Epictetus Fear Of Death Essay

Fear resides in the hearts of every human, but no fear was ever greater than the fear of death. A reason why death appears so terrible to us is that we do not know what lies beyond it. It is in our nature to desire knowing everything, but whatever comes after death is a concept that evades our understanding. On the other hand, Epictetus assures us that there is nothing to fear about death, especially if we face death with a pious mindset. Since our fear is deeply ingrained in our aspiration to comprehend death and the afterlife, he also reminds us to vigilantly watch over our desires. Epictetus challenges us to shift our attitude from insistently hoping and desiring for a pleasant afterlife, to amending our actions so that we may live a virtuous life worthy of a pleasant afterlife.

Is death frightening? For many people, the answer is definitely yes. It is easy for us to think of death as something evil and sinister, as it cuts us away from the only

kind of existence that we are definitely aware of: life here on earth. However, Epictetus denounces this fear of death by asserting that there is nothing terrible about it at all. What makes us fearful is our own misguided belief that death is terrifying.
What upset people is not things themselves, but their judgments about the things. For example, death is nothing dreadful (or else it would have appeared dreadful to Socrates), but instead the judgment about death that it is dreadful- that is what is dreadful. (c.5)
Objectively speaking, death by its nature is neither good nor bad. However, our own subjective perspectives distort death into something evil. Because we think of death as a terrible phenomenon, death starts to manifest itself as something that is such. Likewise, if we stop viewing death as something terrifying, then it will not appear frightening to us anymore. For Epictetus, this is entirely possible because “our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions” (c.1). Our belief of death is nothing more than our personal opinion of it, which is something that we can control and change. How do we cease thinking that death is something terrible and frightening then? For Epictetus, the answer lies within piety.
To understand how piety is central in rethinking death, consider Epictetus’s definition of piety.
The most important aspect of piety toward the gods is certainly both to have correct beliefs about them, as beings that arrange the universe well and justly, and to set yourself to obey them and acquiesce in everything that happens and to follow it willingly, as something brought to completion by the best judgment. For in this way you will never blame the gods or accuse them of neglecting you. (c.31)
There are two parts to this that I would like to address. The first part relates to the belief that the gods have arranged the universe in the best possible way. This implies that “nothing bad by nature happens in the world” (c.27). Death is part of this cosmic order set up by the gods, and in saying that death is frightening, then we are implying that the gods have made a mistake in this supposedly perfect order. Exhibiting piety in the Stoic ideal involves a profound and sincere appreciation of how the world is set up by the gods, and this means accepting that the presence of death is something beyond our control. Since it is not something that was or can be decided by us, we have no reason to fear it.
Another point I want to bring up is that the gods decide on events with their best judgment. The gods are responsible for arranging our deaths and they do it according to what they consider to be the best for us. The gods call for our deaths because they think that it is not beneficial for us to live in this world anymore. Perhaps if we were to continue living, then we will have to endure much more hardships in this world. Therefore, it is better to die now than to live in suffering tomorrow. Viewed in this way, death does not seem so frightening when there may be more fearful things awaiting us in life.
According to Epictetus, believing and trusting in the power and excellence of the gods can change our opinions of death and free us from fear. However, I am not convinced that rethinking death is something as simple as believing that the gods have everything in order. Epictetus does not provide any explanations of what happens after death. Instead, he only gives us a vague idea of what death entails and remains silent on what comes after.
Never say about anything, “I have lost it,” but instead, “I have given it back.” Did your child die? It was given back. Did your wife die? She was given back. (c.11)
The only answer that Epictetus manages to offer is that our souls are simply “given back” to the gods. What will the gods do to us after we are given back then? Majority of the reason why we dread death so much is because of its ambiguity. It is human nature to desire a hopeful afterlife, mainly because we do not want to believe that our lives simply amounted to nothing. We spent all our years finding meaning in life and pursuing noble ideals and aspirations. If the afterlife is nothing more than eternal unconsciousness, then that would suggest that life is meaningless as well and that all of our efforts are futile in the end. When the only thing that we can look forward to in the afterlife is to be reduced to a complete void, then the more we will fear death for it promises nothing but emptiness.
While I believe that it is only human nature to want our souls to live on after death, Epictetus argues that we are doing exactly what he warns us not to do – aligning our desires to something that is not up to us.
You are foolish if you want your children and your wife and your friends to live forever, since you are wanting things to be up to you that are not up to you, and things to be yours that are not yours. (…) Whoever wants to be free, therefore, let him not want or avoid anything that is up to others. (c.14)
It is up to the gods to decide when we die, so it is very obvious to see that our deaths are not up to us. Similarly, we are trying to make something that is not up to us to be under our control whenever we worry about the afterlife. The root of the problem is found in our desires, and Epictetus calls for us to redirect these desires. Instead of obsessing with life after death, we should first be satisfied with the lives we have right now and to channel our actions into something more productive.
Remember that you are an actor in a play, which is as the playwright wants it to be (…) If he wants you to play a beggar, play even this part skillfully (…) What is yours is to play the assigned part well. But to choose it belongs to someone else. (c.17)
Just as how the playwright will be pleased with the actor who accepts his role wholeheartedly, so will the gods be pleased with one who lives his life in compliance with the fate assigned to him.

Let the gods do their part of dictating our fates, which includes dealing with our souls after we die. That is entirely not up to us. We do not have any control over the life we were given, but we do have a choice on how we live this life. Epictetus implies that a pious way of living is to strive to do as much good as we can given our circumstances. If we aligned everything that is up to us to be on the side of good, then the gods will surely look favorably upon us and prepare an ideal afterlife for us. As Epictetus says, “do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen” (c.8). If the gods’ opinion of a comfortable afterlife is that wherein we cease to exist, then that is the kind of afterlife that we should pursue to align our desires with the order designed by the

gods.
Death will continue to remain ambiguous, and I still hold on to the belief that this ambiguity will unceasingly plant fear and worry in the hearts of humans. Nevertheless, I can say that Epictetus offers a very practical and sensible way of living. By letting go of things that we cannot control, then we are giving more room in our lives to focus and improve on things that we can control. In the same way, by not worrying about the afterlife, we can work on becoming better so that the gods would actually think that we are worthy of a pleasant afterlife. Whether that afterlife is good or not is out of our hands, but adopting a pious view according to the Stoics means that we will take in whatever that comes with confidence that it is for the best.