To begin with on a long enough timeline, everything comes to an end. The happiness you felt yesterday all of a sudden ended, the pain you might feel tomorrow will sooner or later end. Every time it rains, it stops raining and every time you get injured, you heal. You are reminded of this everyday. Although this is true, the first thing to remember is that your life will eventually end. Nothing lasts forever, and everything is temporary. That’s one of the many things about life The Enchiridion by Epictetus is trying to explain to its readers. The reading says not to get used to things and people, because they all come and go and we will have to let them go (1). And yet we live our lives like the finest things that happen to us will never end …show more content…
and the terrible on the other hand must come to an end. However, nothing is going to last the good or the bad. So if things are good in our lives right now we should enjoy it but if things are bad, we should not worry because it will not last forever.
Also, the reading states that we get attached to things differently than we do to items (3). Generally speaking we put things into categories, where there is multiple of everything and we can easily replace it. However, we care for every human being individually. Everyone is different and we cannot get a duplicate of someone when they die. In life we learn to believe many things but the most important is that everything comes to an end. Every time somebody dies that is when we are constantly being reminded of this belief, because death is the unavoidable and inescapable conclusion to life. “Don’t demand that things happen as you wish, but wish that they happen as they do happen” (8). This quote illustrates that worrying about the things we do not have, often makes us overlook the great things we have (8). It is important to realize that many people are too busy being sad about things they cannot have and competing with others. However, they don’t realize that there are a lot of people who don’t even have as much as they do. Under those circumstances individuals become more and more materialistic as they become more
successful. Since, everything comes to an end as a result we can consider it as being borrowed. In reality we do not really posses anything or anybody. The reading is explaining that when we lose something or when somebody dies, we should think about it as them being returned (11). Therefore, we should appreciate how fortunate we are that we can go to school, get an ice cream in a hot sunny day or go to the movies, because one day this privilege will be taken away from us, because we all know that nothing lasts forever.
As the first poem in the book it sums up the primary focus of the works in its exploration of loss, grieving, and recovery. The questions posed about the nature of God become recurring themes in the following sections, especially One and Four. The symbolism includes the image of earthly possessions sprawled out like gangly dolls, a reference possibly meant to bring about a sense of nostalgia which this poem does quite well. The final lines cement the message that this is about loss and life, the idea that once something is lost, it can no longer belong to anyone anymore brings a sense...
This quote has a significant meaning to me because of one main reason. That reason is
Thrasymachus has just stated, "Justice is nothing other than the advantage of the stronger", and is now, at the request of Socrates, clarifying his statement.
The mindsets of people in society are often heavily influenced by the conflicts and circumstances that are common within the time-span in which these people lived. In times of war, people may be more patriotic; in times of pestilence, people may be more pious. Whether cynical or optimistic, the understandings of these mindsets allow for a better insight into how theses people lived their lives and the philosophies that guided them. In the case of the philosophers Plato and Epictetus, their philosophies sprang up amidst collapsing cities and exile. Plato and Epictetus’ philosophies differed due to their individual experiences in that Plato believed that all is not what it seemed, while Epictetus believed that what was presented should only matter if they are within an individual’s concern.
...t work hard during the course of your life. It’s saying more that you shouldn’t neglect or lose touch with the things in your life that mean the most to you. Most people will agree that making more money is a good thing; however it is not worth losing friends and family over. I’ve listened to people tell me that they gave up their dream careers because they found alternative paths that made more money. We only exist on this world for a diminutive amount of time. So maybe the “American way” isn’t just to ascend to the top in order to be more prosperous. Maybe it is the struggle to hold onto whatever is important to you no matter how great or trivial. The song “Peace of Mind” tells me that you will not achieve peace of mind if you have regrets about things that you never accomplished in life because you were too blinded by the relentless pressure to “be successful”.
He says that no "city dweller" could ever understand the loneliness or hardships he has faced. His sadness is greatly expressed when he says "how I have suffered grim sorrow at heart, have known in the ship many worries [abodes of care]." The quote shows he not only inhabits a ship, but a psychological space of sorrow. He continues at sea even when the weather worsens in order to seek his foreign homeland. As spring arrives, the man only wants to travel more. His spirit leaves his body and travels the world. When it comes back he is still not satisfied. He talks about how one cannot take their earthly possessions with them once they die. It is important to fight and be brave while you're alive, so you can enjoy the eternal afterlife. He tells the reader that the days of earthly glory are over, because the wealthy and powerful civilizations have fallen. No matter how much the living want to comfort the dead, or ourselves, with earthy possessions, it won't work. He teaches us that it is important to fear God and the power he has. Although you may be suffering now, if you live correctly, the afterlife will be worth it
...that the body was in, once the contents of the room left, the room was no longer important. Once the room was empty, we no longer wanted to be there or associated with it. The same goes for the body; it was not that we really needed the body but the soul that was contained therein. The body was wanted but not really of great importance because of what was gone. Therefore, the lesson was that the body was a container for the soul and not all that important. If we had no need for the body to be happy, then the soul was what made us happy. We did not need the body and were reminded that the soul went on to another place which gave us reason to stop grieving and move on with our lives.
There is a phrase that people here time and time again, but don’t truly understand the meaning of it until the phrase can be applied to their own lives. “You don’t realize what you have until it’s gone.” Atwood’s poem is a direct reflection of this quote. Her poem “Bored” talks about how she hated the repetitiveness of her daily events with her father. But it was only until he had passed on was it that she truly did realize how much she missed those daily events. Sometimes people don’t understand how important others mean to them until it is too late.
The passage by Thomas Paine basically states that people do not appreciate that for which they did not sacrifice, but people that give everything they have for what they desire are the ones who give it value and meaning. In fact, some people may call this statement inaccurate and cynical; consequently, they try to argue the view that people can have the ability to value and treasure that which is given to them. However, even though people can be grateful for gifts they receive, it will never have the same value as it would have if they had endured to attain it. Through examples of both religious and secular, people can see the truth of Paine’s declaration.
...s is related to his philosophy about doing the right thing and about a being a good person. But it goes beyond this. He spoke often about having true compassion. It isn’t enough to help those in need, but we must truly care about them, to take a good look and see how they got that way. He asked us to examine how we as a society can change the conditions that led them to be there in the first place. Doing this makes us better as people. I have found that it also makes me feel better. Never give up on your dreams. While his life was cut tragically short, he died in pursuit of his dream and in spite of everything he faced, he never gave up on it. He faced obstacles I could never imagine having to face, and still persisted. This reminds me that the small things in my life that often seem insurmountable, are just my excuses for not taking action and are not obstacles.
I think that what the author was trying to imply in this passage was that in his personal experience, he has noticed that many people take many things for granted and that they don’t live their lives according to what they want and need to do. So much is wasted during one’s lifetime, and people just allow their lives to pass them by.
Have you ever had a possession that was so essential to your existence that you felt you couldn’t live without it? For instance, I have known many people who have said. I will die without that! They may be speaking of things such as their cell phone, or their Blackberry. In these cases being without these items probably wouldn’t cause them to die. Similarly, there are also people who hold onto items that belonged to a loved one, no longer in their life, who believe that without this item, they will die. I have a hope chest that my dad built me when I was a senior in high school. He passed away just a couple of years later and I have to say that I’ve been guilty of the mentality of I would just die without that because the hope chest is so special to me. After reading “The Shawl”, I have revised my thinking though. In the short story “The Shawl” written by Cynthia Ozick, the shawl is a critical part of this small family’s existence. The shawl is shown to truly be a possession that someone cannot live without.
Thus, when people experience loss, their lives change. Just like Blanche, A delicate lady who couldn’t find her way in the challenging and intolerant world we live in after her husband died. As a result, she built her own world, where she lived all her illusions, but in the process, she ended up destroying all that really matters; her personality, relationships, and wellbeing. As Robert Louis Stevenson said “Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences.”
We live in a materialistic culture that thrives on having "things." Yes, we must have things in order to live (shelter, food, water, etc.), but the word is misused. Our culture has become so materialistic that we forget what is really important. The "have" mode has almost become the norm, especially with our generation. Even though we subconsciously practice the mode of “being,” many people do not realize it which makes it difficult to appreciate life and all the aspects of “being.” “Because the society we live in is devoted to acquiring property and making a profit, we rarely see any evidence of the being mode of existence and most people see the having mode as the most natural mode of existence, even the only acceptable way of life” (Fromm 25). Majority of people want to be as successful and rich as possible that this idea takes over their mind and eventually lives. Every young person is obsessed with “fitting in” and having the latest and greatest items. This attitude causes adolescents to lose sight of what is important and lose touch with their emotions. Our culture needs to begin to think less about material items and being rich and more about his/her emotions and what it means to be truly happy. It is important to focus on the “bigger picture” and how one must become the best person he/she can be to benefit
The ethics of Epicurus basically state that the only thing valuable in a person’s life is pleasure. He also states that some pleasures can lead to pain. In order to not have painful pleasures, we need to judge our desires in the right way. Epicurus also realized that we do not know what we really need. What we want is not what we really need. Epicurus thought that the goal of life would be to pursue a life with friends, having freedom, and analyzing one’s life. Those three things would lead to happiness. He thought that pursuing the pleasure of always eating with a friend would fulfill his soul. He wanted to be free and self-sufficient which would satisfy his desire to be free. Lastly, he thought that we should reflect on our worries in order to realize why our souls are not at rest. He thought those three things would lead to the healthiest soul.