Don't Let Appearances Carry You

One of the most important messages that Eptictetus's Handbook is that we can't "be carried away by the appearance" (Section 18, Handbook). This is a life-lesson, because many times, when we do let ourselves be carried, we end up losing something. It can be a girl we fell for, and she ends up going with someone else, because she was only in for the money. This line is repeated many times throughout chapters 1-20, and that is why I think he really wants us readers to have it clear. There are many other things he repeats, like when he says that somethings are up to us, and some aren't. He talks about death as an easy subject, and it isn't anything near to easy, but he does say something very important, which is "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.

As well, there are things that I disagree. He talks about death, or the loss os something as 'giving it back'(Section 11). I disagree especially the part that if someone dies you shall say he was just taken back. Death is just too harsh to create an excuse like that, because that is what it is: an excuse. There are some things that might pass that excuse, like things of less spiritual value e.g. a house, a cell phone, things like that, but not a life, it is far too valuable.