Plain
Epictetus — The Slave

A true Cynic who prepares himself this way can't stop there. He must realize that Zeus has sent him as a messenger to humanity. His job is to teach people about good and bad things. He shows them they've been looking for happiness and suffering in all the wrong places. They never think to look where these things actually are. He's like a spy — just as Diogenes was captured and taken to Philip after the battle of Chaeroneia as a spy. A Cynic is indeed a spy who watches what is truly good for people and what is truly evil. His duty is to examine things carefully, then come back and report the truth. He must not panic and wrongly identify enemies where there are none. He can't let appearances disturb him or confuse him in any way.

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Doing The Right Thing What Matters Most
Epictetus — The Slave Original

Then, if he is thus prepared, the true Cynic cannot be satisfied with this; but he must know that he is sent a messenger from Zeus to men about good and bad things, to show them that they have wandered and are seeking the substance of good and evil where it is not, but where it is, they never think; and that he is a spy, as Diogenes was carried off to Philip after the battle of Chaeroneia as a spy. For in fact a Cynic is a spy of the things which are good for men and which are evil, and it is his duty to examine carefully and to come and report truly, and not to be struck with terror so as to point out as enemies those who are not enemies, nor in any other way to be perturbed by appearances nor confounded.

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Epictetus — The Slave

First, you must clean up your mind and this way of life. You should say: "My job is to work on my thinking, like wood is the carpenter's material or leather is the shoemaker's. My business is using my impressions correctly. My body means nothing to me. Its parts mean nothing to me. Death? Let it come when it wants — death of my whole body or just a part. You tell me to run away. But where? Can anyone kick me out of the world? They can't. Wherever I go, the sun is there. The moon is there. The stars are there. Dreams, signs, and conversations with the gods are there."

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Freedom & Control Death & Mortality
Epictetus — The Slave Original

In the first place then you must make your ruling faculty pure, and this mode of life also. Now (you should say), to me the matter to work on is my understanding, as wood is to the carpenter, as hides to the shoemaker; and my business is the right use of appearances. But the body is nothing to me: the parts of it are nothing to me. Death? Let it come when it chooses, either death of the whole or of a part. Fly, you say. And whither; can any man eject me out of the world? He cannot. But wherever I go, there is the sun, there is the moon, there are the stars, dreams, omens, and the conversation ([Greek: omilia]) with gods.

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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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