Epictetus 2

“What upset people is not things themselves but their judgment about things.”

This phrase captures the essence of Epictetus’s teachings. It is a very wise thing to say, and applies to many people. Usually, when something bad happens, people believe they get sad because of that event, but never consider that it is their judgment which is negative. If people could only change their view of the tragic moments in life, then they wouldn`t have to suffer. Epictetus used the example of death in his writing, which is generally a painful topic to people. He says that “death is nothing dreadful”, we make it dreadful.

In the book Slaughterhouse Five, the Tralfamadorians also have a painless view of dreadful moments. This is because they can see in the fourth dimension, where every moment of the past present and future is visible. They say, for example, that whenever they see a dead body, they think: “…that the dead person is in a bad condition in that particular moment, but that the same person is fine in plenty of other moments.” (pg.27). In a way, the Tralfamadorians follow Epictetus`s teachings by having a different judgment on certain things than what an average human would.