Epictetus 1

“So detach your aversion from everything not up to us, and transfer it to what is against nature among the things that are up to us.”

This piece is advising us to simply put matters, which might bring us misfortunes, into out own hands. Although a very obvious idea, many people refuse to follow it. Specially those who believe in luck, or are very dependent on God, tend to end up attaching their aversions to everything not up to them. For example, when a big gambler is feeling lucky, he may put all his money in risk. It is not up to him to win or loose, and the outcome just might ruin his life.

If you work for your money instead, then the matter is all in your hands. The more you decide to work, the more money you will get, and vice versa. You have the power to control the situation without depending on some irrational force to help you.

There is passage in Slaughterhouse five which relates to this concept. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference.” (pg. 60). Although Epictetus is telling us to transfer the aversions that you are unable to change into things that are up to us, Kurt Vonnegut (or whoever wrote the passage), says that people should accept the things that they are unable to change instead of actually doing something about it. I would personally choose Epictetus’s proactive concept.