i.e. your own actions]." Disclaimer: I am
not an expert, this is my understanding of Stoic philosophy based on reading
fragments from Epictetus.

J