Epictetus knew suffering and how his words may help us today
Release Date: 01/25/2022
nightingale to the phoenix
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info_outlineThe Greek Philosopher Epictetus knew suffering. He was brought to Marcus Aurelius’ Rome as a slave, then rose through the ranks to become one of histories greatest teacher, before suffering once more in exile.
We can only imagine the hardship of 50 AD for one who lived in slavery and one, Epictetus, who required a cane, due to a lame leg. But, how on earth, does Epictetus play a role in my life as a new-born widow? Need to chat?
To understand how, let’s peak into stoic philosophy. It could be one common thread that links 21 centuries of human experience.
Stoicism offers us real world, actionable wisdom to build perseverance, resilience, happiness, and self mastery.
Stoicisms’ foundation lies in its’ virtues. Courage, Justice, Temperance and Wisdom
They sound pretty good at first glance, but I wanted to know how they relate to human consciousness today
So, I looked at the map of consciousness in Dr. David R Hawking’s Power Verses Force. David is widely known in the studying human consciousness. After it was discovered that our world and everything in it have definable energy and frequencies, his work was later applied to the law of attraction.
And taking it to a personal level, how does these calibrated energy frequencies affect us personally? If you have read Emotos’ water experiment book: called The Magic of Water? It could shed potential light on that subject.
The general idea is low frequencies relate more to struggle. For example, apathy could be recognized as a very low energy. With thoughts of apathy, we would feel physically bad. tired, sluggish, tuned out. And this becomes our focus, rather than our ability to see, feel and experience joy, we view the world and our life through a lens of apathy.
The bottom line is, the lower we go, the steeper the climb. I believe as do many, that we can control the way we feel by being mindful of where our thoughts are focussed.
Here is a grid 200 and below, as shown within the book, Power Verses Force, representing the map of consciousness.
Courage 200: Pride 175, Anger 150, Desire 125, Fear 100, Grief 75, Apathy 50, Guilt 30, Shame 20.
Consider each state of mind as a stepping-stone out of the one below. Recognize that apathy is a deeper than grief. But grief is still very low and not a healthy place to live for long!
And if you did read Emoto’s book and relate that to a human body’s “internal wetness” then you can make your own conclusion. Mine was “yikes”! Quick reference: women are 45-60% water, men 50-65%.
What I do understand is that If I am emotionally honest with myself and take full responsibility for thoughts, then I have control over my state of mind and therefore my wellbeing.
When we look at Stoic values and compare then to the map of consciousness, it looks like this.
- Courage becomes the tipping point into greater potential of human consciousness, because 200 has been set as the center of the teeter totter between energy that attracts good things into our lives ( >200) verses the lower frequencies (<200) that also attract, but less desired.
- Justice is our ability to be fair minded, neutral, impartial and emancipate. Justice represents our freedom at 250.
- Temperance is having a sense of honor, morality, decency. We set our ontology with intention. Meaning who do I want to be as I move through life. This willingness to be the best we can morally be is intentional and energetically vibrates at a conscious code of 310
(Note: In grief we maintain humor) So we witness grace in action, within grief we can rise above our pain instantly, by engaging in humor. Let's connect
- Wisdom provides us with clear thinking and good judgement, balance, insight, understanding and common sense, resonating at 400.
But how does stoicism help us recover from grief, or any demanding life challenge? Focus on what is within our control, period.
In ways, it reminds me of the simplicity offered by don Miguel Ruiz’ The Four Agreements. Be impeccable with your word, take nothing personally, make no assumptions and always do your best.
Because sages through the ages have offered us this wisdom: Release our attachment to things outside of our control. Epictetus goes onto say, that whatever distress is inside the mind, ask if it is inside of our control, and if it is not, then let it go…
Our power for maintaining happiness lies in our control of thoughts and actions. And this is true freedom.
Do you recall, Mahatma Gandhi wise words? You can chain me, torture me, even destroy my body, but you can never imprison my mind.
And yet, if we are not careful, grief could imprison our mind...
Stepping-stones may be one key to overcoming the overwhelm of losing someone we love. In coaching one tool used to move beyond overwhelm is the Zorro Circle
Can you recall the movie Zorro? In is a great example of “chunking”. Milton Erikson once said, we can achieve anything if we break it down into its simplest most understood form.
Bring the overwhelm in, focus in, tune it in, make it manageable. In the movie, Zorro, there is the one scene, inside the cave. The young unruly rake wants to take control of his domain, but fundamentally his life is out of control.
The wiser older Zorro takes him into the cave where there is a smaller circle carved into the floor. The young man is put into a harness. He can not move farther, and this defines the inner circle of mastery.
Like the young Zorro, we can build our inner strength and inner wisdom by maintaining focus on what we can control, the baby steps to feeling a sense of peace, calm and ultimately to feel happy
Because when we feel overwhelmed, we have entered emotional center of our middle brain, where logic, rational and reason do not reside. The middle brain can be a rabbit hole of emotion. Left untended, we could spiral days into weeks. And time goes by, and we wonder how long we can possibly grieve.
Stoicism asks us to release anything that is outside of our control. I know absolutely, I can not change the fact that Willis “has left the building.” (I’m an old Elvis fan😊)
What can I control? My focus, my thoughts, my actions. My focus today to have courage, to be just, to set my life intentionally and live in balance.
Whew, I feel better already, Stay well out there, and remember, I am here for you or a friend or family member who is suffering. Happiness is just a relief call away. https://live.vcita.com/site/pj6nd2nw1oky5ogs/online-scheduling?service=drkxsgl8va1u4yv9
Epictetus: The Manual Aphilosophers Guide