The Handbook Of Epictetus is a book that tries to teach us how to live. As soon as I began to read the next ten sections I started to form an idea. My idea was that this handbook will just tell us how we are supposed to live but it wouldn't give us any examples that might prove useful to understanding. As soon as I started to read I saw the complete opposite. First as I was reading this quotation really got my mind: "Did your child die? It was given back" (Section 11). This has been a question that everyone has tried to answer. The question is the great question of death. Every book of teachings has tried to explain the reasoning and what happens after death. The answers for these two questions really depend on each individual and their beliefs. I would say that death happens because we have a destiny already determined by God and that we can't evade it. I have thought many times about knowing your destiny and trying to avoid it. The more I think about this the more I am sure of the answer that it will not matter how much you try to evade it, it will always get to you. The second question I would answer it by saying that people that have been bad during life will receive some kind of punishment in the afterlife and people that have been good will receive a reward. I think the author or authors of this handbook had a clear intention by mentioning death in this handbook. Every movement and religion basically starts by trying to answer this question because it is a question that has always been around since humankind existed.
The section that most interested me was section 17. In section 17 there was a teaching about destiny. Destiny is one of the things I like most to think about while I am in my bed before going to sleep. My conclusion is always that we already have our destiny set and that we just have to live our life and wait for it to happen. The part of section 17 that most got to me was: "Remember that you are an actor in a play, which is as the playwright wants it to be" (Section 17). This has been the best example of predetermined destiny I have seen so far. Once my sister asked me what I thought my destiny was and I told her that I didn't know and she asked me to explain my theory. Probably it was a homework she had to do because normally she wouldn't ask me that sort of questions. I explained her my reasoning and gave several examples but she still wouldn't understand. If I had read this handbook before it would have been very simple to make her understand because this example was as clear and simple as possible. As I have read this handbook I have found many part that have shown deep reasoning and understanding and another part I found was this part: "None of this signs is for me, but only for my petty body or my petty property" (Section 18). This shows one of the things I believe in that is the mind over body. The author of this handbook might be trying to say that the body is the weaker part of the person and that the mind is what matters. This is a thought that comes to my mind a lot when I'm training. The thought that the mind controls the body and that pain is only mental helps me a lot to concentrate on my objective. I also do this frequently when I am in a tennis match and I am exhausted but I always keep thinking positive and that the mind is stronger and I am able to continue.
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