freedom

I always felt intuitively that "things are not as they are but as we take them to be", and today reading about Epictetus, he said: “It does not trouble us what happens, but what we tell ourselves that is happening” .

Then I read more about Epictetus.

"Epictetus (AD 55 – AD 135). He was born a slave at Hierapolis (present day Turkey), and lived in Rome until he got his freedom from being a slave.

Philosophy, Epictetus taught, is a way of life and not just a theoretical discipline. To Epictetus, all external events are determined by fate, and are thus beyond our control, but we can accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. Individuals, however, are responsible for their own actions, which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline.

Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power. we are a part of the universal city that is the universe...." (Taken from Wikipedia).

It is quite a beautiful story. A human being that was born a slave, but became free inwardly and then outwardly......