Epictetus On Wisdom: Stop Trying To Look Wise
About this episode
A lot of us get into philosophy and self-improvement not to actually become wiser, but to be seen as wise. Epictetus spotted how badly that backfires. In this lesson I sit with one of his sharper passages and what it asks of us.
Epictetus put it this way:
“If you want to make progress, put up with being perceived as ignorant or naive in worldly matters, don’t aspire to a reputation for sagacity. If you do impress others as somebody, don’t altogether believe it. You have to realize, it isn’t easy to keep your will in agreement with nature, as well as externals. Caring about the one inevitably means you are going to shortchange the other.”
Read the breakdown: www.stoichandbook.co/do-not-wish-to-appear-wise
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