You Can't Stop Being Angry At Them | Stoicism

#stoicism #stoicphilosophy #epictetus Someone took something from you. Money, credit for your work, a thing you cared about. And the anger has outlasted the loss. Epictetus had something stolen too. He heard a noise at the door, ran down, and found that his iron lamp had been carried off. His first thought: he who had taken the lamp had done nothing strange. A thief took a thing worth taking. His plan for the next day: to-morrow you will find an earthen lamp, for a man only loses that which he has. Then he turns the question round. Why then are we angry? Is it because we value so much the things of which these men rob us? Do not admire your clothes, and then you will not be angry with the thief. And in a later chapter he looks at it from the thief's side: the man bought the lamp at this price, for a lamp he became a thief, a faithless fellow, and like a wild beast. Ought we then to be angry with them, or to pity them? Pity is not approval: he is not saying the thief was right, or that you should leave the door open. He is saying the anger you are still carrying costs you more than they took. Chapters 0:00 The anger outlasted the loss 0:14 The iron lamp is carried off 0:47 Tomorrow, an earthen lamp 1:02 Why then are we angry? 1:41 What the thief paid 2:13 Angry with them, or pity them? Public domain: Epictetus, The Discourses, Book I, Chapters 18 and 29 (tr. George Long, 1877). New video every week.