Plain
Epictetus — The Slave

So while God has let you stay, you've watched the show and celebrated. When he leads you out, won't you go with gratitude and thanks for what you've experienced? "No," you say, "I want to keep enjoying the feast." People at religious ceremonies want to stay longer too. So do spectators at the Olympics who want to see more athletes compete. But the ceremony is over. Leave like a grateful and humble person. Make room for others. Other people need to be born, just like you were. And once they're born, they need space, homes, and basic necessities. If the first generation never leaves, what's left for the rest? Why can't you get enough? Why aren't you satisfied? Why do you want to squeeze the world? "But I want my children and wife with me."

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Death & Mortality What Matters Most
Epictetus — The Slave Original

Will you not then, as long as you have been permitted, after seeing the spectacle and the solemnity, when he leads you out, go with adoration of him and thanks for what you have heard and seen? No; but I would still enjoy the feast. The initiated too would wish to be longer in the initiation; and perhaps also those at Olympia to see other athletes. But the solemnity is ended; go away like a grateful and modest man; make room for others; others also must be born, as you were, and, being born, they must have a place, and houses, and necessary things. And if the first do not retire, what remains? Why are you insatiable? Why are you not content? why do you contract the world? Yes, but I would have my little children with me and my wife.

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Epictetus — The Slave

You receive everything from God — even your own self. So why do you get angry and blame the giver when he takes something back? Who are you? What's your purpose here? Didn't God bring you into this world? Didn't he show you the light? Didn't he give you companions, senses, and the ability to think? And how did he bring you here? As someone who will die. As someone who lives in a body on this earth. As someone who watches how he runs things. As someone who joins his spectacle and celebration for a brief time.

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What Matters Most Death & Mortality
Epictetus — The Slave Original

Then after receiving everything from another and even yourself, are you angry and do you blame the giver if he takes anything from you? Who are you, and for what purpose did you come into the world? Did not he (God) introduce you here, did he not show you the light, did he not give you fellow-workers, and perceptions and reason? and as whom did he introduce you here? did he not introduce you as subject to death, and as one to live on the earth with a little flesh, and to observe his administration, and to join with him in the spectacle and the festival for a short time?

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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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